Dallas Morning News Endorses Hillary Clinton for President Because Donald Trump Is 'No Republican'

After decades of calling for readers to vote for Republican candidates, the Dallas Morning News endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday — one day after the editorial board said in the paper that it could not support Donald Trump because he is not a true Republican.

"We don't come to this decision easily. This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation's highest office since before World War II — if you're counting, that's more than 75 years and nearly 20 elections," the editorial board wrote. "The party's over-reliance on government and regulation to remedy the country's ills is at odds with our belief in private-sector ingenuity and innovation. Our values are more about individual liberty, free markets and a strong national defense."

The last time the Dallas Morning News editorial board did not endorse a Republican nominee for president was in the 1964 election when Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson — a Texan — and Republican challenger Barry Goldwater faced off. The paper refrained from making an endorsement.

The editorial board, which backed Ohio Governor John Kasich in the Republican primaries, acknowledged Clinton's "real shortcomings" and referred to her use of a private email server while secretary of state as a "clear example of poor judgment."

However, even with those shortcomings, the board wrote, "they pale in comparison to the litany of evils some opponents accuse her of. Treason? Murder? Her being cleared of crimes by investigation after investigation has no effect on these political hyenas; they refuse to see anything but conspiracies and cover-ups."

They concluded: "Resume vs. resume, judgment vs. judgment, this election is no contest."

The endorsement comes one day after the Dallas Morning News published a scathing editorial of Trump and his run for the White House, in which it concluded the nominee "is no Republican and certainly no conservative."

In it, the board hit the Republican nominee on the hallmarks of conservatism: free markets, individual liberty and national security.

"Trump has displayed an authoritarian streak that should horrify limited-government advocates," the board wrote. "This impulsive, unbridled New York real estate billionaire and reality-TV star wants to deport people who were born in the U.S. and don't meet his standard for loyalty."

It added: "We have no interest in a Republican nominee for whom all principles are negotiable, nor in a Republican Party that is willing to trade away principle for pursuit of electoral victory."

In July, the Houston Chronicle — another important Texas newspaper that has frequently endorsed conservative candidates — caused a stir after endorsing Clinton over Trump because the New York businessman posed "a danger to the Republican Party."

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