September 29, 2016 | No Comments
In its 34-year history USA Today has not endorsed a candidate in a presidential election. Only once have they “disendorsed” a candidate, and that was former KKK leader and white supremacist David Duke in 1991 when he ran for governor of Louisiana.
That changed on Thursday when the USA Today editorial board “disendorsed” Donald Trump. The editorial page has criticized Trump in the past, objecting to his appeals to “racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic sentiments,” and his “sometimes casual relationship with the truth.”
“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” the editorial board wrote.
The editorial goes on to call Trump “erratic,” “ill-equipped,” “reckless,” with a “checkered” business past, and a “serial liar.”
The paper explained its decision in a separate editorial.
USA Today, which has the largest print circulation of any American newspaper, joins a string of other newspapers breaking with their traditions to go against Trump. The Arizona Republic and the Cincinnati Enquirer both endorsed Hillary Clinton over Trump, breaking with decades, and in the Republic’s case, more than a century of tradition.