USA Today op-ed delivers the harshest criticism of Donald Trump yet

In a lengthy takedown, USA Today opines that Trump is an embarrassment to public office

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published December 13, 2017 7:41AM (EST)

 (AP/Evan Vucci)
(AP/Evan Vucci)

A new article by USA Today's editorial board is making it clear that the editorial board at that publication believes President Donald Trump is no longer fit to serve in his office.

The editorial board started off by denouncing Trump's Tuesday tweet implying that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., had traded sexual favors for campaign contributions.

After dismissing the defense by Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that Trump's language couldn't have been sexist because he had said similar things about men — as it noted, "words used about men and women are different" — it then established that its condemnation of Trump was not being made based on partisan biases.

"A president who would all but call Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand a whore is not fit to clean the toilets in the Barack Obama Presidential Library or to shine the shoes of George W. Bush," the authors wrote.

It added, "This isn’t about the policy differences we have with all presidents or our disappointment in some of their decisions. Obama and Bush both failed in many ways. They broke promises and told untruths, but the basic decency of each man was never in doubt."

The authors went on to denounce Trump for disparaging the attractiveness of previous women who made accusations against him, supporting Roy Moore's Senate candidacy despite the multiple accusations of sexual misconduct against him, telling 1,628 lies in his nearly 300 days as president, stirring up racial divisions, failing to fill necessary government posts and failing to either release his tax returns or fully divest himself from his business empire.

"The nation doesn’t seek nor expect perfect presidents, and some have certainly been deeply flawed," the article concluded. "But a president who shows such disrespect for the truth, for ethics, for the basic duties of the job and for decency toward others fails at the very essence of what has always made America great."

As the editorial noted, six Democrats have called for Trump's resignation so far: Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Ron Wyden of Oregon.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

MORE FROM Matthew Rozsa


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Donald Trump Kirsten Gillibrand Media Usa Today