In
the 34-year history of USA TODAY, the Editorial Board has never taken
sides in the presidential race. Instead, we’ve expressed opinions about
the major issues and haven’t presumed to tell our readers, who have a
variety of priorities and values, which choice is best for them. Because
every presidential race is different, we revisit our no-endorsement
policy every four years. We’ve never seen reason to alter our approach.
Until now.
This year, the choice isn’t between two
capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological
differences. This year, one of the candidates — Republican nominee
Donald Trump — is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit
for the presidency.
From the day he declared his candidacy
15 months ago through this week’s first presidential debate, Trump has
demonstrated repeatedly that he lacks the temperament, knowledge,
steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents.
Whether through indifference or
ignorance, Trump has betrayed fundamental commitments made by all
presidents since the end of World War II. These commitments include
unwavering support for NATO allies, steadfast opposition to Russian
aggression, and the absolute certainty that the United States will make
good on its debts. He has expressed troubling admiration for
authoritarian leaders and scant regard for constitutional protections.
We’ve been highly critical of the GOP
nominee in a number of previous editorials. With early voting already
underway in several states and polls showing a close race, now is the
time to spell out, in one place, the reasons Trump should not be
president:
He is erratic. Trump
has been on so many sides of so many issues that attempting to assess
his policy positions is like shooting at a moving target. A list
prepared by NBC details
124 shifts by Trump on 20 major issues since shortly before he entered
the race. He simply spouts slogans and outcomes (he’d replace Obamacare
with “something terrific”) without any credible explanations of how he’d
achieve them.
He is ill-equipped to be commander in chief. Trump’s
foreign policy pronouncements typically range from uninformed to
incoherent. It’s not just Democrats who say this. Scores of Republican
national security leaders have signed an extraordinary open letter calling Trump’s foreign policy vision “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle.” In a Wall Street Journal column
this month, Robert Gates, the highly respected former Defense secretary
who served presidents of both parties over a half-century, described
Trump as “beyond repair.”
He traffics in prejudice. From
the very beginning, Trump has built his campaign on appeals to bigotry
and xenophobia, whipping up resentment against Mexicans, Muslims and
migrants. His proposals for mass deportations and religious tests are
unworkable and contrary to America’s ideals.
Trump has stirred racist sentiments in
ways that can’t be erased by his belated and clumsy outreach to African
Americans. His attacks on an Indiana-born federal judge of Mexican
heritage fit “the textbook definition of a racist comment,” according to
House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking elected official in the
Republican Party. And for five years, Trump fanned the absurd “birther”
movement that falsely questioned the legitimacy of the nation’s first
black president.
His business career is checkered. Trump
has built his candidacy on his achievements as a real estate developer
and entrepreneur. It’s a shaky scaffold, starting with a 1973 Justice Department suit
against Trump and his father for systematically discriminating against
blacks in housing rentals. (The Trumps fought the suit but later settled
on terms that were viewed as a government victory.) Trump’s companies
have had some spectacular financial successes, but this track record is
marred by six bankruptcy filings, apparent misuse of the family’s
charitable foundation, and allegations by Trump University customers of
fraud. A series of investigative articles published by the USA TODAY
Network found that Trump has been involved in thousands of lawsuits over
the past three decades, including at least 60 that involved small
businesses and contract employees who said they were stiffed. So much
for being a champion of the little guy.
He isn’t leveling with the American people. Is
Trump as rich as he says? No one knows, in part because, alone among
major party presidential candidates for the past four decades, he
refuses to release his tax returns. Nor do we know whether he has paid
his fair share of taxes, or the extent of his foreign financial
entanglements.
He speaks recklessly. In
the days after the Republican convention, Trump invited Russian hackers
to interfere with an American election by releasing Hillary Clinton’s
emails, and he raised the prospect of “Second Amendment people”
preventing the Democratic nominee from appointing liberal justices. It’s
hard to imagine two more irresponsible statements from one presidential
candidate.
He has coarsened the national dialogue. Did
you ever imagine that a presidential candidate would discuss the size
of his genitalia during a nationally televised Republican debate?
Neither did we. Did you ever imagine a presidential candidate, one who
avoided service in the military, would criticize Gold Star parents who
lost a son in Iraq? Neither did we. Did you ever imagine you’d see a
presidential candidate mock a disabled reporter? Neither did we. Trump’s
inability or unwillingness to ignore criticism raises the specter of a
president who, like Richard Nixon, would create enemies’ lists and be
consumed with getting even with his critics.
He’s a serial liar. Although
polls show that Clinton is considered less honest and trustworthy than
Trump, it’s not even a close contest. Trump is in a league of his own
when it comes to the quality and quantity of his misstatements. When
confronted with a falsehood, such as his assertion that he was always
against the Iraq War, Trump’s reaction is to use the Big Lie technique
of repeating it so often that people begin to believe it.
We are not unmindful of the issues that
Trump’s campaign has exploited: the disappearance of working-class jobs;
excessive political correctness; the direction of the Supreme Court;
urban unrest and street violence; the rise of the Islamic State
terrorist group; gridlock in Washington and the influence of moneyed
interests. All are legitimate sources of concern.
Nor does this editorial represent unqualified support for Hillary Clinton,
who has her own flaws (though hers are far less likely to threaten
national security or lead to a constitutional crisis). The Editorial
Board does not have a consensus for a Clinton endorsement.
Some of us look at her command of the
issues, resilience and long record of public service — as first lady,
U.S. senator and secretary of State — and believe she’d serve the nation
ably as its president.
Other board members have serious
reservations about Clinton’s sense of entitlement, her lack of candor
and her extreme carelessness in handling classified information.
Where does that leave us? Our
bottom-line advice for voters is this: Stay true to your convictions.
That might mean a vote for Clinton, the most plausible alternative to
keep Trump out of the White House. Or it might mean a third-party
candidate. Or a write-in. Or a focus on down-ballot candidates who will
serve the nation honestly, try to heal its divisions, and work to solve
its problems.
Whatever you do, however, resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue. By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.
USA TODAY’s editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.
0 comments:
Post a Comment