As details emerge about the bizarre letter from Dr. Harold Bornstein detailing Trump’s “astonishingly excellent” health, some interesting similarities between the two men become evident:
- Both men have had their careers started in their father’s shadow — Trump receiving millions of dollars and bank loan guarantees from his father Fred Trump to fund the start of the Gilded Orange Empire and Dr. Bornstein taking over the practice his father built (even keeping his long-deceased father’s name on his letterhead),
- Both men appear to be Luddites — Trump proudly claims he “do[esn't] do the email thing” and dictates his tweets during the day, while Dr. Bornstein has a Y2K time capsule of technology on his desk (HT to Chris Reeves for pointing this out),
- Stunning hair (obvi...),
- And they both apparently share a penchant for half-assing — Dr. Bornstein taking only five minutes to write this medical miracle and Trump putting just about as much time into forming policy positions.
That said, normally I would say this story is a distraction (if not an entertaining one) from the real issues that distinguish Trump and Clinton. But when you look closer, the Dr. Bornstein letter highlights just how far from normal this election is and how far Trump (with the media’s complicity) has moved the needle from transparency toward full-blown obfuscation. Where previous modern-era candidates have at least grudgingly released their tax returns and medical records, Trump just says “believe me” about his fabulous wealth and his extraordinary physical strength and stamina — and the press gives Trump and his surrogates a pass. At some point (probably after the election), perhaps the media will turn the stethoscope back on itself to see just how healthy it was this election cycle. Because their inaction in the face of Trump’s lack of transparency is pretty sickening.