USA Today has become the latest newspaper to break with tradition by telling readers that Donald Trump is unfit to be President.
Throughout its history, America’s only national daily paper has remained neutral, endorsing or criticising individual policies without ever recommending a candidate.
And though the newspaper stops short of supporting Hillary Clinton, it has become the latest newspaper to dismiss Mr Trump’s qualifications and temperament for the highest office.
Several other newspapers which have always endorsed Republicans have also shunned the billionaire businessman, and advised readers to vote for the Democrat candidate.
USA Today’s editorial board said: “From the day he declared his candidacy 15 months ago through this week’s first presidential debate, Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he lacks the temperament, knowledge, steadiness and honesty that America needs from its presidents.”
In a devastating critique, the newspaper described Mr Trump as a “serial liar” who is “erratic” and who has “coarsened the national dialogue”.
It advised its readers that Hillary Clinton has her flaws, so they may want to vote for another candidate, but it concluded: “Whatever you do, however, resist the siren song of a dangerous demagogue.
“By all means vote, just not for Donald Trump.”
Earlier this week, the Arizona Republic tore up more than a century of history and told its readers to vote for a Democrat.
The newspaper declared: “The 2016 Republican candidate is not conservative and he is not qualified.”
The paper said that Senator Clinton’s flaws paled by comparison: “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.”
And while ripping into Mr Trump, it highlighted his rival’s “tenacity and professionalism”.
The Cincinnati Enquirer, in the crucial swing state of Ohio, called Mr Trump “a clear and present danger to our country”, despite having backed only Republican candidates for the presidency for nearly a hundred years.
The paper criticised both candidates as having “troubled relationships with truth and transparency”, but concluded: “We need a leader who will bring out the best in all Americans, not the worst.”
Mr Trump and many of his supporters have seemed at times to be engaged in open warfare with much of the media.
Reporters are regularly jeered at Mr Trump’s rallies, by both the candidate and his followers.
But while criticism from traditional liberal voices such as the Washington Post and New York Times has fuelled that animosity, the Trump campaign will find it harder to dismiss the condemnation from diehard Republican newspapers.
Several, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia’s state capital, opted to endorse the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson.
He is a two-term Governor with far more political experience than Mr Trump, but has been mocked for not having heard of the Syrian battlefront of Aleppo or freezing when he was asked to name a world leader he admired.
A handful of newspapers including the New York Post endorsed Mr Trump during the Republican primaries, but have yet to recommend voting for him in the presidential election.
The tough choices facing newspapers in who they support will be mirrored by millions of voters.
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