As any readers of KCP well knows, we strive to cover both the Democratic and Republican Parties equally as we believe the role of good government reporting fosters competition of ideas and not adherence to any one Party line.
While some may argue the importance of having more than two parties, we also recognize that our country is built on a two-party system so we tend to lean away from coverage of both the Working Families Party, the extreme left of the Democratic Party, and the Tea Party, the extreme right of the Republican Party.
Overall, we see good and bad values in both the Democratic and Republican Parties. We also believe in the media’s primary Constitutional role and mission to serve as a watchdog over government, its policies and its officials, and to foster the give and take of ideas in a nonpartisan format recognizing the inherent balance and importance of having at least two Parties to maintain a functional democracy.
That said, KCP finds the rise of businessman Donald Trump in the Republican Primaries deeply disturbing and urge Republicans to denounce and vote against him. We find his brand of politics well beyond the pale of campaigning and moving dangerously close to what amounts to as hate speech, bordering on the advocacy of authoritarian rule.
We find Trump’s view on Latinos, Muslims, immigration and the media going beyond the discourse of confronting some serious issues and on the border of scapegoating. We believe his speeches and manner have created a climate that contributed to the stabbing incidents this weekend at a Klu Klux Klan rally in California and his being endorsed by KKK Leader David Duke, and on his being the favorite candidate of white supremacist groups.
Further, as a Jewish-American, I implore my fellow Jewish-Americans to the right to think long and hard about supporting a man that draws this type of support from extremest groups that largely blame Jews for all of society’s ills – even if Trump does support Israel.
To be sure, KCP feels the nomination of Hillary Clinton is more like a coronation from the Democratic Party with Bernie Sanders giving only minimal competition, and it was refreshing to see so many Republican candidates vie for their Party’s presidential nomination. All too often, particularly in Brooklyn, where the Democratic Party is indeed the only Party, candidates are picked in political club backrooms leaving voters with next to no choice.
Nonetheless, Clinton is at least a viable candidate, and it remains KCP’s hope that the GOP will nominate anyone other than Donald Trump, which will lead to a more honest and open presidential debates on how our country moves forward.
This editorial comes as a response to KCP receiving a press release from a GOP political club last night endorsing Trump for President – a release that will very reluctantly and likely be in tomorrow’s Lawmakers On The Move.
The release will be put in out of respect to the political club and its’ members, but it in no way reflects KCP’s views. In fact, we again repudiate in the harshest and strongest terms the campaign that Trump has been running as divisive and counterproductive to American political discourse.
