LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Trump's 'Only I' attitude won't cut it for America

I was deeply disappointed at Bernie Sanders’ defeat in the Democratic primary. I believe that he is the most honorable person who ran; his programs would have benefited ALL Americans. As things stand today, I must vote for Hillary Clinton, despite some serious reservations. Donald Trump has demonstrated to America that he will do more harm to Americans than good. Secretary Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server was a serious and self-centered mistake which she has acknowledged. She’s repeatedly given self-serving responses to repeated questioning. Despite an FBI investigation, she was found to have done nothing patently illegal. While testifying during the Benghazi hearings, she stated “… what does it matter … ,” seemingly uncaring, but she was actually reacting to the goading she received. She more likely felt sympathy for the families of the deceased based upon the decades where she has shown compassion for people who suffer. There is ample evidence that the Clinton Foundation is a charitable nonprofit organization and is operating properly. There is little if any evidence of “pay-for-play” despite allegations to the contrary. Mr. Trump uses Twitter as his instantaneous campaign tool to draw as much attention to himself as possible. Beginning with his primary run and continuing to the present, his tweets are reported almost continuously. His primary debate tactics were principally name-calling and avoiding concrete statements of HOW “Only I …” would achieve his plan to “Make America great again.” Unlike the rallies of Sen. Sanders and Secretary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s rallies are virtually monochromatic. There appears to be little diversity in the audiences listening to his promises to help ALL Americans. Referring to “The Making of Donald Trump” by David Cay Johnston and the article “How Donald Trump Retooled His Charity …” in the Sept. 10 The Washington Post by David Farenthold, I find Mr. Trump’s honesty, trustworthiness and charity questionable. Mr. Johnston chronicles Mr. Trump’s practices in Atlantic City, N.J. He declared bankruptcies with his casinos, lured investors to bail them out and walked away with millions when the casinos failed. He refused to pay contractors whom he employed, which caused them to go out of business. According to Mr. Farenthold’s article, he took a donation from a friend intended for a policemen’s charity. The Trump Foundation deposited that money and made the donation in Trump’s name, earning him a trophy. He used $20,000 of foundation money to buy a 6-foot-tall portrait of himself and another, 4 feet square, at $10,000, that’s hanging in a restaurant. Moreover, according to Farenthold’s extensive research, he used $258,000 of foundation money to settle two lawsuits, one in Florida and another in New York. Both the book and the article show that Mr. Trump is less than honorable or trustworthy. In a public gathering on Sept. 20, Mr. Trump stated (I paraphrase) that he will make America great again, help Americans, improve education and more, exactly as he has run his businesses, by using “OPM – other people’s money.” That “OPM” will be ours. His tax plans are predicted to increase our debt by $10 trillion. At a gathering on Sept. 21, he proposed a national program of “stop and frisk” to improve our safety. A court case in New York City determined that this was unconstitutional due to evident racial profiling. I must do my best to prevent this bigoted, misogynistic, fear-mongering, xenophobic TV personality from becoming the first “Only I … ” president.

Alan P. Gaddis Dover