The Atlantic endorses Hillary Clinton for president
The editors of The Atlantic are issuing a presidential endorsement for only the third time in the magazine’s 159-year history: Hillary Clinton.
In a lengthy essay published in the magazine’s November issue, the editors write that they are “impressed” with Clinton despite her flaws. But the editorial is really more an indictment of Donald Trump, the GOP presidential nominee, who they said “might be the most ostentatiously unqualified major-party candidate in the 227-year history of the American president,” than it is an endorsement of Clinton. The title of the op-ed is “Against Donald Trump,” and the editors stated that if Clinton were facing any of the leading Republican candidates from the primary race, they would not have endorsed.
“He is a demagogue, a xenophobe, a sexist, a know-nothing, and a liar. He is spectacularly unfit for office, and voters—the statesmen and thinkers of the ballot box—should act in defense of American democracy and elect his opponent,” they wrote.
Their concerns about Trump, they said, led them to endorsing Clinton, who they described as “among the most prepared candidates ever to seek the presidency.”
“We are confident that she understands the role of the United States in the world; we have no doubt that she will apply herself assiduously to the problems confronting this country; and she has demonstrated an aptitude for analysis and hard work,” they wrote.
They said that Trump has “no record of public serve” and “no qualifications for public office.” The editors continued to slam Trump’s behavior.
“His affect is that of an infomercial huckster; he traffics in conspiracy theories and racist invective; he is appallingly sexist; he is erratic, secretive, and xenophobic; he expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself. He is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal,” they wrote.
The only other presidents The Atlantic has ever endorsed were Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
