Statesman Journal Editorial Board

Dear Donald Trump,

A few words from us are unlikely to change your behavior or alter your campaign. However, if we fail to speak out, we fear that others will follow your lead.

Because what you did during Sunday night’s debate was unconscionable. You said Hillary Clinton belonged in jail. You vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate her. Those are the passions of a dictator — not of a presidential candidate in the free world. You deserve the pillorying you’re getting.

In our multi-branched, representative system of government, the American judicial system does not operate at the whim of the president. Or, by the way, the whims of a governor or mayor. It is incomprehensible for a president to cross the line and order the investigation of a political opponent.

Remember President Richard M. Nixon? He treated the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI as his fealty.

Editorial cartoons: U.S. presidential campaign

Thank God for the Senate Watergate Committee. For the tenacious journalists at The Washington Post. For FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, who served America as the “Deep Throat” source for the Post journalists. For the top Justice Department officials who resigned rather than do Nixon’s unethical bidding. And for the White House tape recordings that revealed Nixon’s character.

And thank God for the former U.S. attorneys, many of them appointed by Republican presidents, who were rising up on Monday to decry your comments from Sunday. Politico quoted Paul Charlton, who served as U.S. attorney for Arizona under President George W. Bush, as saying, “The Department of Justice isn’t a political tool and it ought not to be employed that way.”

We are not big fans of Hillary Clinton. Her twisted truths are well-known. So are yours. In fact, we’re so turned off by the 2016 presidential campaign that we have no desire to endorse either of you for president.

Neither are we fans of her husband and his shenanigans. We were one of the first newspapers in the Pacific Northwest to call for President Clinton’s resignation amid the Monica Lewinsky affair and his impeachment. And, should anyone ask, nor do we excuse your so-called “locker room talk” with your vile comments about women.

You disavowed your “locker room talk.” You should retract your comments about prosecuting and jailing a political opponent. That is not the America any of us wants.

This is not a column about Donald Trump

Oregon governor

The Statesman Journal Editorial Board will announce its endorsement for Oregon governor at noon Wednesday in a live video at Facebook.com/StatesmanJournal.

The endorsement editorial will be published in print Thursday and posted on StatesmanJournal.com/opinion.