For 140 years, The Washington Post has published without a motto. But no more. “Democracy Dies in Darkness” now appears under the paper’s masthead on its website, and it’s soon coming to the print edition. Why now? Need you ask?

Since Donald Trump became the apparent GOP nominee for president last year, we in our humble shop — ourselves not Trump’s biggest fans — have observed a marked left turn by the once esteemed Post. While always a Leftmedia bastion, the Post now features headlines constantly sniping at Trump, news stories editorializing more than ever, and a selection of reporting that belies Trump Derangement Syndrome.

Bob Woodward, the legendary reporter of Watergate fame, has long made a practice of using the phrase “democracy dies in darkness" — specifically meaning government secrecy. Perhaps the new slogan pays homage to Woodward. But either the Post’s management doesn’t remember Barack Obama’s war on the press, or they weren’t bothered enough by it to introduce their ominous motto during his opaque administration. Yet it was New York Times reporter James Risen, targeted by the Obama Justice Department, who called the Obama White House the "greatest enemy of press freedom that we have encountered in at least a generation.” By all means, though, the Post will clearly voice its opposition to President Trump, because the Leftmedia is a Democrat super PAC.

A final word about “democracy,” which too many people use as a synonym for “freedom.” Our Founders established a republic, not a democracy, and John Adams explained why: “Remember democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”