Letters

It wasn’t the least surprising that the billionaire John Paulson recently hosted a fundraising event at his Palm Beach mansion for the Republican candidate for president of the United States.

So there’s no need to delve any further into why the candidate’s audience for the event made contributions ranging between the “suggested” $814,000 and a paltry $250,000. And, naturally, no one in attendance that evening particularly cared that a sizable portion of their donation would be going to a group whose sole purpose is to help the candidate pay legal fees that have apparently exceeded $100 million in the last three years. Those costs, related to various investigations and multiple teams of lawyers, all in advance of the candidate’s looming criminal trials, can really add up quickly.

The candidate spoke, of course, and dove into his usual, predictable and extensive rant about the migrant surge into the country. Mexico, in particular, is a popular target for the candidate, who claims that country is sending “people from prisons and jails,” recently referring to those illegal immigrants as “animals” and “not human.”

Isn’t it a shame, the candidate mused in his speech that night in Palm Beach, that those immigrants weren’t arriving from “nice” countries, “like Denmark, Switzerland? Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?”

The crowd was reported to have approvingly chuckled.

But one wonders if the candidate’s host joined in.

As residents of Southampton Village know, John Paulson is the driving force behind a plan to create a park on Pond Lane, bordering Lake Agawam. Not everyone is thrilled with the idea. Last summer, some 1,500 people signed a petition against what would be the necessary closing of Pond Lane to create the park.

The status of the park seems undecided at this point. As for the crews who will be undertaking the project if it happens? The candidate would undoubtedly prefer laborers who look very different from the vast majority of those who toil daily on the lawns, hedges, gardens and parks of the East End.

As the candidate often says — and Mr. Paulson presumably agrees — “only the best people!” And from “nice” countries only, of course!

Tom Murray

Southampton