With just 16 days left until the election, and with Donald Trump reaching new lows in the polls, the beleaguered presidential hopeful received a morale boost on Sunday in the form of his very first major-newspaper endorsement.
As endorsements go, it was hardly glowing. The Review-Journal opens with the ominous line “these are turbulent times,” and goes on to say that “neither candidate will ever be called to the dais to accept an award for moral probity and character,” a pretty depressing stance to take on the only two people seriously vying for the most powerful position on earth.
The endorsement offers more gloom and doom than full-throated praise of Trump.
Our allies on the world stage watch nervously as America retreats from its position of strong leadership leaving strife and conflict rushing to fill the void. The past eight years have pushed us $20 trillion into debt, obligations that will burden our children and grandchildren. The nation’s economy sputters under the growing weight of federal edicts and regulations that smother growth and innovation. Obamacare threatens to crash and burn. The middle class struggles. An administration promising hope and unity instead brought division.
It does say that Trump would bring “a corporate sensibility and a steadfast determination to an ossified Beltway culture,” and that he “understands and appreciates the conditions that lead to prosperity and job creation and would be a friend to small business and entrepreneurship.” However, most of the endorsement is devoted to attacking Clinton. The Review-Journal says she would be a “disaster” when it comes to the Supreme Court, and “individual right to bear arms would be a likely casualty of a Clinton presidency.” It continues:
Make no mistake, a Hillary Clinton administration would indulge the worst instincts of the authoritarian left and continue to swell the bloated regulatory state while running the nation deeper into the red in pursuit of “free” college and health care.
The Review-Journal’s endorsement hardly comes as a surprise. The paper is owned by conservative power-player, Trump supporter, and casino-mogul Sheldon Adelson.
Though, editors at the Review-Journal still felt compelled to admonish Trump, saying he “would be wise to discover the power of humility,” and temper the expectations of fellow supporters:
Mr. Trump represents neither the danger his critics claim nor the magic elixir many of his supporters crave. But he promises to be a source of disruption and discomfort to the privileged, back-scratching political elites for whom the nation’s strength and solvency have become subservient to power’s pursuit and preservation. Donald Trump for president.
Prior to this endorsement, Trump’s largest newspaper endorsements have come from the Santa Barbara News-Press in California and the St. Joseph News-Press in Missouri. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has racked up many endorsements, including from papers like the Cincinnati Enquirer, which hadn’t endorsed a Democrat since the early 20th century, and The Arizona Republic, which has never endorsed a Democrat in its 126-year history.
