Dear Editor:
The presidential election has come down to Crooked Hillary vs. Lunatic Trump. In deciding who to vote for we could argue either that Hillary isn't crooked or that Trump isn't a lunatic, but what if we assume the truth of both allegations? Then whom should we vote for?
Let's assume that Hillary took pay to the Clinton Foundation in return for favors as secretary of state, that she destroyed emails that were subject to a subpoena, and that she lied under oath about both matters. So, if she were elected what's the worst we might expect based on her record?
We might expect her to use her office to channel money to her family via the Clinton Foundation and speaking fees, and we might expect her to lie to cover up these activities. She is about self-enrichment and that's what we might expect her to aim for as president. That's bad, but it's not the end of the world.
Now let's assume that Trump continues to denigrate Hispanics, women and Muslims, that he imposes high tariffs on Mexican and Chinese imports and thereby triggers an international trade war, and that he weakens NATO because our allies don't pay their fair share of the costs.
Attacking groups of people based on their ethnicity, sex or religion is going to further divide an already fragile country. Starting a trade war is going to trigger another great recession if not a depression. One trigger of the Great Depression of the 1930s was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which was passed by the Republicans in 1930. It raised tariffs sharply on foreign imports. Other countries retaliated, the trade war was on, and the Depression was underway.
Weakening NATO because our allies don't pay their fair share would be a tremendous mistake given the current situation with Russia. Putin is determined to reclaim most of the Eastern European countries that Russia lost when the Soviet Union collapsed. This is Great Power politics and the only way to respond is with a balance of power, a position of strength that deters further aggression such as occurred in Crimea. Weakness and appeasement won't work.
So Trump's policies may further divide the country, cause a depression and invite Russian aggression. This is lunacy.
One is reminded of Talleyrand's observation, "It's worse than a crime; it's a blunder."
The rational choice then is to vote for Hillary.