Deseret News has sat on the sidelines of presidential politics for the last 80 years, but now it thinks it’s time for Republican nominee to go.
The Utah-based newspaper, which is published by and is to a certain extent a mouthpiece of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, laid out its reasoning in an editorial Saturday.
“We are neutral on matters of partisan politics. We do, however, feel a duty to speak clearly on issues that affect the well-being and morals of the nation. Accordingly, today we call on Donald Trump to step down from his pursuit of the American presidency,” the Mormon paper wrote.
The editors grant that “presidential candidates are human and that everyone makes mistakes.” They admit that “what is expressed in an unguarded moment of conversation” should not “be the full measure of the individual.” And they emphasize the need for “forgiveness, compassion and a second chance.”
Nevertheless, they believe the release Friday of a video in which Trump was caught on microphone in 2005 talking lewdly about hitting on and seducing women, some married, told a larger story about Trump’s character.
“The most recent revelations of Trump’s lewdness disturb us not only because of his vulgar objectification of women, but also because they poignantly confirm Trump’s inability to self-govern,” they wrote.
The newspaper’s un-endorsement could create some problems for Trump in Utah. He is not popular with Mormon voters but likely could have banked on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s greater unpopularity to keep the state in the win column.
An unprecedented Deseret News editorial makes that harder.
