The Los Angeles Times is running a scathing four-part critique of President Donald Trump’s “trainwreck” first months in office, and it isn’t pulling any punches.
“In a matter of weeks, President Trump has taken dozens of real-life steps that, if they are not reversed, will rip families apart, foul rivers and pollute the air, intensify the calamitous effects of climate change and profoundly weaken the system of American public education for all,” declares the first installment,”Our Dishonest President,” which ran Sunday.
Halfway through the blistering editorial series, which is unambiguously titled “The Problem with Trump,” the paper has taken aim at both the president’s policies and his “shocking” contempt for American institutions.
The editorial board means more than to just rant, however, and makes a point to underline the seriousness of the “immensely dangerous” and drastic political changes that the administration has attempted to implement. The article strikes out at the American Health Care Act, immigration orders, and the president’s most recent step to dismantle Obama-era environmental protections.
The analysis then turns personal, pointing out what it describes as Trump’s “utter lack of regard for the truth” and “scary willingness to repeat alt-right conspiracy theories.”
“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,” it reads.
In closing its opener, the board asserts that “everybody has a role to play in this drama” before demanding that U.S. lawmakers “who oppose the new president’s reckless and heartless agenda … make their voices heard.”
The Pulitzer prize-winning newspaper is set to run a new editorial each day. On Monday, the Los Angeles Times published ‘Why Trump lies’—branding him the “liar in chief.” It ends in another stunning call to action, asking citizens to “test assumptions, question leaders, argue details, research claims.”
Trump’s approval ratings have continued to plummet as his flagship policies face defeat and as congressional investigations, by the House Intelligence Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, dig into his campaign’s ties with Russia.
So far, the president has not addressed the editorial series but, as a man preoccupied with ratings and his own popularity, don’t doubt that it may one day ignite his Twitter feed.