HELL HAS OFFICIALLY FROZEN OVER

From this morning’s Politico. I had to read it three times to be certain I wasn’t hallucinating or experiencing an acid flashback:

NYT editorial board calls Trump ‘unfit to lead’

The board called directly on voters to use their power at the ballot box against Donald Trump, regardless of who is ultimately on the ballot opposing him.

A scathing, five-part piece by The New York Times editorial board published Thursday morning leaves no room for doubt about who they think should be elected in November: anyone but Donald Trump.

“Mr. Trump has shown a character unworthy of the responsibilities of the presidency,” the board, made up of 14 Times opinion journalists, wrote. “He has demonstrated an utter lack of respect for the Constitution, the rule of law and the American people. Instead of a cogent vision for the country’s future, Mr. Trump is animated by a thirst for political power: to use the levers of government to advance his interests, satisfy his impulses and exact retribution against those who he thinks have wronged him.”

The board breaks their reasons Trump should not lead the country into five things they believe “matter”: moral fitness, principled leadership, character, “a president’s words” and the rule of law.

Not only does the Times denounce Trump as an individual, it places Trump and the Republican Party as one in the same ahead of the upcoming convention. “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,” they wrote.

Nearly two weeks ago, the board also wrote that President Joe Biden should step aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee after his startling debate performance, writing that leaving the presidential race would be the “greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform.” Their reasoning for calling on Biden to leave hinged on the same beliefs as the editorial published Thursday: Trump cannot and should not be president, in their eyes.

“The burden rests on the Democratic Party to put the interests of the nation above the ambitions of a single man,” the editorial said. They doubled down on Monday, calling on elected Democrats to “speak forcefully to the president and the public about the need for a new candidate.”

“President Biden clearly understands the stakes. But he seems to have lost track of his own role in this national drama,” the board wrote. “As the situation has become more dire, he has come to regard himself as indispensable. He does not seem to understand that he is now the problem — and that the best hope for Democrats to retain the White House is for him to step aside.”

On Thursday, they called directly on voters to use their power at the ballot box against Trump, regardless of who is ultimately on the ballot opposing him. “We urge voters to see the dangers of a second Trump term clearly and to reject it.”

“When someone fails so many foundational tests, you don’t give him the most important job in the world,” the board concludes.

My gob is officially smacked.

Paid subscribers keep That’s Another Fine Mess running in 2024, the most important terrible year of our lives. It’s only $7/month or $70/year.

Comments are for paid subscribers.