The New York Times editorial board declared Donald Trump "dangerous" and "unfit to lead" in a scathing new op-ed Monday.
The newspaper has drawn strong criticism for seemingly papering over some of Trump's incoherent and outrageous statements, but its editorial board issued more than 4,300 scathing words questioning his fitness to serve a second term as president.
"For the third time in eight years, Donald Trump will be nominated as the Republican Party’s candidate for president of the United States," the editorial board wrote.
"A once great political party now serves the interests of one man, a man as demonstrably unsuited for the office of president as any to run in the long history of the Republic, a man whose values, temperament, ideas and language are directly opposed to so much of what has made this country great."
"It is a chilling choice against this national moment," they added.
The board excoriates the Republican Party for abandoning its purported principles — "rooted in the values of freedom, sacrifice, individual responsibility and the common good" — to back Trump despite grave concerns expressed since 2016 by many party leaders and especially by former officials who have served under him.
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"The Republican Party had an opportunity to renounce Trumpism; it has submitted to it," the board wrote. "Republican leaders have had many opportunities to repudiate his violent discourse and make clear that it should have no place in political life; they failed to. Sizable numbers of voters in Republican primaries abandoned Mr. Trump for other candidates, and independent and undecided voters have said that Mr. Trump’s language has alienated them from his candidacy."
The board questioned Trump's morals, character, principles, honesty and fidelity to the law and found him lacking in each category, and they warned that he would likely attempt to subvert the results of his year's election as he did four years ago.
"In the four years since losing the election, Mr. Trump has become only more determined to subvert the rule of law, because his whole theory of Trumpism boils down to doing whatever he wants without consequence," the board wrote.
"Americans are seeing this unfold as Mr. Trump attempts to fight off numerous criminal charges. Not content to work within the law to defend himself, he is instead turning to sympathetic judges — including two Supreme Court justices with apparent conflicts over the 2020 election and Jan. 6-related litigation. The playbook: delay federal prosecution until he can win election and end those legal cases. His vision of government is one that does what he wants, rather than a government that operates according to the rule of law as prescribed by the Constitution, the courts and Congress."
"Election Day is less than four months away," they added. "The case against Mr. Trump is extensive, and this board urges Americans to perform a simple act of civic duty in an election year: Listen to what Mr. Trump is saying, pay attention to what he did as president and allow yourself to truly inhabit what he has promised to do if returned to office."
