The Slatest

Boston Globe Publishes Fake Front Page Imagining a Trump Presidency

The Boston Globe front page dated April 9, 2017 was published on April 9, 2016 as the front of the paper’s Ideas section.

The Boston Globe wants to warn its readers about the devastating effect a Donald Trump presidency would have on the country so it decided to publish a fake front page that imagines what the headlines could look like if Trump were to make it to the White House. The funny-if-it-weren’t-so-scary front page, which is dated April 9, 2017, is leading the paper’s Ideas section. On the following page there is an editorial that calls on the Republican Party to deny Trump (and Ted Cruz) the nomination.

The banner headline on the faux front page reads: “Deportations to begin, President Trump calls for tripling of ICE force; riots continue.” That story refers to Attorney General Chris Christie and how Megyn Kelly had to cover the speech “from a sports bar near Rockefeller Center because she has been placed on a White House blacklist.” Another headline warns of economic calamity: “Markets sink as trade war looms.” Also: “US soldiers refuse orders to kill ISIS families” and “New Libel law targets ‘absolute scum’ in press.”

The paper also has Trump starting a diplomatic crisis with China after he insulted the country’s first lady Peng Liyuan by tweeting a photo of his new pet shar-pei, “a wrinkly pupp named Madame Peng.”

At the bottom an editor’s note:

This is Donald Trump’s America. What you read on this page is what might happen if the GOP front­runner can put his ideas into practice, his words into action. Many Americans might find this vision appealing, but the Globe’s editorial board finds it deeply troubling. Read our editorial on Page K2 for more on the dangers of Trump’s vision.

The front page “is an exercise in taking a man at his word,” notes the Boston Globe editorial. “And his vision of America promises to be as appalling in real life as it is in black and white on the page.”

That doesn’t mean the GOP should rally around Ted Cruz though because he is “equally extreme” and “perhaps more dangerous.” Instead, “The Republican Party’s standard deserves to be hoisted by an honorable and decent man, like Romney or Ryan, elected on the convention floor. It is better to lose with principle than to accept a dangerous deal from a demagogue.”