Letters

I was stunned at the guilty verdict in the Donald Trump hush money trial. It was not that I believed he was innocent. No reasonable person believes that. No, it was because I didn’t believe he would get caught and face punishment for his actions.

I realized I had become jaded. I had been witnessing Trump’s immoral and unethical behavior for over eight years now and saw how he continued to succeed and avoid accountability.

Besides his conviction, on 34 counts, the trial revealed the putrid underbelly of his life, his associates and his business practices. While that was exposed in the last guilty verdict in New York against the Trump Corporation, this was more personal.

This trial revealed his choice of unscrupulous and immoral people who recklessly carried out his sordid tasks, even when that meant paying “$.20 on the dollar” to hard-working, small business owners. Winning really was everything for him.

I had almost lost hope before that verdict. Losing hope would have meant that I had abandoned the standards that I believe in, the morality that I try to live my life by. If we give that up then we really have nothing. I realize that I owe those 12 jurors a huge debt of gratitude for restoring my hope.

Paula Angelone, Ph.D.

Southampton Village