Letters: Ethical dissonance and Donald Trump

Ethical dissonance is the inconsistency between aspiring to a moral self-image and the temptation to benefit from unethical behavior. It may explain why Donald Trump said of Hillary Clinton: “She is a totally unhinged person. She’s unbalanced. And all you have to do is watch her, see her, read about her. … She will cause — if she wins, which hopefully she won’t — the destruction of our country from within.”

Does he believe this? Regardless of your politics, isn’t Trump describing his own persona, whether aware of it or not? Read on:

“I’ve always had a great temperament. And you know, I win. I have a winning temperament. We’re going to win, we’re going to start winning again,” he says. “But I’ve won. My whole life has been about winning. I win. She can’t win. She’s not a winner. She can’t win.”

A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black?

Should I accept that he believes he possesses a winning temperament, and that she absolutely cannot win? Or should I infer that his words constitute the false belief that saying something makes it true?

It is difficult to remain neutral, but I’m trying; I really am.