The New York Times wanted to summon one of its favorite characters: an everyday Dem so upset with the Left that they were going to vote for Donald Trump instead. It found it in Anna Anaya, notable to it only for being a 58-year-old who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 but now likes the other guy.
"I'm a Democrat, but I've changed my mind after everything that's happened with Joe Biden's administration," said Anna Ayala, a 58-year-old who lives in San Jose, Calif., and voted for Mr. Biden in 2020. She plans to vote for Mr. Trump in 2024. "I mean, the border situation is out of control."
The name, though, rang bells. It turns out that Ayala has her own Wikipedia article. Why would that be? Because she is the famed criminal who put a human finger in a Wendy's chili among various other escapades.
"The latest NYT poll writeup quotes the woman who was convicted of planting a severed finger in her Wendy's chili," wrote Gilad Edelman, a Senior Editor at The Atlantic. "Something just seemed odd about the quote so I googled"
Readers soon noticed that section of the article had dissapeared—without a correction or any other note. Did this felon vote in 2020? Could they?
The Times has editorial traditions that lead it to being played like this—it's not even a year since the last time this sort of thing happened there —but it really should explain how a moderately famous criminal of no other distinction ended up being quoted as representative of an echelon of minority voters it considers critical to this election.
Update:
