By Josephine Harvey, May 26, 2020<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s attacks on the MSNBC host are \u201cugly even for him,\u201d the conservative newspaper\u2019s editorial board wrote in a column.<\/em><\/p>\n The editorial board of The Wall Street Journal published a column Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s implications that MSNBC<\/a> host Joe Scarborough<\/a>\u00a0was responsible for an aide\u2019s death.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The column, titled \u201cA Presidential Smear,\u201d<\/a> deplores Trump\u2019s baseless accusations against the \u201cMorning Joe\u201d host. The president has been tweeting suggestions that Scarborough, a former Republican congressman, was involved in the 2001 death of an intern in his Florida office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The editorial noted that Trump \u201csometimes traffics in conspiracy theories\u201d but labeled his latest accusation \u201cugly even for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Lori Klausutis, 28, died after hitting her head on a desk.\u00a0Authorities determined that she fainted due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition and ruled that her death was accidental.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMr. Trump always hits back at critics, and Mr. Scarborough has called the President mentally ill, among other things. But suggesting that the talk-show host is implicated in the woman\u2019s death isn\u2019t political hardball. It\u2019s a smear,\u201d the editorial board wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMr. Trump rightly denounces the lies spread about him in the Steele dossier, yet here he is trafficking in the same sort of trash.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The editorial also praised Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) for calling out the president last weekend<\/a> for spreading the unfounded conspiracy theory and asking him: \u201cJust stop. Stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The board acknowledged it had little expectation the president would stop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPerhaps he even thinks this helps him politically, though we can\u2019t imagine how,\u201d the board wrote. \u201cBut Mr. Trump is debasing his office, and he\u2019s hurting the country in doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n