Sorry, Debbie — how does it feel?
I’m sorry to hear that Debbie Mayfield didn’t qualify to run for the Florida Senate District 19 seat because Ron DeSantis is retaliating against her. How do you think the U.S. Justice Department and FBI employees feel? Similar, maybe? Don’t know if you will have a job in the future? You railed against them and continue to do so along with all Republicans for upholding the rule of law. Now you want us to be upset that you are being retaliated against. Join the millions of federal workers who swore to uphold the Constitution who don’t know if they will have a job in the future.
I wish Debbie luck in her lawsuit in this Republican-run state with Republican judges sitting on the bench. She may still have a chance to stay in government. Federal workers don’t have that choice.
Brenda Callahan, Palm Bay
Under Fried, Democratic party flounders
The new Democratic leadership doesn’t seem new at all. Year by year how have registrations gone under Fried? Down. The party needs to move to the center and minimize the focus on social issues.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
DeSantis’ expenditure of state funds fighting ballot initiatives; his attempt to essentially sell off state parks, his underfunding of education and reading and math scores — those are all areas to emphasize.
Our schools are in trouble. The pay of teachers is only decent compared to other Southern states. The pay of teachers makes it difficult to hire and maintain teachers. The state has plenty of money. It should be allocating more to our public schools and not subsidizing private schools and home schooling.
Firefighters at the city and county level are underpaid and the departments are understaffed. DeSantis only wants to increase the funding of police and firefighting functions at the state level.
These are few of the issues that need to be highlighted.
Tony Carrollo, Cape Canaveral
Tolerance: How does that work again?
Instead of editorializing, I have some things people should think about and how they affect our society. Forgive some redundancy.
If you are offended, are you not intolerant? If a group is offended, are they refusing to accept the practice or tradition of others?
God is not a religion; He is, by different names, the foundation of all religions. America chooses the Bible; others have a similar Bible with a different name.
Acceptance leads to success or failure. Officials, jurors, witnesses and the like are sworn in on the Bible. Are those who are offended of the belief that they are right and all others wrong, and why can’t they be tolerant of others as they expect others to be tolerant and accept them?
Why are offended people so intolerant of others? If you can’t accept others, how can you expect to be accepted? How can one person or one group dictate the actions of others? Is prayer really injurious to those who don’t believe in a God? To whom does an atheist pray if asked to speak prior to a meeting or gathering? Should the Supreme Court remove and ban all Bibles? Wait, that’s censorship! Is not intolerance an attempt to establish selected censorship?
The list could go on and on but when you boil it down to the essence, it’s just one word, greed, or commonly stated, “I want it my way.”
Thomas Johnson, Palm Bay
More:Reader: Trump on Mount Rushmore? Seriously? | Letters to the Editor, Feb. 2, 2025
Trump voters, where are your letters?
Trump received 56% of Florida’s vote to become the 47th president. Interesting how the majority of the letters to FLORIDA TODAY concerning the president are negative.
Recently one writer commented on the concern of the Jan. 6 pardons but failed to mention the pre-pardon given to the Jan. 6 committee? One writer commented about DEI and merit in the same sentence which is absurd. Others, the usual letter writers, again compared Trump to Hitler; that statement shows the failure of our education system. Anyone that has an ounce of knowledge concerning WWII and history would never compare the two.
Another writer commented on our great FBI. You’re kidding: Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, illegal FISA requests, etc. Multiple FBI agents have been convicted of crimes during the last administration. The CIA has been interfering in other countries’ elections, for the most part unsuccessfully, since the 1940s. Talk about unqualified Cabinet members, how about Yellen, Austin, Haaland, Raimondo, Becerra, Buttigieg, Granholm, Cardona and Mayorkas? No one with a straight face can tell me those were the most qualified for their positions.
Some of our letter writers need to do a little more homework versus getting their facts from MSNBC
Jerome Freeman, Rockledge
Please, no 4 years of ‘chaos du jour’
After Trump won the presidency, I told myself that I would not be submitting anymore letters to the editor. One of the previous FLORIDA TODAY letter writers summed up my feelings on this issue when writing “He won and just get over it.”
But it is obvious that I did not follow my decision. When I read, that Trump has ordered to cancel many observances including the “Holocaust Day and Days of Remembrance” (Steakin and Seyler, ABC News, Jan. 29, 2025) I found this executive order to be disgusting. Over 80 years ago more than 6 million people were murdered, and our president with a stroke of a pen decides to ignore this horrific event. It is through the meticulous records of the Nazis that we have learned of the atrocities they committed. I cannot understand how anyone does not want to give the respect or acknowledgment to the survivors, as well as those that lost their loved ones because of this brutality. There is nothing “woke” about recognizing this one day and for the USA to follow most of the world that honors the memory of all these victims.
As for the other events listed in the memo, canceling those just demonstrates the lack of compassion.
Trump has only been in office a few weeks and we have already seen multiple lawsuits and confusion (e.g., 14th Amendment, stopping funding for grants, firing federal employees, tariffs).
I sure hope that the next four years will not be known as “chaos du jour.”
Anita Moore, Merritt Island
President Trump’s abuse of power
Over the past week there was a massive purge of senior FBI executive assistant directors, field office heads and special agents who oversee criminal, national security and cyber investigations.
Across DOJ, Trump has fired, demoted and reassigned career investigators and prosecutors. He’s fired 18 inspectors general, the people who ferret out corruption, waste and fraud in federal agencies.
Elon Musk’s non-governmental agency, DOGE, now has complete access to the Federal Treasury payment system (!) and has locked career civil servants out of the OPM systems.
If you think this normal or healthy, it is not. We are watching Trump abuse executive power to remake the government and take ideological control of agencies that were historically insulated from political interference.
He’s installing an unfit and compliant cabinet, and agency loyalists at every level of government, with the goal of making law enforcement and our military submissive to his command. This is a weaponization of government never seen before.
The guiding principle of these agencies has been to protect and defend the Constitution, the rule of law, and serve the people of this country. Those will no longer even be secondary principles.
Trump’s takeover will ensure that he and his benefactors cannot be challenged by law enforcement, in the courts, or in the press. The mission will be the arrest and prosecution of any perceived enemies, and protection of his mega-wealthy coconspirators.
We are becoming Russia right before your eyes. And this Republican Congress won’t do a damn thing to stop it.
Jeff Dorman, Satellite Beach
Use our tax dollars to help our own
Democrats are critical of cuts in foreign aid while tax dollars aren’t helping our needy at home.
People in America are experiencing poverty, food insecurity and homelessness. Statistics show 36.8 million people living in poverty in 2023, and it’s the fourth leading cause of death.
How many people in America find it sensible to cut poverty at home before cutting poverty abroad?
Melvin Deere, Melbourne
Who is minding our government?
We elect these officials who take an oath to protect our Constitution and the people of the United States. They are not supposed to put their party over the people of the USA.
In 2021, the GOP failed to do their job and impeach a president who had committed a crime against the USA, by trying to overthrow the government.
They are failing to do their job now by allowing this “fake” agency of the government “DOGE” (Elon Musk) access to the Treasury payment system that he has no business getting into. How did “DOGE” get approved? They didn’t. The legislature has not approved this new agency.
Why? Because DJT decided to make up this agency outside the federal government. Who is allowing this “fake agency”(Musk) access to Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, taxes, vendor, contractors — every single payment the government makes. Not only all your financial information but all of your data. Why is anyone who does not have any business in any of our finances or data, plus a huge conflict of interest (he’s been paid over $10 billion from our government and can see what others bid) allowed into our government Treasury systems when the “fake agency” was not approved by the legislature?
Write your senators and representatives asking them why they are allowing this to occur. Write them about everything in the executive orders or rogue actions that you are not pleased with to date. Let’s flood their email with letters to uphold their oath of office and protect the people.
Jackie Buscemi, Viera
GOP, cowardliness and the new PC
Remember when “political correctness” led to punchlines at Trump rallies? Comments about PC are seldom heard these days. Right-leaning politicians, influencers, and business leaders woke up (pun intended) and realized that they cannot say certain things — like “Biden won the 2020 election” — without exposure to retribution. Fears of countering Trump’s lies or scams epitomize the new PC — and cowardliness.
Now, Republican divisive culture war slogans attack DEI and the party of “woke” — a pejorative expression with racial origins. The right’s answer is the need for “meritocracy.” But holes in that rationalization were exposed first in the meritless cast of characters Trump nominated for running federal agencies. Another real threat to meritocracy is the pending firing/retiring of many career government employees and replacing them with family members, political cronies, or high-flying donors. At one time history or civics classes taught about the Pendleton Act (1883) that created a merit system for federal government employment. That legislation with updates was key to killing the “spoils” system of patronage jobs awarded to favored family and friends who possessed little useful skills and experience.
Republicans continue to wrap themselves in an imaginary mantle of “law and order” while offering little resistance to our president’s pardoning hundreds of rioters and insurrectionists who inflicted mayhem and murder in our capitol. Also, note the irony of Trump screaming about the deadly drugs crossing our borders while pardoning one of the most successful illicit drug distributors in the U.S., Ross Ulbricht, responsible for untold overdoses and deaths.
How much more must we take of Republican willful blindness or ignorance of their positions?
Gary Houchens, Melbourne Beach
