New York Times Editorial Board Calls for Republicans To Reject Trump

(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The New York Times editorial board called for the Republican Party to reject former President Donald Trump as its presidential candidate on Thursday, branding him as “dangerous” and “unfit to lead.”

The editorial comes on the heels of two editorial board essays that called for Democratic candidate, President Joe Biden , to step aside due to concerns over his mental fitness, and just days before Trump is expected to accept the GOP nomination at the Republican National Convention.

In the article, the Times ’ board described Trump as “dangerous” and a man who “loathes the laws” foundational to the United States.

A once great political party now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic. It is a chilling choice against this national moment.

The editorial harshly criticizes Trump’s departure from the principles once upheld by iconic Republican leaders, lamenting the shift towards a party it argued is now seemingly dominated by Trump’s personal agenda.

The Republican Party once pursued electoral power in service to solutions for such problems, to building “the shining city on a hill,” as Ronald Reagan liked to say. Its vision of the United States — embodied in principled public servants like George H.W. Bush , John McCain and Mitt Romney — was rooted in the values of freedom, sacrifice, individual responsibility and the common good. The party’s conception of those values was reflected in its longstanding conservative policy agenda, and today many Republicans set aside their concerns about Mr. Trump because of his positions on immigration, trade and taxes. But the stakes of this election are not fundamentally about policy disagreements. The stakes are more foundational: what qualities matter most in America’s president and commander in chief.

The editors went on to highlight Trump’s apparent focus on using political power to settle scores and advance personal interests.

Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency. He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the country’s future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him. He is, quite simply, unfit to lead.

Despite its strong stance against Trump, the Times ’ editors also repeated their concerns about Biden’s candidacy, stressing that the intense debate within the Democratic Party about the president’s fitness is driven by the urgent need to prevent Trump’s return to power.

The article then continued with a scathing critique of the Republican Party’s reluctance to confront Trump’s shortcomings.

It is a national tragedy that the Republicans have failed to have a similar debate about the manifest moral and temperamental unfitness of their standard-bearer, instead setting aside their longstanding values, closing ranks and choosing to overlook what those who worked most closely with the former president have described as his systematic dishonesty, corruption, cruelty and incompetence.

After linking to several further articles, examining Trump’s “moral fitness” and behavior, the board looks ahead to the upcoming convention.

The Republican Party is making its choice next week; soon all Americans will be able to make their own choice. What would Mr. Trump do in a second term? He has told Americans who he is and shown them what kind of leader he would be.

When someone fails so many foundational tests, you don’t give him the most important job in the world.