New York Times offers Democrats advice from 'freelance writer' — who once worked for Mike Pence

Democrats are receiving a dire warning on the opinion page of The New York Times: If they’re not careful, they risk losing the votes of Republicans and independents alienated by Donald Trump. They need to be going on Fox News, like Tulsi Gabbard, and supporting anti-abortion laws, also like Gabbard. It’s nothing we haven’t heard before—at least, minus the Gabbard boosterism—from Republicans like Meghan McCain, but this time it comes from “a freelance writer in Indianapolis” by the name of Ericka Andersen. So, you know, it’s apparently, as the Times presents it, advice coming from an unbiased source, a simple freelancer in the heartland.

Except that, as Brian Beutler showed, Andersen’s past writing includes a piece headlined “I’m a woman who benefitted greatly from working for Mike Pence.” On that piece, she’s described not just as a freelance writer but as the digital-marketing director for the conservative Independent Women’s Forum. Andersen’s other work includes a byline at the Federalist headlined “Peter Buttigieg loves God’s creation when it’s a rainbow but not when it’s a baby.”

But heed ye well, Democrats, for a simple freelance writer from Indianapolis has been anointed by The New York Times to warn that “Under President Trump, a small slice of America’s electorate seeks a reason to call the Democratic Party home for the very first time. But without adequate hospitality to welcome them, they will disappear quickly.”

So I guess we’re supposed to ignore how she worked for Mike Pence and the Independent Women’s Forum and wrote at the National Review and the Federalist, and … swing to Tulsi Gabbard because of her affinity for Fox News and her conservative positions. To do anything else would endanger Democratic hopes, says the former Pence staffer, and if Democrats aren’t going to take advice from a former Pence staffer, really, who can we trust? Thanks, New York Times! What an invaluable source of honest, unbiased advice!