In a Thursday editorial, Joseph W. McQuaid, the Union Leader publisher, accused Trump of denigrating anyone who disagrees with him, ironically while denigrating and name-calling the candidate that he disagrees with.
“The man is a liar, a bully, a buffoon,” the editorial read. “He denigrates any individual or group that displeases him. He has dishonored military veterans and their families, made fun of the physically frail, and changed political views almost as often as he has changed wives.”
Along with endorsing Johnson, the paper backed the entire Libertarian ticket, instead of choosing between “the lesser of two evils.”
A poll earlier this month found that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton leads Trump by only 2 points in the state, with Johnson polling at 15 percent.
“Newspaper endorsements have considerably less currency now than in an earlier political era, of course. The Union Leader’s backing of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey in the state’s primary did little for his campaign, and their regular broadsides against Trump did not stop him from rolling to a 19-point victory there,” the Boston Globe noted.
Still, McQuaid seems hopeful that his endorsement will help stop a Trump victory, and likely hand the state to Clinton.
“Voters leaning toward Trump are understandably fed up with the status quo, of which Clinton is a prime example,” he wrote. “But they kid themselves if they think Trump isn’t pretty much a part of that status quo as well, or that he is in any way qualified to competently lead this nation.”
