YDR Editorial Board

It’s sad and disconcerting to drive around York County and see so many Trump yard signs.

Hillary Clinton is so toxic to Republicans that little will get done in the next four years.

Way back in August, YDR’s editorial board wrote, “There is almost no way the York Daily Record will endorse Donald J. Trump for president.”

Two months have passed, and only one thing has changed: Scratch the “almost” wiggle room we allowed ourselves.

There is no way we could endorse Donald Trump. He is without doubt the most unqualified and temperamentally unfit candidate the Republican Party has ever put atop its ticket.

It’s sad and disconcerting to drive around York County and see so many Trump yard signs.

Do his supporters not see what a bully and a buffoon he is?

Can they not see his greed and hypocrisy?

Are they not troubled by his stiffing of the workers who built his gleaming, mirage of an empire? Or by his negotiation via lawsuit?

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Do they really think a man who has managed to bankrupt casinos is a business genius who can turn around the American economy?

Have they actually read any of his incoherent and improbable policy proposals?

Can’t they see that his relationship to the truth is at least as tenuous as Ms. Clinton’s?

Do they really think this reality show star has anything in common with the common man – or would lift a finger off the scales that tilt the benefits of this economy decidedly toward him and his fellow plutocrats?

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Can’t they see that this man is not a principled conservative, but rather a cynical, phony populist?

Are they not troubled by his weird bromance with a tyrant such as Vladimir Putin? Or by his banana republic dictator threat to put his presidential rival in jail?

Would they stand idly by while this “celebrity” grabbed their daughters’ private parts because, well … just because he’s famous? How can they be so willing to chalk up his bragging about sexual assault as inconsequential locker-room talk? In what locker room is such misogyny acceptable? This is the essence of rape culture in America.

No!

Just … no.

This man is not fit to be president of the most powerful nation on earth.

So, that means Hillary Clinton, right?

Well, for some members of our editorial board, yes. For others, no.

We are unified that Trump is not endorsable. But we cannot reach consensus on endorsing Hillary Clinton.

For one thing, she is absolutely toxic to Republicans. If you thought President Obama’s relationship with congressional Republicans was dysfunctional, just wait and see what happens in the next four years.

Nothing of substance will get done. It will be America stuck in neutral – or spinning its wheels, spattering mud on our reputation as the world’s “essential nation.”

Some board members are troubled by her mendacity, by her political opportunism and careerism, by her mediocre tenure in the Senate and the State Department. They are outraged by her handling of sensitive emails – and by her terrible mishandling of the Benghazi attacks.

In the end, it’s hard to believe these are the best candidates the two major parties can field. Mr. Trump is right about one thing. We really do need to make America great again. And we need to start at the grassroots – by raising up better candidates and leaders.

So, go ahead, York County, vote for this orange Julius Caesar.

Or this conniving career politician.

Or one of the nonviable third-party candidates.

Choose your poison – but please do choose.

Previous YDR endorsements:

2012: Barack Obama

2008: Barack Obama

2004: George W. Bush

2000: Al Gore

1996: Bill Clinton

1992: Bill Clinton

1988: George H.W. Bush

1984: Ronald Reagan