Imagine a newspaper editorial board calling a president "unfit to clean toilets" and then a few months later inviting that same president to write a guest column about the economy on that same editorial page. Say what?
And if you find that disconcerting so did Jake Novak, a CNBC senior columnist until March, who took USA Today to task for that on Tuesday. Novak reminded USA Today that he criticized them for going way over the line back in December right after their unhinged attack upon Trump. Then he wondered how that same editorial board could have Trump write a guest column this week sans an apology.
To get an idea how extreme USA Today acted in their editorial, let us take a look at their December 12, 2017 editorial, Will Trump's lows ever hit rock bottom? with its highly inflammatory subtitle, A president who'd all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama's presidential library or to shine George W. Bush's shoes: Our view.
With his latest tweet, clearly implying that a United States senator would trade sexual favors for campaign cash, President Trump has shown he is not fit for office. Rock bottom is no impediment for a president who can always find room for a new low.
The tweet?
Lightweight Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a total flunky for Chuck Schumer and someone who would come to my office “begging” for campaign contributions not so long ago (and would do anything for them), is now in the ring fighting against Trump. Very disloyal to Bill & Crooked-USED!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2017
One has to intentionally view the world through very thick liberal lenses to somehow discern that Trump was implying that Gillibrand would trade sexual favors for campaign cash. They added to their intense Trump hatred dementia with this derangement:
Donald Trump, the man, on the other hand, is uniquely awful. His sickening behavior is corrosive to the enterprise of a shared governance based on common values and the consent of the governed.
So after crawling out on that limb in attacking what they call a "uniquely awful" president, what did the USA Today editorial board do a few months later? Why, invite him back to write a guest column on our booming ecomony. Talk about a complete disconnect!
And it was this very disconnect that was the focus of Jake Novak's column:
...perhaps the most surprising and over-the-top nastiness landed in the pages of USA Today back in December when the editorial board published a piece that literally stated that President Donald Trump was "unfit to clean toilets."
It was a shocker of a comment because it was an editorial from the actual editorial board, and not an outside contributor. Also, USA Today usually has the most balanced editorial page in America. Yet the paper stood by the piece and didn't apologize, even after shocked critics like me noted it had really crossed a line.
...But here we are four months after the "toilets" slur, and this morning USA Today had a featured editorial written by none other than President Donald Trump.
Apparently, the man unfit to clean toilets is still fit enough to get a prime spot in the USA Today.
It seems obvious there are no Trump supporters on the USA Today editorial board since it is pretty much grounds for immediate dismissal from that newspaper and others such as the New York Times.
There is a simple way out for USA Today in this case, especially since that paper has the best case to make for upholding a higher level of fairness than most of its peers over the decades. That is, it should simply follow the first rule of holes and stop digging. It obviously went too far with the "unfit to clean toilets" comment and it should apologize for that and move on. Pretending it didn't say it, or trying to justify it in any way is just more digging.
Another good idea would be to get someone on that editorial board who either generally supports President Trump and his overall agenda... or at least find a way to give anyone on the board who already does support President Trump a more prominent voice.
