Bob CollinsUSA Today isn’t exactly the official paper of bomb-throwing Socialists. Neither does it have the journalistic heft of the Washington Post or New York Times. So there’s plenty of reasons for those who want to ignore its editorial today to ignore it, if they so choose.
Still, it’s the flagship for the Gannett empire, so it’s hardly insignificant that it’s declaring President Donald Trump unfit to continue as president of the United States.
The final straw was yesterday’s presidential tweet directed at Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017
“A president who would all but call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush,” the paper’s editorial board said.
It said its declaration isn’t over policy differences, it’s over decency.
Donald Trump, the man, on the other hand, is uniquely awful. His sickening behavior is corrosive to the enterprise of a shared governance based on common values and the consent of the governed.
It should surprise no one how low he went with Gillibrand. When accused during the campaign of sexually harassing or molesting women in the past, Trump’s response was to belittle the looks of his accusers. Last October, Trump suggested that he never would have groped Jessica Leeds on an airplane decades ago: “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you.” Trump mocked another accuser, former People reporter Natasha Stoynoff, “Check out her Facebook, you’ll understand.” Other celebrities and politicians have denied accusations, but none has stooped as low as suggesting that their accusers weren’t attractive enough to be honored with their gropes.
The editorial also targeted Democrats, calling it “a shock” that only six Democratic senators are calling on Trump to resign.
And he would if he had a sense of dignity and a shred of decency, Stephen Colbert said in his monologue last evening.
“Instead he’s got a label on the back of his neck: ‘Warning: Contains no shame.’ It’s right below: ‘Property of Vladimir Putin.’”
The president, meanwhile, has moved on, tweeting this morning that he was right about Roy Moore, who lost the Alabama special election yesterday.
The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
