The New York Times editorial board slammed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for telling voters “racist lies” in an editorial posted Tuesday.
Among the lies the board pointed to was when Trump said this weekend that he saw “thousands and thousands” of people in New Jersey cheering on 9/11 and when Trump said that the United States was accepting 250,000 Syrian refugees. The board wrote that Trump can be counted on to say lies “too vile to utter aloud” to gain the attention they afford him.
The board wrote the tactic is “nothing new” in politics, comparing Trump’s words to comments Joseph McCarthy made as he ran for Senate and George Wallace made after being elected governor of Alabama.
The Times noted that Trump often wages his attacks on social media—a form of communication that doesn’t require any proof, unlike an exchange with a reporter should—and that attention garnered online in turn earns him TV spots. On his hyperactive Twitter account, Trump has attacked politicians, retweeted an image of a swastika, and most recently shared an inaccurate statistic about the murder rate among African-Americans.
The board wrote that it doesn’t want to limit Trump’s free speech, but urged reporters to continue to challenge him. As the newspaper put it, “His right to spew nonsense is protected by the Constitution, but the public doesn’t need to swallow it.”
Read the full piece here.
