Donald Trump has chosen Orlando, Florida for the kick-off of his 2020 re-election bid. There is a carnival-like atmosphere with free food and various forms of entertainment. It all sounds like an ideal setting, but there is one gigantic problem.
The president’s campaign people have probably had to import people to fill the seats of his 20,000-seat capacity auditorium. Why? Orlando does not like Trump. Here is what The Orland Sentinel editorial team had to say about POTUS:
‘We’re here to announce our endorsement for president in 2020, or, at least, who we’re not endorsing: Donald Trump. Some readers will wonder how we could possibly eliminate a candidate so far before an election, and before knowing the identity of his opponent. Because there’s no point pretending we would ever recommend that readers vote for Trump. After 2½ years we’ve seen enough.’
The Sentinel has typically endorsed Republicans from 1952 to 2004, with the exception of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Yet, it would not endorse Trump unless he found “the proverbial cure for cancer.” The paper offered a “non-endorsement” instead.
The newspaper’s reasoning had to do with “the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies:”
‘So many lies — from white lies to whoppers — told out of ignorance, laziness, recklessness, expediency or opportunity. Trump’s capacity for lying isn’t the surprise here, though the frequency is. It’s the tolerance so many Americans have for it. There was a time when even a single lie — a phony college degree, a bogus work history — would doom a politician’s career.’
Just a few of his 10,000+ lies included:
‘…he lost the popular vote because millions of people voted illegally (they didn’t). In 2018 he said North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat (it is). And in 2019 he said windmills cause cancer (they don’t). Just last week he claimed the media fabricated unfavorable results from his campaign’s internal polling (it didn’t).’
The paper’s editorial board was appalled at Trump’s “love” for North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. The Korean dictator, who murdered his uncles and half-brother, probably does not have a love cell in his whole body:
‘As if that’s not enough, Trump declares his love for North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, a genuine villain who starves and enslaves his people and executes his enemies with antiaircraft guns and flamethrowers. But he wrote the president a “beautiful letter.” Flattery will get you everywhere with this president, and that’s dangerous.’
Trump tweeted after his visit with Kim Jong Un:
‘Just landed – a long trip, but everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!’
The newspaper added that Trump was insulting “political opponents and national heroes alike with middle-school taunts.” Plus, the president called on people to boycott CNN owner AT&T, because he did not like the network. Then, Trump did the unthinkable:
‘He seems incapable of learning a lesson, telling an ABC interviewer last week — just two months after Robert Mueller’s report on election interference was released — that he would accept dirt on an opponent from Russia or China.’
Then, the Sentinel referenced the president’s tweet as proof:
‘I believe that if people stoped (sic) using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!’
Finally the Sentinel ended with a call to action:
‘We can do better. We have to do better.’
