Sheldon Adelson’s newspaper comes through for Trump

When it comes to the presidential campaign and the media, one of the more amazing aspects of the 2016 race is the degree to which newspaper editorial boards have endorsed Hillary Clinton. Papers that have spent generations supporting Republican presidential nominees have argued that Clinton must defeat Donald Trump.But the sentiment is not literally unanimous. As Rachel noted on Friday’s show, while nearly all of the nation’s editorial boards have expressed support for the Democratic nominee, three fairly small newspapers with modest circulations — one in Santa Barbara, California, one in St. Joseph, Missouri, and one in Waxahachie, Texas — have bucked the trend and encouraged readers to cast their votes for Trump.Over the weekend, as the New York Times noted, they received some notable company.

The editorial itself, which is online here, is not without unintentional humor.Trump, the Review-Journal‘s editorial board assures readers, “promises to be a source of disruption and discomfort to the privileged, back-scratching political elites for whom the nation’s strength and solvency have become subservient to power’s pursuit and preservation.”Hmm. Billionaire Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal, pushing the newspaper to the right and tilting its direction heavily in the Republican Party’s favor. The paper then endorsed Trump, another professed billionaire, who’s spent years bragging about his political influence, and who’s running on a platform of tax cuts for the wealthy.It’s against this backdrop that Adelson’s newspaper has encouraged readers to see Trump has a scourge to “the privileged, back-scratching political elites.”I’m not sure who’ll find this persuasive. In fact, I have a hard time imagining how the members of Review-Journal‘s editorial board take their own argument seriously.