USA Today May Have Written Most Anti-Trump Editorial Yet

'Not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 13, 2017 11:25 AM CST
Updated Dec 13, 2017 1:10 PM CST
USA Today : 'Rock Bottom' Trump Will Always Sink Lower
President Trump speaks at the White House on Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Wow, tell us how you really feel USA Today. The newspaper absolutely unloaded on President Trump in an editorial Wednesday that is drawing attention for its scathing language. For instance: "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." As that line suggests, the editorial goes after Trump for his Tuesday tweet saying that Gillibrand "would do anything" for campaign contributions. But it goes far beyond that. Details and reaction:

  • Other lines: By "clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favors for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office," reads the editorial, headlined, "Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom?" At another point, it complains that "Trump’s utter lack of morality, ethics and simple humanity has been underscored during his 11 months in office," before ticking off examples.
  • And another: Trump 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."

  • Out of character? "The USA Today editorial board is basically the Wonder Bread of political opinion. Suddenly, not so much," tweeted Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Politico's Azi Paybarah called the editorial "[fire] from a publication not known for it." Media writer Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post calls it "extraordinarily tough."
  • Neutrality: The refrain of "there goes the liberal media" doesn't quite apply here, writes Callum Borchers of the Washington Post. USA Today keeps its editorial pages so neutral that the newspaper has never endorsed a political candidate, notes Borchers. However, it specifically advised readers in 2016 not to vote for Trump.
  • Ditto: Trump loyalists will likely seize on the fact that USA Today backed an anyone-but-Trump pick in the election as a sign of bias, writes Chris Cillizza at CNN. But the newspaper "is far from a reactionary leftist operation. And the disdain dripping from every word of the editorial board's condemnation of the president is truly searing."
  • Biden: "I've never ever in my career read an editorial like that," said former VP Joe Biden during an appearance on The View, per Raw Story. He spoke after co-host Whoopi Goldberg read it aloud.
  • Big audience: At Vox, Emily Stewart writes that this might be "the most epic editorial Trump takedown" of 2017. She notes that the newspaper reaches an audience of about 3 million readers daily, about 57% of whom are male.
(More President Trump stories.)

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