I may be spitballing here, but it seems that neoliberals can't imagine an anti-left campaign could be run by anything but a conservative (read: republican) entity. That neoliberalism is actually conservative doesn't cross their minds (why would it? the mere existence of leftism is coopted or erased in American media). That the NYT would be part of that apparatus hasn't crossed enough people's minds, until now. Their façade is cracking.