The Presidential Candidates

This letter appeared in The Jerusalem Post on Oct. 11, 2016:

Sir:

It seems that the US electoral system is highly flawed and has thrown up two candidates of the major parties who are also equally flawed.  The Republican candidate Donald Trump has shown himself to be a shallow man unsuited to high electoral office, and the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is beset by numerous cases of at least bad judgement and at most criminal actions that deserve jail time.  I propose a balanced solution, let both of them be substituted for by a candidate chosen by their peers in their own parties.  For Trump I would suggest Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a young and energetic conservative, and for Clinton I suggest the next in line, VP Joe Biden.  Both would be preferable to the current candidates.  However, I am afraid that this option may be too late, so fellow-Americans, hold your noses and vote for the least objectionable candidate, the lesser of two evils.

Yours, Yaakov Ben-Meir (alias Jack S Cohen)

I would like to add a further opinion.  However, regrettable and unfortunate Donald Trump’s recorded statments were about women, they are (as far as we know) only words. To my knowledge no woman has come forward and accused him of rape or anything like it.  If they had I am sure the Clinton campaign would have paraded them in public, just as Trump paraded the four women accusers of Bill Clinon for all to see.

But, I do not want to compare Trump’s trangressions with those of Bill Clinton.  Whatever happened, these were in the past (as were Trump’s statements).  But, I want to compare his statements to the actions of Hillary Clinton as US Secty. of State. These are uncontested facts: 1. She deliberately used an insecure e-mail server after signing a Government secrecy document and after specific warnings; 2. She sent secret messages over this server, whether knowingly or unknowlingly this is a federal offense; 3. 35,000 or so e-mails are missing from her server, this seems extremely suspicious; 4. Several of her top aides had their hard drives destroyed; 5. She gave private speeches (recorded) in which she contradicted her political positions; 6. She intervened to obtain access to Government officials for donors to the Clinton Foundation; 7. She did not intervene in Behghazi when the US Ambassador was under direct attack and he was killed together with 3 marines.

She is obviously getting away with crimes for which any ordinary US citizen would be at least indicted if not almost certainly sent to jail.  For all of these actions (whatever the legal outcomes) I do not see how anyone can vote for her for such a high office with a clear conscience, and just because she is a woman.  Note also her top aides: 1. Sidney Blumenthal, a strongly anti-Israel Jew, who was involved in Pres. Bill Clinton’s impeachment and whose son Max is a leader of the US pro-Palestinian movement and who has advised Hillary to force Israel to accept a Palestinian state; 2. Huma Mahmood Abedin, a Muslim-American of Pakistani descent, whose family has been said to be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.  Hillary Clinton is too compromised a candidate to be considered suitable for President.