To the Editor:
I will not vote for either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis.
I believe Donald Trump is a liar, racist, bully, and is greedy, power-hungry and has never read the Constitution and therefore does not hold his oath to it as sacred, in fact, he does not take any oath as sacred. Just look at his history of cheating on his wives. Donald Trump did not act when this country was faced with a deadly pandemic and it is reported that 100,000 lives were lost due to his inaction. He believes he is above the law and that he can do anything he wishes and get away with it. He incited a riot of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 all based on the lie in which he claimed he had won the election in 2020. Five people died either shortly before, during, or following the event. Many people were injured, including 138 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. He is not a friend to our brave veterans. Remember, he called Senator John McCain a loser. Donald Trump has no respect for women. Donald Trump currently has a large list of lawsuits against him. Donald Trump was impeached twice when he was president. Donald Trump is an embarrassment to our country.
I believe Ron DeSantis is not a good candidate for president for the following reasons. He cost Floridian lives during Covid Pandemic by downplaying the threat, ending shutdowns early, outlawed federal, local, school and company mask/vaccine mandates, he named an anti-vax, unqualified Surgeon General, let one million Covid test kits expire in a state warehouse, and told Florida parents not to vaccinate their children. Even though 61 percent of Americans believe that abortions should be legal, DeSantis signed a bill into law which bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. He declined to condemn neo-Nazi demonstrators. He redrew Florida Congressional Districts to increase GOP districts beyond what his own GOP legislature wanted making it difficult for Africans Americans to get to polls. Pushed the W.O.K.E. Act which prevents teaching issues that might make a white student uncomfortable, such as the history of slavery, Jim Crow or racial topics — part of his crusade against Critical Race Theory, which in fact is not taught in any K-12 school. Pushed “Don’t Say Gay” Bill that forbids teachers from discussing LGBTQ issues. Describes public schools as “indoctrination factories,” which helped him push a law making it easier to ban books in school libraries. Turned down $820M in federal food aid for kids until shamed by Democrats. Refused federal unemployment benefits and federal funds to expand Medicaid to 800,000 Floridians. Ron DeSantis calls Florida the “Free” state. It is not a free state if you are a woman, not Caucasian and not straight.
I believe the thing that both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis have in common is that they would rather be dictators or kings rather than president of the United States of America with its systems of checks and balances. They would like to have total control and answer to no one.
Diane Robinson
Village of Duval
