So Dr. Jay Fleitman believes that the scandal of Hillary Clinton’s emails means that she must be prevented from winning this fall’s election (Gazette column, July 9).
I assume that he’s preparing us for his endorsement of Donald Trump in a future column. Is he serious? I’ll concede that Clinton’s handling of her email accounts left a lot to be desired, and that her response to the issue has at times been less than forthright, and that her large speaking fees and pursuit of donations to her family’s foundation might be unseemly.
But in the life of a politician with a long career, problems like these are not unusual and rate relatively low relative to other scandals.
Compare them with some of the well-documented actions of Donald Trump: there are numerous examples of times when he has used his “brand” to convince people that it would be a good idea to be involved with him in some way, only to find themselves a good deal poorer and in possession of a worthless investment.
Fleitman should read the New York Times expose of how Trump treated investors in Atlantic City casinos, taking a big payday for himself and leaving the enterprises and his investors in bankruptcy.
Or he might talk to some of the unfortunate students of “Trump University” who are suing Trump because the “education” they received bore little resemblance to what they were sold.
I wonder how Fleitman feels about Trump’s tweet criticizing Clinton’s email practices with a picture of her next to a pile of cash and a six-pointed star. That tweet, like his comments about immigrants and Muslims, are red meat to neo-Nazis and KKK members out there, which convinces them that Trump is their man.
How can Fleitman (or anyone else, for that matter) endorse a man whose business career has been built on taking advantage of people and whose political career is built on inciting racial and ethnic hatred?
Joseph Blumenthal
Northampton