New York Times caught passing off GOP flack as average Black voter
The New York Times published a story pushing the idea that support for President Donald Trump from a young Black man was organic, but the paper hid a key fact from its readers.
On Thursday night, I read the story headlined “What 11 Black Voters Think About Trump’s Actions in His First Month.” One of those voters is Javon Evans, whom the Times simply identified as an “artificial intelligence start-up worker in Houston” who “grew up in a politically diverse family on Long Island and moved to Texas after college in 2021.”
“I think the first month has been excellent,” Evans told the outlet, which mentioned that he supported Trump’s actions to roll back pro-diversity efforts.
The quote set off red flags for me. I’ve covered politics and media issues for a long time, and the way in which Evans was positioned—perfectly reflecting what conservatives and the mainstream media insist is an accurate portrayal of how Black people relate to conservatism—didn’t sit right with me.
I googled Evans’ name and “Trump,” not expecting to find anything. After all, there are Black people who are Republicans and voted for Trump. They exist.
But most of them aren’t partisan operatives. And Javon Evans is. On the very first page of Google results for Evans is his X profile. His profile identifies him as the communications director for the Houston Young Republicans.
A few Google results below that led to the Facebook page for the Houston Young Republicans, where a quick look at their photos reveals a post showing their 2025 executive board. Marked very clearly is Javon Evans as the group’s communications director.
I posted my findings to my Bluesky account on Thursday just after 10 PM ET. I didn’t have confirmation that the Times’ Javon Evans and the Houston Young Republicans’ Javon Evans were the same person, but the Times has a well-documented history of passing off Republican operatives as just average citizens.
I checked the Times story on Friday morning, only to find that it had been altered. The story now notes that Evans “is the communications director for Houston Young Republicans.”
Other than a dateline reading “Updated Feb. 21, 2025, 10:37 a.m. ET,” the story does not indicate what was changed. There is no correction notice. The Times’ stealth edit significantly alters the impact of the section on Evans and calls into question the article’s overall credibility.
But the Times hasn’t bothered to inform its readers about any of this.
Stories like this distort important issues affecting the lives of not just Black Americans but also all Americans. Trump is attempting to roll back many of the civil rights gains that people died to secure for future generations. He is attacking diversity in education, the armed forces, the civil service, and multiple other facets of American life.
Presenting the views of a partisan operative—particularly one who is Black—without context helps to give Trump a permission slip to further erode those gains.
Trump is an unrepentant racist who has said Black immigrants come from “shithole” nations. He has praised police brutality and called for the killing of innocent young Black men. Black voters largely do not support Trump. In the 2024 election, he received only 13% of the Black vote and did even worse among Black women, with only 7% voting for him, according to exit polls.
Evans’ views do not represent those of even half of the Black electorate, but the Times has shown over the years a steadfast dedication to presenting “both sides” to issues that don’t have two equally distinct points of view. It’s the same mindset that led the post to endlessly harp on Hillary Clinton’s emails and Joe Biden’s age while giving short shrift to concerns about Trump’s bigotry, corruption, and decaying mind.
The New York Times’ slogan is “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” but in this instance and too many others, that news pushes right-wing propaganda. And when they get caught, they try to clean up the evidence and pretend nothing happened.