A New York Times editorial board member tries to deem Ted Cruz unqualified to utter Frederick Douglass's name

Seriously. Just take a moment to let in the smugness, the supreme arrogance, of this.

The story begins with race hustler Colin Kaepernick's cherry-picking of a Frederick Douglass quote to make it seem like Douglass had a 2019 leftist view of America:

Kaepernick initiated his descent by tweeting a quote from Douglass: “‘What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? This Fourth of July is yours, not mine…There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.’ – Frederick Douglass.”

Cruz then launched his fusillade:

You quote a mighty and historic speech by the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass, but, without context, many modern readers will misunderstand. Two critical points: This speech was given in 1852, before the Civil War, when the abomination of slavery still existed. Thanks to Douglass and so many other heroes, we ended that grotesque evil and have made enormous strides to protecting the civil rights of everybody.

Douglass was not anti-American; he was, rightly and passionately, anti-slavery. Indeed, he concluded the speech as follows: “Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation, which must inevitably, work the downfall of slavery. ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened,’ and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope. While drawing encouragement from ‘the Declaration of Independence,’ the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions, my spirit is also cheered by the obvious tendencies of the age.”

Cruz concluded, “Let me encourage everyone, READ THE ENTIRE SPEECH; it is powerful, inspirational, and historically important in bending the arc of history towards justice.”

And then the NYT editorial board member chimed in:

Mara Gay‏Verified account @MaraGay

Mara Gay Retweeted Ted Cruz

Frederick Douglass is an American hero, and his name has no business in your mouth.

Will she get in trouble? After all, she's pretty clearly in violation of her paper's policy:

The New York Times announced on Friday an updated and expanded set of guidelines for our journalists’ use of social media.

The new guidelines underscore our newsroom’s appreciation for the important role social media now plays in our journalism, but also call for our journalists to take extra care to avoid expressing partisan opinions or editorializing on issues that The Times is covering.

In the interest of transparency, we’ve included the complete guidelines below, along with an introductory memo sent to the newsroom by Dean Baquet, our executive editor.

We’re always interested in hearing from our readers. Do the new guidelines raise any questions for you? If so, please share your thoughts in the comments section.

To the newsroom:

The New York Times has been a dominant force on social media for years. Our newsroom accounts have tens of millions of followers. Many of our journalists are influential voices on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. The voices of our readers, listeners and viewers inform and improve our reporting. 

We believe that to remain the world’s best news organization, we have to maintain a vibrant presence on social media. 

But we also need to make sure that we are engaging responsibly on social media, in line with the values of our newsroom.

That’s why we’re issuing updated and expanded social media guidelines.

The guidelines were developed in a collaborative way by Cliff Levy, Phil Corbett and Cynthia Collins, and are rooted in the very experiences of our journalists. 

Please read them closely, and take them to heart.

— Dean Baquet, Executive Editor

I'm not holding my breath, though.