Wall Street Journal�s editorial board has
lost faith in Donald Trump
Neither President Donald Trump nor his Democratic
rival, Hillary Clinton, was endorsed by the
conservative Wall Street Journal, which has
had a longstanding skepticism about Trump�s
campaign.
Now the newspaper�s editorial board has
published a scathing condemnation of the Republican
president.
�If President Trump announces that North
Korea launched a missile that landed within
100 miles of Hawaii, would most Americans
believe him?
Would the rest of the world?� the Journal�s
editorial board wrote Tuesday night.
�We�re not sure, which speaks to the damage
that Mr. Trump is doing to his Presidency
with his seemingly endless stream of exaggerations,
evidence-free accusations, implausible denials
and other falsehoods.�
After describing Trump�s thoroughly refuted
claim that he had been wiretapped by former
President Barack Obama � which the Journal
argued has damaged his relationship with allies
like the United Kingdom and his own agency
heads like FBI Director James Comey � the
editorial board noted, �Mr. Trump is his
own worst political enemy.�
The Journal added, �He survived his many
false claims as a candidate because his core
supporters treated it as mere hyperbole and
his opponent was untrustworthy Hillary Clinton.
But now he�s president, and he needs support
beyond the Breitbart cheering section that
will excuse anything.�
Many of the Journal�s current criticisms
of Trump were foreshadowed in its refusal
to endorse the Republican candidate in November.
�The strongest argument against Mr. Trump,
as Hillary Clinton has recognized, concerns
his temperament and political character.
His politics is almost entirely personal,
not ideological,� the paper wrote.
�He overreacts to criticism and luxuriates
in personal feuds.�
The Journal added, �He ignores or twists
inconvenient facts, and even when he has a
good point his exaggerations make it harder
to persuade the public.
Yet a president needs the power to persuade.�
Trump isn�t alone in having his credibility
called into question.
Press secretary Sean �Spicer shred whatever
credibility he may have had left with his
remark about Manafort,� Dylan Byers of CNN
on Tuesday.
Byers pointed out that Spicer�s new claim
about Paul Manafort � that he had held a
�very limited role� in the presidential
campaign of Donald Trump �for a very limited
amount of time� � could not be characterized
as mere spin.
�It was a falsehood.
And Spicer knew it was a falsehood when he
said it, because he had previously acknowledged
that Manafort was �in charge� of Trump�s
campaign.�
Byers wrote: �When [Paul] Manafort took
over Trump�s campaign last June, Spicer
was unequivocal about his role: �Paul�s
in charge,� Spicer, then the Republican
National Committee�s communications director,
told Reuters.
Indeed, Manafort had already taken control
of the campaign � including its budget,
hiring decisions and media strategy � two
months earlier.�
