Not only does Trump lack moral character, he’s a criminal sociopath

May 7 — To the Editor:

A May 7 letter writer describes a writer to these pages as “brainwashed” and devoid of facts for describing Trump as lacking moral character. The only way to counter Trump style projection is with some of the actual facts. First, there is a reason why a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million in a huge civil fraud ruling for his scheme to dupe banks and inflate his wealth. Before that, a jury ordered Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million for sexual assault and defamation. Before that, he was ordered to pay $25 million for the “Trump University” scam. Currently, Trump is on trial for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the “hush money” case.

As President, Trump repeatedly violated the emoluments clause. He withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine for not pursuing a baseless investigation into the Bidens. After he fired FBI Director James Comey, he repeatedly tried to politicize the Justice Department. Most egregiously, Trump falsely alleged fraud in the 2020 election, even after 61 judges (some of whom were Trump appointed) ruled the election was fair. He became the first president in U.S. history to refuse a peaceful transfer of power by inciting an insurrection attempt, telling a mob to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” knowingly putting VP Mike Pence in danger because Pence did his job. Trump then did nothing for hours to stop the violent assault. “Lacking moral character” here is a polite understatement for criminal sociopathy. These are the facts. Just saying.

Phil Harford

Newmarket