For the first time in its 38-year publication history, USA TODAY formally endorsed a presidential candidate, and it’s not President Donald Trump.

For nearly four decades, USA TODAY had avoided directly endorsing a candidate in a presidential election. But 2020 is different. Four years of scandals, assaults on democracy and the rule of law, a crumbling economy, and more than 225,000 Americans dead from the coronavirus pandemic has pushed the editorial board to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden.

Noting that most voters have already made up their mind between Trump and Biden, the publication aimed their endorsement at the few undecided voters out there in an effort to tip the scales.

“Recent polls show that more than 90% of voters have decided between Biden and Trump, and nothing at this point will change their minds,” the editorial board wrote. “This editorial is for those of you who are still uncertain about which candidate to vote for, or whether to vote at all. It’s also for those who settled on Trump but might be having last-minute doubts. Maybe you backed Trump the last time around because you hoped he’d shake things up in Washington or bring back blue-collar jobs. Maybe you liked his populist, anti-elitist message. Maybe you couldn’t stomach the idea of supporting a Democrat as polarizing as Clinton. Maybe you cast a ballot for a minor party candidate, or just stayed home.”

But four years later, Trump has left America in shambles.

“Is America better off now than it was four years ago?” the editorial asked. “Beset by disease, economic suffering, a racial reckoning and natural disasters fueled by a changing climate, the nation is dangerously off course.”

The editorial reminded Americans that electing a man with zero military and/or government experience was clearly a bad idea, especially since he is to blame for one of the deadliest crises in our history.

“When Trump was elected as the nation’s first president without previous experience in government or the military, we hoped that he would become, as he promised during the 2016 campaign, ‘more disciplined’ and ‘so presidential that you people will be so bored.’ After all, when you are a passenger on an airplane, you root for the pilot, even one who has never been in a cockpit before,” the editorial continued. “But when confronted with an emergency — COVID-19, the biggest public health threat in more than a century — Trump didn’t land the plane safely on the Hudson River. His shambolic response to the coronavirus pandemic has inflated a national death toll that is equivalent to the crashes of more than 1,000 Boeing-737 jetliners.”

And so, the editorial board endorsed Biden, who is more than qualified to clean up Trump’s mess and get the country back on the right track.

“This extraordinary moment in the history of our nation requires an extraordinary response,” USA TODAY concluded. “With his plans, his personnel picks, his experience and his humanity, Joe Biden can help lead the United States out of this morass and into the future. Your vote can help make that happen.”

This country desperately needs leadership, something Trump has failed to provide for four whole years because he spent his time golfing and making problems worse or creating more.

Biden will definitely be better, and with a Democratic Senate would be able to pass policies to help the American people and move our nation forward for once instead of backwards.

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