The Columbus Dispatch broke with tradition and endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. | Getty The Columbus Dispatch slams Republican leaders, endorses Clinton

Ohio's The Columbus Dispatch slammed Republican leaders for aiding in the rise of Donald Trump and broke with tradition by endorsing a Democrat, Hillary Clinton, for president.

The newspaper, which has not endorsed a Democrat for president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916, also took the unusual step of laying the blame for Trump at the feet of party elders.


“We are disappointed that so many Republican leaders have accommodated a narcissistic, morally bankrupt candidate who is so clearly out of step with those values,” the paper’s editorial board said.

The paper also went on to discourage voting for a third-party, saying any vote “cast for the Libertarian or Green Party tickets could have the effect of helping Trump win the White House.”

The endorsement pilloried Trump for his temperament, saying that “he has proved himself a liar of epic proportion” and that “he is a bigot, a braggart and an admirer of foreign thugs.” The editorial board also slammed his economic policy as flimsy and said it would double the national debt.

They did not go easy on their preferred presidential candidate, however. They mentioned being concerned by Clinton’s various controversies, like her email server, and said her call for higher taxes and her ability to “stack the U.S. Supreme Court with a left-leaning majority” was “unwelcome.”