President Donald Trump on Saturday received the endorsement of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by and large, because of his administration's economic success. It's the first time the newspaper has supported a Republican since Richard Nixon ran for re-election in 1972.
Although the editorial board said they would prefer someone who has a "first-class temperament and demeanor," like those of Churchill, Eisenhower, FDR, Reagan or Obama, that's not the primary concern amongst voters in this election cycle. Voters are predominantly concerned with jobs, the economy, and trade.
Of course, one of the key reasons the Post-Gazette endorsed the president is because of energy and fracking.
From the editorial (emphasis mine):
Let’s look at the Trump record:
Under Donald Trump the economy, pre-COVID, boomed, like no time since the 1950s. Look at your 401(k) over the past three years.
Unemployment for Black Americans is lower than it has ever been, under any president of either party.
Under Mr. Trump, our trade relationships have vastly improved and our trade deals have been rewritten. Thanks to him, middle America is on the map again and the Appalachian and hourly worker has some hope.
Has Mr. Trump done enough for these struggling fellow citizens? No. But he recognized them. Maybe he was not articulate, but he recognized their pain.
No one ever asked the American people, or the people in “flyover,” country, if they wanted to send their jobs abroad — until Mr. Trump. He has moved the debate, in both parties, from free trade, totally unfettered, to managed, or fair, trade. He has put America first, just as he said he would.
He also kept his promise to appoint originalists to the Supreme Court of the United States. His third appointment, Amy Coney Barrett, is the best of all — a jurist whose mind and character and scholarship ARE first class. We hope she stands against both judicial and executive excess.
Finally, let’s talk about one of the most important concerns in this region — energy. Under Mr. Trump the United States achieved energy independence for the first time in the lifetimes of most of us. Where would Western Pennsylvania be without the Shell Petrochemical Complex (the “cracker plant”)?
The editorial acknowledges Trump's personality isn't for everyone and he didn't handle the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic perfectly "but no one masters a pandemic."
They went on to explain why they refused to endorse a Biden-Harris ticket.
But the Biden-Harris ticket offers us higher taxes and a nanny state that will bow to the bullies and the woke who would tear down history rather than learning from history and building up the country.
It offers an end to fracking and other Cuckoo California dreams that will cost the economy and the people who most need work right now. “Good-paying green jobs” are probably not jobs for Pittsburgh, or Cleveland, or Toledo, or Youngstown.
It offers softness on China, which Mr. Trump understands is our enemy.
Mr. Biden is too old for the job, and fragile. There is a very real chance he will not make it through the term. Mr. Trump is also too old but seemingly robust. But in Mike Pence, Mr. Trump has a vice president ready to take over, if need be. He is a safe pair of hands. Sen. Kamala Harris gives no evidence of being ready to be president.
At the end of the editorial, the board reminded readers they have not supported a Republican for president since 1972.
"But we believe Mr. Trump, for all his faults, is the better choice this year," one of the sentences in the final paragraph stated.
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