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Sheldon Adelson's newspaper comes through for Trump

Nearly all of the nation's newspaper editorial boards are backing Hillary Clinton. Sheldon Adelson's newspaper, however, is backing Trump.
Las Vegas Sands Corporation Chairman Sheldon Adelson speaks to students at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada in Las Vegas, April 26, 2012.
Las Vegas Sands Corporation Chairman Sheldon Adelson speaks to students at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada in Las Vegas, April 26, 2012.
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.

With polls showing him sliding nationally, Donald J. Trump received a bit of welcome news on Sunday in one battleground state as the editorial page of Nevada's largest newspaper, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, endorsed him for president.It is the first major newspaper to give Mr. Trump its blessing, though it may come with something of an asterisk: The Review-Journal was bought late last year by the casino magnate and billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Trump supporter and longtime Republican benefactor.

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.