“Nobody cares what they say in their editorials anymore, especially me,” declared Republican front-runner Donald Trump as the world’s three major opinion makers, The Economist, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal find faults in him.
The Economist Intelligence Unit reported earlier on Thursday that Trump winning the US presidency was one of the top 10 risks facing the world.
The Post’s editorial board advised the Republican Party on Thursday to “do everything in your power” to stop Trump from winning the party’s nomination. Trump is far ahead of other candidates in the primaries so far held and opinion polls predict that he could win future primaries as well.
“THE UNTHINKABLE is starting to look like the inevitable … Donald Trump is likely to be the presidential nominee of the Republican Party,” the Post wrote.
“At this stage, even an extraordinary effort might fall short. But history will not look kindly on GOP (Republican) leaders who fail to do everything in their power to prevent a bullying demagogue from becoming their standard-bearer,” the newspaper warned.
WSJ irked Trump by publishing voting statistics, which showed that he has received fewer overall votes in the Republican primary than Hillary Clinton has in the Democratic primary.
“A GOP convention can’t steal something Trump doesn’t own,” wrote the WSJ editorial board. “If Trump can’t win a majority of Republicans, he can’t win a majority of Americans in November.”
Trump was particularly upset with WSJ because it is considered a pro-Republican newspaper and can impact his vote bank.
WSJ Editorial says, “Clinton primary vote total is 8,646,551. Trump’s is 7,533,692”-a knock. But she had only 3 opponents-I had 16,” Trump tweeted.
“WSJ is bad at math … Apologies,” he wrote, adding: “Please explain to the dummies at the WSJ Editorial Board that I love to debate and have won.” The Post reminds the Republican Party that Trump “admires Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and sees no difference between Putin’s victims and people killed in the defence of the United States.”
Trump, the newspaper adds, “Would round up and deport 11 million people, a forced movement on a scale not attempted since Stalin or perhaps Pol Pot.”
The Post also notes that during the course of his campaign, Trump “denigrated women, Jews, Muslims, Mexicans, people with disabilities and many more. He routinely trades in wild falsehoods and doubles down when his lies are exposed.”
The harshest judgment against Trump, however, came from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The research firm warned that he could disrupt the global economy and heighten political and security risks in the US if elected.
The EIU experts, however, said they did not expect Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton who they see as “his most likely Democratic contender”.
The report rated Trump as riskier than Britain leaving the European Union or an armed clash in the South China Sea.
“Thus far, Trump has given very few details of his policies — and these tend to be prone to constant revision,” the EIU said in its global risk assessment, which looks at impact and probability.
The EIU ranking uses a scale of one to 25, with Trump garnering a rating of 12, the same level of risk as “the rising threat of jihadi terrorism destabilising the global economy”.
Trump “has been exceptionally hostile towards free trade, including notably Nafta, and has repeatedly labelled China as a ‘currency manipulator’,” the EIU said.
It warned that his strong language directed towards Mexico and China “could escalate rapidly into a trade war”. The report notes that Trump wants to build a “big, big wall” on the US-Mexican border and force Mexico to pay for it.
“His militaristic tendencies towards the Middle East and ban on all Muslim travel to the US would be a potent recruitment tool for jihadi groups, increasing their threat both within the region and beyond,” the EIU added.
