The last Confederate president
Re “Ohio Republicans aren’t the racists Democrats want you to believe we are” by Will Hinman, May 21: In fact, Dems want to believe Ohio’s GOP officials are not the racists they actually are. We hope our Republican leaders might again be just the dog-whistling race-baiters they’ve been since 1968, the year a cloven-hoofed Nixon-Atwater-Buchanan team divided the country on racial lines with a “Southern strategy.”
GOP leaders downplayed President Donald Trump’s racism for a decade.
But the last Confederate president has: red-lined Black home buyers; demanded Obama’s birth certificate; pursued the innocent Central Park Five; ordered Project 2025 cuts (deadly on racial and class lines) and even deadlier cuts to USAID; killed at least 191 people on the high seas without cause; targeted non-violent minorities in immigration sweeps; attacked Somali immigrants, including citizens; urged mid-term gerrymanders aimed at Black officials; and had his Justice Department criminally charge a human rights group for infiltrating White supremacist groups, though the group worked with the DOJ in Trump’s first term.
Work needs to be done on murder, corruption, voter interference and sex traffickers, too, but racism should not get lost amidst other failures Trump embodies.
Hinman should vote for Dems until the GOP is rid of its Trump kneepads. Racism is not his party’s only problem, but it is a big one – whiny deflections and distractions notwithstanding.
Rob Downey, Columbus
Huffman’s smoke-filled back rooms
Re “Can new governor offset lack of experience?” May 17: Columnist Tom Suddes highlights the basic issue but describes just the tip of the Huffman iceberg.
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman has been able to consolidate, expand and maintain power through manipulating and circumventing the law, ignoring the voters’ will and outright deceit.
When voters overwhelmingly approved redistricting constitutional amendments to eliminate gerrymandering, Huffman helped lead the successful Republican efforts to thwart their vote.
He later supported a failed GOP effort that would have removed any possibility of a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment by requiring a 60% voter approval.
And he played a major role in the deceitful campaign to defeat the latest anti-gerrymandering amendment.
Finally, after serving as State Senate president, Huffman, in 2024, circumvented term limits by seeking a House seat where he could continue to be a dominating political figure.
All these things were done in public view. One can only imagine what he did in the “smoke-filled back room.”
So, as Suddes points out, after an expensive and brutal election campaign, the battle won’t be over for the next governor. To accomplish anything, the winner must be prepared to deal with the true major Ohio power broker who has shown he will do most anything to have his way.
Stephen Gladstone, Cleveland
The smoke screen has vanished
The U.N. General Assembly voted 141-8 on May 20 to back a world court opinion stating that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change. Not surprisingly, the United States voted against it. We were in the company of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Israel, Iran, Yemen, Liberia and Belarus.
Even though the U.S. is the largest historical carbon emitter, we refuse to accept any responsibility for the suffering inflicted on so many other countries. Island states and many developing countries have been devastated by sea-level rise, deforestation, disrupted fisheries and heat. These issues are far more destructive for them than for the U.S. and other major economies. Many innocent countries will suffer because this administration has no desire to be part of any effort to further environmental justice.
This is what “America First” means to the President Donald Trump’s administration.
His ultra-nationalism leaves no room for compassion or justice. It seems that a president who cares only about himself is determined to fashion a country that cares only about itself.Trump’s administration has dropped any pretense of being a model for justice, peace and democracy.
Carol Rafferty, Columbus
Yeah, no
Re “Listen to the middle,” May 23: The letter writer used the sentence, “the Democrats are held hostage to far-left progressives.” I hear this talking point all the time from those that consider themselves moderates or centrists. Exactly how is the Democratic Party held hostage to the far left? Does anyone who says this know what the party platform is?
The 2024 platform is really easy to find and features all kinds of really “far-left” stuff like securing the border, cutting taxes for working families, lowering energy costs, reducing grocery costs, strengthening domestic manufacturing, and combating hate and protecting freedom of religion. Don’t forget, the Democrats under President Joe Biden were on the verge of passing one of the most restrictive immigration bills in history.There are a lot of reasons the current Democratic Party is disappointing (to put it lightly), but being “held hostage by the far left” isn’t one of them. Civil discourse starts with knowing what each party platform ACTUALLY SAYS.
Dennis Drew, Columbus
No money for traitors
On Jan. 6, 2021, we Americans were calling and texting each other asking, “Are you seeing what is going on at the Capitol?” We citizens are the ones who were traumatized watching traitors and insurrectionists attacking Capitol police officers with poles and spraying them with bear spray to gain entrance to the Capitol and stop the certification of an American election.
Now President Donald Trump wants to further reward these traitors by giving them our tax dollars as a compensation for their traitorous actions. This is unbelievable. This has the looks of paying them for what he asked them to do. Does our president support insurrectionists? Do our senators?
I don’t know about you, but I do not want one cent of my tax dollars to go to traitors. The people we should be rewarding are the Capitol police officers and the staff members who were in the building on Jan. 6, 2021.
They are the American heroes.
Marilyn J. Hansen, Dublin
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Trump is the last Confederate president. Dems don’t see extent of Ohio GOP racism | Letters
Reporting by Letters to the Editor, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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