LA Times devotes four editorials to the Trump 'train wreck'

  • 04/04/2017
Donald Trump
(Reuters)

United States President Donald Trump is facing a new front in his war with the media, with prominent newspaper the Los Angeles Times publishing a four-part editorial slamming the "dishonest" leader.

The first part of the blistering critique, published on April 2, starts out: "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.

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

The LA Times piece refers to Mr Trump's changes to environmental law, Planned Parenthood, healthcare and education, warning that they are "immensely dangerous developments".

But what is most worrying about the situation is Mr Trump himself, the editorial says.

"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 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."

In the series the LA Times says it will examine Mr Trump's lack of respect for the democratic process, his lack of regard for truth and his relationship to the far-right.

The second part, 'Why Trump lies', was published on April 3. In it the newspaper looks at past US leaders, saying they generally knew the difference between the truth and a dishonest statement.

"The insult that Donald Trump brings to the equation is an apparent disregard for fact so profound as to suggest that he may not see much practical distinction between lies, if he believes they serve him, and the truth."

It finishes by warning readers to "be suspicious of those who confuse reality with reality TV, and those who repeat falsehoods while insisting, against all evidence, that they are true."

The President often responds to critique on Twitter. As of yet he has not said anything of the editorials.

Newshub.