LA Times editorials take aim at ‘dishonest President’

The Los Angeles Times has launched a four-part editorial attack on “dishonest President” Donald Trump.

It labelled him a narcissist and a demagogue who thrives on “fear and dishonesty” in the opening paragraph of its 1300-word critique of the President. The paper promises to follow up with scathing editorial essays every day until Thursday.

Under the headline “Our Dishonest President”, the rant begins: “It was no secret during the campaign that Donald Trump was a narcissist and a demagogue who used fear and dishonesty to appeal to the worst in American voters. The called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking, and said his election would be a ‘catastrophe’.

“Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck.”

Claiming to represent “those who oppose the new President’s reckless and heartless agenda” whose voices aren’t being heard, the Times Editorial Board goes on to describe Trump’s decisions as “immensely dangerous” and “radically wrongheaded”. “What is most worrisome about Trump is Trump himself,” it reads. “He is a man so unpredictable, so reckless, so petulant, so full of blind self-regard, so untethered to reality that it is impossible to know where his presidency will lead or how much damage he will do to our nation.

“His obsession with his own fame, wealth and success, his determination to vanquish his enemies real and imagined, his craving for adulation — these traits were, of course, at the very heart of his scorched-earth outsider campaign; indeed, some of them helped get him elected.

“But in a real presidency in which he wields unimaginable power, they are nothing short of disastrous.”

The paper said the next three instalments would cover “Trump’s shocking lack of respect”, “His utter lack of regard for the truth” and “his scary willingness to repeat alt-right conspiracy”.

Trump did not immediately respond to the explosive campaign.