#IEndorseBernie Trends as Sanders Supporters Slam NYT Editorial Board for 'Top Four' Snub

While Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders might have Democrats across the country feeling "the Bern," the 2020 presidential candidate received a clear cold shoulder from The New York Times' editorial board on Sunday.

Breaking with tradition, The Times' editorial board chose to endorse two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination: Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Explaining the decision, the editorial board said Democrats would have to decide between two potential paths, both worthy of consideration: a more moderate approach, under a candidate like Klobuchar, or the more progressive path under someone like Warren.

Of course, with NYT championing Warren as the star of the progressive wing, many Sanders supporters and commentators were quick to feel the snub, noting that the Vermont Senator hadn't even made it into the newspaper's top four picks for the Democratic nomination, with former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who recently suspended his campaign, making the "top four" list.

"So–is the NYT endorsement of Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren essentially an anti-endorsement of Bernie Sanders?" ABC political director Rick Klein questioned in a tweet.

Indeed, The Times did not just endorse Warren as the superior progressive candidate, but it also eviscerated Sanders' own reputation in the process, describing his once radical ideas as now mainstream, while admonishing his approach to politics as too "rigid" and "divisive."

The newspaper's editorial board further raised concerns around the Vermont senator's health, noting that he "would be 79 when he assumed office," and that "after an October heart attack, his health is a serious concern."

Ultimately, the board said, "three years into the Trump administration, we see little advantage to exchanging one over-promising, divisive figure in Washington for another."

"Good news, then," it said, "that Elizabeth Warren has emerged as a standard-bearer for the Democratic left."

By Monday morning, the Twitter hashtag "#IEndorseBernie" was on the rise with frustrated Sanders supporters expressing their outrage over the Vermont senator's omission from the coveted top four list.

"#IEndorseBernie because we need a government that works for all of us and not just those at the very top," said Congressional candidate Albert Lee in a Twitter post. "B/c need empathy and compassion for all of humanity, b/c we need to end the structures that destroy people & planet for profit."

"#IEndorseBernie because 2020 may be our last chance to mitigate climate change in time to avert the actual apocalypse, and Bernie has the boldest environmental plan as well as the movement behind him to help enact it," writer Travis Reilly joined in.

NYT comic writer Matt Miner also weighed in, breaking with the newspaper's editorial board to say he also endorses Sanders.

"So, #IEndorseBernie too," Miner said. "And I endorse every progressive candidate running who was inspired by Bernie and said to themselves 'Politics in the US can be better'."

"But I also endorse kindness this time around," he said. "Be cool to folks online if they don't get it yet."

Meanwhile, conservatives were also quick to point out the snub, with conservative author Janie Johnson tweeting out: "Nothing like being reminded that elitists know what's best and our place to keep - breadlines! #BreadlineBernie #IEndorseBernie."

Despite The Times giving Sanders the clear cold shoulder, the Vermont senator has received relatively strong support among Democrats, with an average of polling from Real Clear Politics putting Sanders behind former Vice President Joe Biden, with Warren trailing not far behind.

Meanwhile, Klobuchar, the newspaper's other pick for Democratic presidential nominee, continues to trail behind in seventh place, with Buttigieg, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and entrepreneur Andrew Yang still ahead.

Newsweek has contacted Sanders' campaign, as well as the campaigns of other Democratic presidential candidates, for comment.