Conservative news outlets that dislike Donald Trump may turn towards the Libertarian party, that’s what the Detroit News did.
The Detroit News endorsed Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, breaking a 143-year tradition of endorsing Republican candidates for president.
The endorsement came just one day after Johnson couldn't name a single foreign leader on MSNBC.
Here's the video from Johnson's MSNBC interview:
Ingrid Jacques, the deputy editorial page editor at the Detroit News, believes that Johnson was the paper’s only option for a candidate to endorse.
“Basically, we were given a field of candidates that made this choice something that we saw as our only option,” Jacques says.
“We decided, as we say in our endorsement, to make this an endorsement of conscience, of backing an individual we think that has a solid record,” she says.
Despite Johnson’s recent foreign policy blunders, Jacques says Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, would be worse.
We decided, as we say in our endorsement, to make this an endorsement of conscience, of backing an individual we think that has a solid record
“Would Trump be any better? [The editorial board] thinks he would be dangerous,” she says.
Jacques also says Johnson has done well domestically.
“Johnson has a very solid record. He created a good job environment in New Mexico, he's got a good stance on education and he’s socially moderate as well, so he should appeal to a wide variety of voters,” Jacques says.
The News decided not to endorse any candidates in three previous elections, the most recent of those being the 2004 election when George W. Bush defeated John Kerry.
Jacques appeared as a guest on Stateside today.
