The Wall Street Journal slammed conservatives in the media who are backing Donald Trump, saying that it will be the ruin of conservatism.
The latest Trump scandal, in which the billionaire real estate mogul said that Arizona Sen. John McCain, who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was "not a war hero" — and then added "he's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured" — is merely an example of "Trump's inevitable self-immolation," the Journal wrote in the Sunday editorial.
Instead of apologizing for the statements, Trump has doubled down.
"The Trump dump drew immediate condemnations from most GOP candidates and others, but the political apprentice refused to apologize," the Journal said.
Trump released a statement in which he attacked McCain for not supporting veterans and for trying to reduce the size of the military, which he said is "something which should never be allowed to happen."
The Journal mocked Trump's statement as "hilarious," adding that "Mr. McCain doesn't need our defense on Mr. Trump's other insults, but they are notable because anyone with a cursory knowledge of politics knows they're false. They show that Mr. Trump has barely a passing acquaintance with America's current policy debates."
The Journal's editorial board said that Trump's rise in the polls has "been instructive in exposing a growing problem on the political right."
"All too many conservatives, including some magazine editors, have been willing to overlook his hucksterism as he's risen in the polls," the editors wrote.
"They pretend that he deserves respect because he's giving voice to some deep disquiet or anger in the American electorate."
The editors argue that "Trump would … be a catastrophe" for promoting conservatism because "his only discernible principle is the promotion of his personal brand."
"His main message seems to be that because he's rich and doesn't care what anyone thinks, he can afford to tell everyone to go to hell," the editorial board wrote.
While "some Americans may find it satisfying 16 months from Election Day to tell pollsters they'd vote for him … that doesn't mean conservative elites should validate this nonsense," it said.
The Journal praised most of Trump's GOP opponents for condemning the comments, especially former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, but it also pointed out "the
silence of Ted Cruz, who declined to criticize Mr. Trump because he said the media enjoys such intra-Republican fights," adding that such silence reveals Cruz's "own lack of political character."
The problem, according to the Journal, is that "many on the right seem willing to indulge any populist outburst no matter how divorced from reality or insulting to most Americans."
The editors argued that this needs to stop or it will have lasting consequences.
"If Donald Trump becomes the voice of conservatives, conservatism will implode along with him."
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