And frankly, even separate from the very disparate ethics surrounding the crimes they were convicted of, this comparison is completely irrelevant. Debs was a minor candidate with no shot at winning. This trivia article is mostly just going to be an excuse for why an actual criminal who could actually win the presidency is no big deal. Putting this out now is just a single tiny step down from deciding now is the right time to recount Nelson Mandela’s time in prison.
It’s like reporters are just blank slates primed with random contemporary keywords without context and incapable of contemplating what the effect of their work will be in reality.