In the six years Essex Media Group has owned The Item, we have been careful to avoid endorsements that denigrate an opposing candidate. This will be the exception.
Our endorsement for president is as much a case against Donald J. Trump as it is in favor of Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Plagued by a pandemic that has killed 220,000 Americans, and striving to survive in an economy staggered by COVID-19, Americans need a president who demonstrates steady, even-handed leadership focused on bringing people together.
Donald J. Trump is not that person.
He is the Great American Political Disaster. A very huge disaster, as he might say.
Inexperienced in politics, Trump won election four years ago by tearing up the traditional political playbook. He wrote his own based on vanity and blatant dishonesty. He has devalued the office of the president.
The pandemic and the nation’s divisiveness have cast a glaring spotlight on Trump’s ineffectiveness and the need for Americans to banish him to the history books.
Trump has utterly failed to comprehend what it means to be the leader of the world’s greatest democracy. He treats the presidency as a giant megaphone he can use to sew division and fear. He challenges the integrity of the Nov. 3 election and, by extension, the very core of American democracy. He uses violent language at campaign rallies and refuses to denounce hate groups. He pits immigrants against American workers and refuses to understand the complexities and dynamics of immigration. He cozies up to dictators and lacks any understanding of America’s role in the world. He debunks climate change and turns his back on international efforts to reverse global warming. He refuses to draw a line between his business interests and his public duties. He ignores women’s right to choose. He doesn’t demonstrate any appreciation for America’s racist history and the racial equity movement sweeping the country.
Perhaps his most horrific shortfall is his intentional trivialization of COVID-19, his disdain for mask-wearing and, worse, crass insults of scientists and their warnings about the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study that puts the U.S. death count at nearly 300,000 if it includes those indirectly related to — but would not have occurred without — the virus. Columbia University researchers estimate that 130,000 of those deaths could have been avoided with a response to the virus similar to that undertaken in Europe.
These failures in themselves state the case for Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Joe Biden is a former United States senator and two-term vice president who can walk into the presidency in January knowing what the job entails, and how to do that job. Biden helped former President Barack Obama rebuild the nation’s economy in 2009 after the financial crisis. He has a solid campaign platform topped by his commitment to lead the nation out of COVID-19.
And he actually believes in science.
He advocates amending the Affordable Care Act with a public insurance option. He wants to end America’s opioid crisis, gun violence, disability inequality; and to combat climate change.
He has chosen in Senator Kamala Harris a qualified vice-presidential candidate who would be capable of assuming the presidency.
Biden describes his campaign for the presidency as “a battle for the soul of the nation.” The promise of freedom and opportunity defines America’s soul. We believe Biden is the candidate best equipped to preserve American freedom and cultivate the opportunities this nation has offered generations.
Biden understands that America united is stronger than America divided. He has made clear we do not have to choose between law and order and racial justice. He understands that political opponents can disagree without being enemies. He knows that to “make America great again” doesn’t mean making it a pariah on the world stage or a nation that repels and cages immigrants.
The United States needs leadership. We currently have none. Therefore, the clear choice for president is Joe Biden.
