Fraser Seitel Fraser Seitel
In a mea culpa unprecedented in American journalism, the exalted New York Times immediately followed the upset election of Donald Trump with a public apology, questioning its reporting of the candidate and promising readers to “rededicate ourselves” to fairness and honesty in its coverage.

That letter, written by publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. and executive editor Dean Bacquet, was a not-so-subtle acknowledgement of what anyone who regularly reads the Times knew all along: that the paper has been virulently anti-Trump from the moment the megalomaniacal real estate developer entered the race.

Most prominent in the Times’ antipathy to Trump is its op-ed page, where every single regular contributor without exception despises the Donald and everything he stands for.

From left wingers Charles Blow and Gail Collins to right wingers Ross Douthat and David Brooks, the Times’ columnists consider Trump little more than an egotistical, fabricating blowhard, whose “knowledge” of policy extends no further than cable TV, and who’d rather tweet and condemn than listen and learn.

And, of course, they are right, but …

Donald Trump, warts and all, still won more than 62 million American votes. And while that might have been two million less votes than Hillary received, Trump still won, so the Times needs to get over it. So far, it hasn’t.

Despite its publisher’s promising words, the Times since the election has doubled down on its daily damning of the incoming President. Indeed, if Arthur, Jr. is really serious about the “paper of record” regaining its credibility after its Trump trashing of the last several months, he will make a concerted effort to add one, lone pro-Trump advocate as a New York Times op-ed columnist.

Such a credibility-saving move is necessary when one considers the current Times op-ed cadre of critics.

Charles Blow

The resident commentator of all things racial has staked out territory as the Times’ most hysterical anti-Trumper, relishing to readers how he refused to attend the President-elect’s sit down with Times’ editors last month.

“The very idea of sitting across the table from a demagogue who preyed on racial, ethnic and religious hostilities and treating him with decorum and social grace fills me with disgust, to the point of overflowing.”

Since then, Blow has continued to “overflow,” calling for open resistance against the next President as an act of “revolutionary patriotism.” Whew. Take a blow, Charles.

Paul Krugman

The Nobel Prize-winning economist is another never-Trumper. So much so, that if the new President actually does follow through on his promise to invest federal funds in infrastructure improvement — as Krugman has been calling for years — the lugubrious columnist will likely blame Trump for not picking the right projects. Hopeless.

Gail Collins

The Times’ resident humorist progressively stopped being funny as Trump got closer to beating her beloved Hillary. And when the dastardly deed did occur, Ms. Collins’ glee turned to a gloom that she is just now attempting to shake off.

While there will be myriad possibilities for amusement in an Administration run by a cuckoo clock, it will be difficult for Ms. Collins to recover her comedic mojo in the face of such a scary clown.

David Brooks

The Times’ resident moralist warned fellow-Republicans during the campaign that backing Trump was like supporting evil-eyed communist hunter Joe McCarthy.

Trump, wrote Brooks, “lives in an alternative, amoral Howard Stern universe where he cannot enjoy the sweetness that altruism and community service can occasionally bring.”

The columnist’s conclusion about our next President: “Pathetic.”

Ross Douthat

During the campaign, Douthat, the Times’ token Republican spiritual columnist, cast his lot with the never-Trumpers, pointing out that the candidate’s views were neither conservative nor libertarian.

Now that Trump will be President, Douthat has softened a bit; still no fan but willing to see if Trump’s unorthodox approach might somehow result in progress.

Frank Bruni

The columnist on all things gender-related, Bruni is yet another who desperately pleaded for Clinton’s election right up until the bitter judgment day.

But like Douthat, Bruni has seemed to mellow a bit since the worst happened; at least, he was willing to attend Trump’s meeting at the Times!

The rest of the Times’ op-ed brigade is equally resentful, disdainful or even downright hateful of what Donald Trump hath wrought.

That’s why the best move Arthur, Jr. can make is to follow what his father did 50 years ago when he recruited former Nixon public relations man William Safire for the op-ed page, and bring in a pro-Trump columnist.

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Fraser P. Seitel has been a communications consultant, author and teacher for 40 years. He may be reached directly at [email protected].