Ohio

Ever since the 31 August 2019 demise of the (Youngstown) Vindicator, a daily newspaper where I spent 40 years as a reporter, columnist, editorial writer and editorial page editor, I’ve written numerous commentaries and editorials about the presidency of Donald J Trump – all in my head. Sadly, there isn’t an antidote for the death of the 150-year-old news institution, which blazed a journalistic trail in Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
On 1 November 2016, the Vindicator published an editorial endorsing Hillary Clinton over Trump. While we weren’t enamored by Clinton’s presidential bid, the newspaper’s editorial board believed that on the singularly important issue of leadership, the former secretary of state and US senator from New York stood head and shoulders above Trump, the self-styled billionaire. The real-estate developer wore his racism, chauvinism, religious bigotry and anti-immigrant railings as badges of honor. We warned our readers that a Trump presidency would roll back the progress made toward creating a more perfect union.
In our editorial endorsing Clinton, we wrote:
“Trump is a self-absorbed rich man whose attitude toward women, minorities, the disabled and the press makes him clearly unqualified to be the leader of the greatest country on earth. He lacks the temperament, the vision and the understanding of the role the president plays in domestic and international affairs. He does not possess the steady hand of leadership that is demanded in times of upheaval and uncertainty.”
On 9 November 2016, just days after the unfathomable outcome of the presidential election was announced, I wrote a column with the headline “With Trump victory, America falls for snake-oil salesman.”
Actually, I slightly missed the mark: President Trump has not been peddling snake oil. Rather, he has been the purveyor of political poison that has undermined the American people’s trust in democracy and shattered America’s reputation around the world as a beacon of freedom, stability and racial pluralism.
Similarly, Trump’s slash-and-burn politics and his virulent attack on the free legitimate press have served to remind us of his admiration for foreign dictators.
If the Vindicator were still around today, my argument as the editorial page editor to the owners of the newspaper for endorsing Joe Biden would be this: America is at a crossroads. The re-election of Donald Trump will take this nation down a path of social and economic destruction that will exacerbate the racial and cultural divide he has fed over the last four years. Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus and his denigration of the medical and scientific communities – and his dismissive attitude toward the wearing of masks and social distancing, as evidenced by his “anything goes” campaign rallies – make him unworthy of a second term.
I would contend that America is in desperate need of an adult and a steady hand at the helm, which it would get with Biden as president.
Finally, I would argue that Trump lied to the people of the Mahoning Valley. In July 2017, Trump hosted a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, to show his appreciation to the multitude of former Democrats – mostly white, male, blue-collar workers who have fallen victim to the new technology-based globalized economy – who crossed party lines to vote for him.
Trump promised to rebuild the huge steel-producing factories that once dotted the banks of the Mahoning River, and to bolster the American automobile industry that was a mainstay of the region’s economy for more than 50 years. He told those gathered not to sell their homes and not to move. He said the return of steel-making was imminent, and that he would ensure the expansion of General Motors’ massive car assembly plant in the region.
Here’s what has actually happened: not one new steel mill has been built in the past four years. And, in March 2019, General Motors closed its compact car-making plant in Lordstown, eliminating 4,500 high-paying jobs. The giant automaker shrugged off the president’s threat of economic retaliation.
Those are the arguments I am certain we would be making in an editorial endorsing Biden.
Sadly, we can’t. The Vindicator’s presses have fallen silent.
Bertram de Souza is a veteran journalist who served in various positions at the Vindicator newspaper in Youngstown, Ohio. His Sunday column was one of the most popular features in the Vindicator, which went out of business in 2019
Legendary Watergate reporter Bob Woodward will discuss the Trump presidency at a Guardian Live online event on Tuesday 27 October, 7pm GMT. Book tickets here More