Orlando Sentinel endorses "not Donald Trump" for 2020 before reelection launch in the city
Orlando's hometown newspaper is already taking an editorial stance against President Trump ahead of his reelection campaign announcement in the city on Tuesday. The Orlando Sentinel's editorial board said it will not endorse Mr. Trump for 2020.
In an editorial published Tuesday, the Sentinel, which has mostly supported Republican presidents since the 1950s, said they've seen "enough" after two and a half years of Mr. Trump's presidency.
"Some readers will wonder how we could possibly eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent," the paper said. "Because there's no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump."
Among the reasons, the Sentinel says, are President Trump's "lies." The paper cited a Washington Post report that tallied more than 10,000 lies he's told since taking office, and it offered examples, including last week when he said the media fabricated unfavorable polling results.
"Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption and especially the lies. Trump's successful assault on truth is the great casualty of this presidency, followed closely by his war on decency."
The Sentinel then ripped Mr. Trump for insulting rivals and said he has "diminished our standing in the world." It also shamed his base for remaining "loyal" despite a myriad of issues Trump's presidency has yet to address.
"Sadly, the truest words Trump might ever have spoken was when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose his supporters," the paper said.
The newspaper cautioned that it wouldn't automatically endorse the nominee chosen by the Democratic party. It also said it'd leave the door open for Mr. Trump, if, he found the "curse for cancer" or "changed the essence of who he is."
"The nation must endure another 1 1/2 years of Trump," the paper said. "But it needn't suffer another four beyond that. We can do better. We have to do better."
