Citing her temperament, experience, and ability to think before acting, the Arizona Republic, the largest newspaper in the state, did something it has never done in its 126-year history: endorsed a Democrat for president.
The challenges the United States faces domestically and internationally demand a steady hand, a cool head and the ability to think carefully before acting.
Hillary Clinton understands this. Donald Trump does not.
Clinton has the temperament and experience to be president. Donald Trump does not.
The paper noted that Clinton had made mistakes—notably the use of a private email server while secretary of state, and whether donors to the Clinton Foundation had been given special access—but added they did not disqualify her.
Yet despite her flaws, Clinton is the superior choice.
She does not casually say things that embolden our adversaries and frighten our allies. Her approach to governance is mature, confident and rational.
Unlike, say, her opponent Donald Trump, which the Republic neatly dismissed.
Clinton retains her composure under pressure. She’s tough. She doesn’t back down.
Trump responds to criticism with the petulance of verbal spit wads.
That’s beneath our national dignity.
When the president of the United States speaks, the world expects substance. Not a blistering tweet.
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The Republic is just one of several conservative papers with a long track record of Republican endorsements that have lined up behind Clinton in the last several weeks.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, which last endorsed a Democrat almost 100 years ago, supports her, as does the Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle, which noted the stark choices facing voters on Nov. 8.
Any one of Trump's less-than-sterling qualities - his erratic temperament, his dodgy business practices, his racism, his Putin-like strongman inclinations and faux-populist demagoguery, his contempt for the rule of law, his ignorance - is enough to be disqualifying. His convention-speech comment, "I alone can fix it," should make every American shudder. He is, we believe, a danger to the Republic.
