Letters to the Editor: May 15, 2022

Florida deserves a governor better than Ron DeSantis

It's time to look at the reign of the Littlest Emperor and his accomplishments for the state of Florida:

1) a pathetic and anemic response to the pandemic.

2) a tie with Texas in the race to the political bottom of restrictive policies.

3) the restriction of freedom of speech in the name of parental freedom.

4) taking away local control from democratically elected local and school officials.

5) solving a voting problem that didn't exist.

6) perpetuating a system of gerrymandering to help his own ambition.

7) running the state as if it were his private fiefdom and only those who agree with his philosophy have any rights at all.

The saddest thing of all is that he will be re-elected because of his abuse of the power of the office to mislead the voters. He has "solved" a variety of problems that didn't exist and neglected rent increases, insurance cost issues, and many of the real problems facing Floridians.

Freedom in the governor's definition means free to think the way he does! We deserve a governor who isn't using the office as a stepping stone to the presidency. We deserve a governor who respects locally elected school and municipal officials. We deserve a governor who coordinates and respects the office of the president of the United States regardless of his political differences. We deserve much better than an autocrat.

Peter Glansberg, Port St. Lucie

Disney, other corporations shouldn’t be involving themselves in politics

There seems to be no lack of published letters attempting to discredit our governor, Ron DeSantis. One recent letter about DeSantis and Disney that makes Disney’s attempt to influence voters an issue of the company’s “free speech” is missing the point.

The Disney corporation and their woke ideology have no business whatsoever involving themselves in politics, especially in whether or not lessons in kindergarten through third grade should include the study of gender identity.

Disney’s corporate headquarters are in California, and they felt compelled to bring their politics to Florida. No thanks. People are fleeing California and moving to Florida for a reason.

Anyone concerned about free political speech should be writing about the Biden administration’s new Disinformation Governance Board and its executive director, Nina Jankowicz. Only now is the administration claiming that this would only be used for “outside influences,” but I think we are smart enough to know the real reason for this new office. The elections are coming soon and Elon Musk is buying Twitter.

Jankowicz is the last person who should be in this position but the Democrats don’t care about appearances. They only want to win. She cheered on the Trump Russia Collusion, now classified as “disinformation,” and she also said that people should view Hunter Biden’s laptop as “a Trump campaign product.” Need I say more?

Patricia Perrone, Stuart

Putin likely wanted to damage Biden’s presidency by invading Ukraine

Gary Lavorgna’s May 4 letter suggested that President Trump’s unpredictability kept Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine. The letter brought to mind an experience I had in Helsinki, Finland.

I was there during the meeting Trump had with Vladimir Putin in 2018. And since the entire center of Helsinki was effectively shut down, I was hanging around the hotel. At dinner time, I went to the bar and happened across a man with press credentials for the Reuters News Agency. I asked him how the press conference went.

He replied, and I quote, “It was the worst performance by an American president I have ever witnessed.” He said the only way it could have been worse was if Trump had spent the entire press conference on his knees! I believe the word he used was “kowtowing.” I tell that story to illustrate the fallacy of Trump’s “toughness,” which is only a myth.

Which brings me back to Lavorgna’s letter. The idea that Putin was somehow afraid of Trump is laughable. Why should Putin try to mess up Trump’s presidency, when Trump was doing precisely what Putin needed to be done? Trump’s “unpredictability” played no part in Putin’s decision not to invade; Trump is tough only with those who don’t have the power to effectively strike back. And when it comes to dictators, Trump is very “predictable” in that he has lavished praise on them without exception.

A more reasonable explanation of Putin’s decision to invade would be to try to damage President Biden’s presidency. Putin would love his boy Trump to be re-elected.

Joseph Desmond, Vero Beach

Comparing southern border situation to Ukraine diminishes horror of war

A recent letter from one of my fellow Indian River County citizens equated the situation in Ukraine to the situation at our southern border. Regardless of one’s feelings on U.S. border control, such a comparison fails to recognize the severity of the situation in Ukraine. Every day that the war continues, the Ukrainians are enduring mass murder, rape and the destruction of everything they own.

While there may be rare instances of the occasional bad apple committing a crime after crossing our southern border, the vast majority of our southern “invaders” simply want to improve their lives. As to taking away American jobs, for the most part, immigrants are taking on hard (but valuable) jobs that many of us are not willing to do anyway, such as roofing, landscaping and dishwashing.

I am not losing any sleep worrying about immigrants taking away necessary jobs that most of us are not even interested in doing. I am, however, very concerned about the innocent people in Ukraine who are enduring unimaginable horrors every day. Let’s not diminish the gravity of their living nightmare.

Hugh Aaron, Indian River County

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Letters to the Editor: May 15, 2022