Most discriminating folks read the Press Herald, so I’m sure Donald Trump has never subscribed. Too bad – I’d like him to know how alarming it is to discover he actually attracts a crowd with his narcissistic drivel.

How can it be that a man who has driven four businesses into bankruptcy and brags about it, claiming he plays the system better than most, is being seriously considered by anyone – let alone the folks who invited him to the Family Leadership Summit – as the person most suited to lead our country?

The Leadership Summit purports to be concerned about family values above all else. It is clear, however, that “value,” in any of its guises, is the last thing they can expect from this incomprehensible and uncomprehending loudmouth.

Why is anyone listening, let alone paying attention, to a shadow of a man who not only went the extra mile to avoid serving his country but then belittles those of us who did so and were captured by the enemy?

Trump says, in his pathetic characterization of John McCain as a loser because he was captured, that he prefers the rest of us: the winners who were not captured.

Perhaps Trump would be interested to know how many of us – we who were not captured – feel the same way about him. If I’d had my wits about me, I’d have avoided Vietnam, too, and I disagree with McCain’s politics on nearly every level.

The notion, however, that I would then feel I had the right to characterize McCain’s service and long detention as a prisoner of war as anything other than the noble sacrifices they really were is so abhorrent that I’m inclined to suggest – just this once – that we reconsider the unfettered right to freedom of speech as it applies to this chump, Trump.

Phil Crossman

Vinalhaven