September 29, 2016 | No Comments
The Arizona Republic has reportedly received death threats for its decision to endorse Hillary Clinton for president earlier this week.
“It’s been crazy around here,” Phil Boas, the director of Arizona Republic’s editorial page, told Arizona’s 12News. “We’re getting a lot of reaction both locally and national.”
The Republic’s endorsement of Clinton marks the first time the newspaper has endorsed a Democrat in its 126-year history. The decision has sparked some outrage. In addition to the death threats, the paper’s endorsement has prompted “countless subscription cancellations,” according to 12News.
Boas defended the paper’s decision, and said it should not come as a shock.
“I don’t believe true readers of the editorial page are surprised by this at all, because over the past year we have been writing scathing, scalding articles about Donald Trump,” Boas said. “The things he has done, making fun of disabled people and rolling back press freedoms. You know a guy who would do that and crush our freedoms in one area will do it in others as well.”
He also said that the paper may have chosen to endorse a Republican candidate if the nominee had been someone else.
“This might have been a different decision if Republicans had elected Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush, responsible Republican men,” he said.
The Republic is one of several newspapers whose traditionally Republican-leaning editorial boards have endorsed Clinton this election cycle.