WaPo calls for 'brokered convention' to deny Trump

Donald Trump

The Washington Post's editorial board banded together to pull out all stops against Donald Trump and call for a "brokered convention," the last perceived chance to halt the billionaire from receiving the Republican Party nomination.

In an editorial, the newspaper quizzed: "Should leaders unite behind Mr. Trump, who has collected the most delegates but may reach the convention in July without a nominating majority? Or should they do everything they can to deny him the nomination?"

And the board's answer was blunt.

The 'Stop Hillary' campaign is on fire! Join the surging response to this theme: 'Clinton for prosecution, not president'

TRENDING: Reigning Mrs. World arrested after taking tiara from winner in ugly meltdown

"On a political level," the editorial board wrote, "this may be a dilemma. As a moral question, it is straightforward. The mission of any responsible Republican should be to block a Trump nomination and election."

The board members said their position doesn't stem from belief that Trump's "perilously wrong" on policy issues – although they do believe that, they wrote.

"No, Mr. Trump must be stopped because he presents a threat to American democracy," the editorial stated.

Trump "resembles other strongmen throughout history who have achieved power by manipulating democratic processes," the paper went on.

Do you support Donald Trump’s no-nonsense candidacy? Tell the world with this brand new magnetic bumper sticker: “DONALD TRUMPS THE REST”

And by manipulation, the board members meant "violence."

"Their playbook includes a casual embrace of violence; a willingness to wield government powers against personal enemies; contempt for a free press; demonization of anyone who is not white and Christian; intimations of dark conspiracies; and the propagation of sweeping, ugly lies," the board said. "Mr. Trump has championed torture and the murder of innocent relatives of suspected terrorists. He has flirted with the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists. He has libeled and stereotyped wide swaths of humanity, including Mexicans and Muslims."

The list of perceived Trump offenses goes on.

The newspaper editorial board also accused him of failing to release tax returns and other documents that are part and parcel of normal political campaigning processes.

"We are not advocating that rules be broken," the board said, "but that they be employed to maximum effect – to force a brokered convention and nominate a conservative candidate who respects the Constitution, or to defeat Mr. Trump in some other way."

Board members then brought up Trump's recent response to a question about arriving at the convention absent the necessary number of delegates, when he spoke of the potential for riots.

And they wrote, in conclusion: "A democrat disavows violence; a demagogue wields it as a threat. The Republican Party should recognize the difference and act on it before it is too late."