Trump reminiscent of Eugene Talmadge
In his outrageous showmanship, his inflammatory language and his overt racism, President Donald Trump is much like former Georgia Gov. Eugene Talmadge. Though born poor, Talmadge shared Trump’s self-dealing and his illogical explanations for graft. When caught taking $20,000 and threatened with impeachment, he said, “Sure, I stole, but I stole for you!” He also shared Trump’s disdain for cities, boasting, “I can carry any county that ain’t got streetcars” and inviting rural voters to the Governor’s Mansion to “sit on the front porch and piss over the rail on those city bastards.”
Talmadge also went to war against universities, attacking UGA over “elitism” and vowing to purge the university of “foreigners.” When the Board of Regents refused his order to fire a dean he alleged was an integrationist, he illegally fired the board and appointed a new panel, then held a trial in the state Senate chamber where he acted as judge, with the regents as jury, to fire the dean.
It was a step too far. The accrediting body pulled the accreditation from Georgia’s colleges, and that resulted in Talmadge’s defeat by Ellis Arnall in 1942. Education is something voters take seriously.
JAMES L. PAULK, ATLANTA
Looking for waste in all the wrong places
All Americans can get behind the push to reduce waste, fraud and abuse. With a government workforce as large as it is, there is bound to be some low-hanging fruit that can be picked and discarded in order to make our government more efficient.
The search for these items, however, is not being conducted in the proper location. The first two places that should be examined are the Oval Office and the next cabinet meeting. There are all kinds of low-hanging fruit of waste, fraud and abuse in those two places.
A.M. CERRA, MARIETTA
Finally, goal is smaller government
Since the first election I ever voted in for former President Ronald Reagan, Republicans have run on downsizing and a smaller federal government, and none of them until now has ever delivered on this key platform plank.
Now, for the first time, both the current president and many in Congress are working toward that goal. This paper continues to run endless op-eds and political cartoons opposed to these actions. They seem to believe the bureaucracy is somehow beneficial. Just in the Department of Education alone, there isn’t a single statistic, not test scores, the percentage of graduates, etc., that can make the case for it. If it is so vital now, how did we survive more than 200 years without it?
MARTY HARMON, HIRAM
Funding bill restrains courts
The House of Representatives passed One Big Beautiful Act, “H. R. 1” by one vote, 215 to 214. There are many cruel and heinous components to this enormous and complicated government funding bill. This is Trump’s One Big Ugly Act.
The most dangerous component is buried in 1,116 pages of H. R. 1, “SEC. 70302. Restriction of Funds,” which prohibits the courts from holding Trump and other officials in contempt of court for ignoring court orders retroactively.
Trump has lost dozens of lawsuits challenging his executive orders; judges have partially or fully blocked him in about 82 cases. So, this provision in H. R. 1 would make court orders in these cases totally unenforceable, thereby neutering the judiciary. This “hidden” provision makes Trump King; no Congress, no court could stop him.
This is a treacherous attack on our democracy and courts. The Constitution is smoldering. Don’t let this become a five-alarm fire. The bill is in the Senate. Put the fire out, now! Contact your senators and oppose the dangerous SEC. 70302.
KATHLEEN COLLOMB, DECATUR
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