William Cummings

USA TODAY

For the first time in 100 years, the New Hampshire Union Leader will not be endorsing the Republican candidate for president. Instead, the venerable conservative newspaper is electing to endorse Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson.

"Americans are being told that we have to choose the lesser of two evils. No, we don’t," the paper's publisher, Joseph W. McQuaid, wrote in a signed editorial Wednesday.

Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld are on the ballot in all 50 states, the editorial points out. "They would be worth considering under many circumstances. In today’s dark times, they are a bright light of hope and reason," McQuaid says.

McQuaid says America faces a choice between "a selfish, self-centered, sanctimonious prig and Donald J. Trump." He understands Trump supporters are "fed up with the status quo, of which Clinton is a prime example," but "they kid themselves if they think Trump isn’t pretty much a part of that status quo as well, or that he is in any way qualified to competently lead this nation."

The editorial goes on to call Trump, who is campaigning in the Granite State Thursday, a "liar, a bully and a buffoon" who "denigrates any individual or group that displeased him. He has dishonored military veterans and their families, made fun of the physically frail, and changed political views almost as often as he has changed wives."

The paper did not endorse Trump in the primaries either, instead choosing to back N.J. Gov. Chris Christie. In response, Trump called McQuaid a "lowlife" and predicted the Union Leader wouldn't last two more years.