Voted for Trump? You voted for tariffs
“Well, if it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.” The funniest thing I’ve heard recently popped up yet again in Wednesday’s cover story: “I voted for Trump, but I didn’t vote for tariffs!”
Well, yes, actually, you did. He ran on tariffs, on making America “great” by whatever means necessary. He’s an established bully and consummate insecure strongman. You can dislike that characterization, but you can’t deny it. This is exactly what you voted for.
But – I get it. I do. I’ve never been able to vote for a candidate I believe in. No one has run on my ideal platform and made it to the general election. Maybe that’s what happened to you. You want a Republican and voted for whoever that happened to be.
The response now isn’t “I didn’t vote for that.” I owned my vote for Biden, even when he did things I hated. I voted for the man, and the man messed up (quite a lot). The right response is to work to get the right people with the right policies elected. It’s not throwing your hands up and saying, “I can’t believe this is happening.” The party of personal responsibility needs to take some responsibility.
Spencer Pennington
Fifth Amendment makes point clearly
A la Justice Ginsberg, I, admitted to Supreme Court practice since 1974, dissent to the contents of a recent letter to the editor criticizing a Rant which stated, “Illegal immigrants do not have rights and due process.” So, to quote the writer, let’s “look it up.”
The U.S. Constitution begins, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, … .” Despite the letter writer’s claim otherwise, the Fifth Amendment does not make any mention of “… people residing in the United States.” Hence, it logically follows that illegal immigrants are not the “People of the United States” and not entitled as a right to the benefits of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, to include the Fifth Amendment.
Claudos Spears
Young Harris, Georgia
Vote out all the Republican ‘snakes’
A story of criminal activity at the highest levels of Republican leadership in the Tennessee House of Representatives is ongoing in court in Nashville.
This will go by pretty much unnoticed by the people in Tennessee who consistently vote for Republican criminals. That is very unfortunate. Two of the lead players in the scheme to steal Tennessee taxpayers’ money were the former speaker of the House, Republican Glen Casada, and District 26 (my district) representative and former state Republican Party chair, Robin Smith.
These Republican snakes were involved in a scheme they called Phoenix Solutions. Smith says they chose the term Phoenix as a biblical reference. This in spite of the fact that the phoenix myth is of ancient Greek origin. It would be good to watch more closely how Republicans behave and pay less attention to their praying, and seeking of advice from their pastors that they are constantly pointing to.
Pay attention, Tennesseans. These criminals need to be voted out of office next rotation.
Robert Landry
Trump economy hurts many of his voters
Trump threatened even unpopulated islands with tariffs, then blamed Biden for his first-quarter economic failure, but cargo traffic set record highs last November. Now, cargo volume at U.S. ports is plunging, damaging the supply chain and increasing inflation.
Five of the most federally dependent states and two-thirds of the lowest contributors to America’s GDP vote Republican. Democratic California, the world’s fourth-largest economy, is among the least federally dependent states.
Who drowns? Trump’s voters.
Cutting IRS funding means the continually drowning poor are easily audited.
According to Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the Trump tax cuts, by 2027, will mean the top 5% will get almost half the benefits [and be] likely unaudited.
Trump is cutting funding to U.S. colleges and universities, but, per dollar, the U.S. sells more educational services to the rest of the world than we sell coal or natural gas combined. The poor needing tuition aid drown.
David Bean
Chatsworth, Georgia
Where is the pride of Attorney Taylor?
I believe Hamilton County Attorney Rheubin Taylor will have to be dragged out of his county office. He stubbornly denies his successor access to “his” office, which actually belongs to the people of Hamilton County. He should have been fired two years ago.
It seems no one with authority is brave enough to confront this issue. What are they afraid of? The county will be the losers when his successor takes over with little or no support from Mr. Taylor. Any man with any sense of pride and service would be more than happy to ensure his successor a fair start.
Pat Hagan
Smith will need a good reference
Can Robin Smith vote? First time I heard of her she had defended a disgusting ad campaign that helped get Bob Corker elected to U.S. Senate. She then got elected to the state House. Then she helped craft a scheme to steal our tax money. Then the FBI raided her home and office, she was arrested and confessed. Then she took a plea deal with the feds and turned on her cohorts after a promise of leniency.
Now to vote, she will need good reference. I suggest she ask Harold Ford Jr. She knows just what to say: Harold, give me a call.
Eddy Fairbanks
Cleveland
Tell representatives trade wars are bad
“When goods don’t cross borders, soldiers will,” warned Frederic Bastiat, the 19th-century French economist. Most historians agree and feel the U.S. oil embargo in 1941 helped force Japan into an attack on Pearl Harbor. With 80% of the country’s energy supply coming from the U.S. and faced with a choice between retreating from imperial ambitions and securing resources through military action, Japan chose the latter, war.
We must not let the Trump administration impose ill-considered tariffs on China. This risks an embargo on the world’s second largest economy and invites soldiers to cross borders.
The Eisenhower and Reagan administrations advocated globalism, free trade and pro-immigration policies, identifying the Republican Party with fellow Democrats in achieving decades of American exceptionalism and success. A MAGA takeover of today’s GOP with its aggressive tariff initiatives runs the risk of repeating the catastrophic outcome of Smoot-Hawley tariffs in the 1930s. Economics 101 reminds that nothing good comes from a trade war.
Our congressional leaders must exercise their constitutional responsibilities and halt this drift into isolationism and stagflation. Let Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty know how concerned you are.
Mickey Robbins
Walden
Engel Stadium should stand on its own
After reading Chattanooga Times Free Press staff writer Cameron McKeon’s piece on Engel Stadium, I felt it necessary to put in my two cents worth as a citizen of Hamilton County. A lot of facts, numerical and otherwise, can be applied in this situation. Several names and titles are passed back and forth as to who is ultimately responsible for the slow but steady degradation of the historic building.
I am not even a true sports fan, but I can appreciate the history that came with Engel.
Chattanooga, holds itself in high regard when it comes to being hailed as an “Outdoor City.” And yet, this once-incredible stadium is being treated with the utmost disrespect.
Chattanooga should take the stadium off UTC’s hands and rebuild it as it looked in its heyday. What better way to preserve the memories that live on in that sacred space than to erect a museum from the wreckage. Forget a smattering of photographs and a plaque in the new Lookouts Stadium. Engel is worthy enough to stand on its own.
Sheryl Gramount