For the first time since this whole saga began, I’m actually kind of worried. As much as I don’t agree with his ilk, I have every reason to think that Mattis is a serious man who thinks deeply and without animus.
The nature of his resignation is something I’ve never seen in my lifetime.
The Atlantic: Against Donald Trump — For the third time since The Atlantic’s founding, the editors endorse a candidate for president. The case for Hillary Clinton.
The Atlantic is a progressive magazine/website, however the editorial board have only ever endorsed two candidates for US President since its founding in 1857: one Republican and one Democrat.
Founded explicitly as an abolitionist magazine in Boston, it’s probably not surprising that they endorsed Lincoln in the 1860 election. A decade before my birth they would also endorse LBJ in his contest against Barry Goldwater. Goldwater for the uninitiated-non-Americans was an arch-conservative and United States Senator who had a deeply troubling platform and record on civil rights for black Americans, so far as to gain the support of the Ku Klux Klan.
But I won’t steal their thunder, it’s a damning indictment of Trump and it places him in the correct historical context. This is something the media has struggled and failed to accomplish until now.
Clinton is an immensely qualified candidate and would likely be a very effective president, she is also deeply troubling in her own ways and for me at least I find that she has a complex relationship with candour.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has more than earned, through her service to the country as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state, the right to be taken seriously as a White House contender. She has flaws (some legitimately troubling, some exaggerated by her opponents), but she is among the most prepared candidates ever to seek the presidency.
Donald J. Trump is catastrophically unqualified regardless of what you might think of his profound moral failings, his countless social views which have no place in the 21st century, or personal financial success.
He is spectacularly unfit for office, and voters—the statesmen and thinkers of the ballot box—should act in defense of American democracy and elect his opponent.
I encourage everybody to read it, regardless of their personal views on this election.