Lack of GOP courage: Letters to the editor, Feb. 4, 2019

Harry Truman would be shocked

Harry Truman just turned over in his grave. A month after President Trump said he was “proud to shut down the government,” he bravely stepped up to answer questions by declaring “the buck stops with everybody.” Poor Harry. So sad.

Leadership starts at the top so if you’re looking for a copy of “Republican Profiles in Courage” you will be disappointed:

▪ The president praised Nazis as “very fine people” and the GOP shrugged it off.

▪ The president took toddlers away from their mothers and had 15,000 kids in cages and the GOP is quiet.

▪ The president’s business acumen has created a huge budget deficit that will top a trillion dollars this year and not a peep out of those GOP Tea Party patriots or the Freedom Caucus.

In the face of a President that lies every day about things big and small and an administration of grifters and scammers with Russian contacts, Republicans have plenty of explaining to do to voters. If our own Rep. Nunes is the model — no comment, no interviews, no questions, no town hall meetings — they can expect another blue wave in 2020 to clean up this mess!

History shows truth prevails

My neighbor used the term “deja vu” to describe how he felt hearing Trump deny he was a Russian agent. “Remember 1974 when Nixon proclaimed, ‘I am not a crook!’” he said. I told him Nixon was accused of obstruction of justice for covering up a serious crime, burglary,that his closest associates and members of his re-election committee committed trying to “get dirt” on a political opponent. No parallels there.

I also told him Trump’s great fondness for Borscht and his habit of calling staff members “Comrade” was no cause for alarm, either.

Now, had Trump been guilty of refusing to enforce sanctions against Russia which Congress voted overwhelmingly to impose, or repeatedly parroted common Putin sound bites, or had he publicly supported and believed Putin’s claims against those of his own intelligence agencies, that might be cause to be suspicious. We all know what happened to Nixon the following year after he denied being a crook. What events will 2019 bring for Trump? I have great faith truth will prevail. Eventually it always seems to.

Teaching job skills needed in school

Newly installed Governor Newsom has stated 10 goals for his administration — one of which is dear to my heart — vocational training.

He said he would like to see more schools available to teach highly desired skills after high school. That is all good and well, but we could actually go back to the time when high school students graduated with marketable skills? It is true that more people do not attend college than do. What are these able citizens supposed to do with their lives?

Simple — get work in the fields they learned in high school. I graduated as a fully qualified secretary in 1961 and started working as a legal secretary immediately. Other areas of expertise were filled by both boys and girls. Waiting til after high school is too late for some high-risk students who only need the right training at the right time to make a big difference in their lives.

If 16-or-17-year-olds know they have skills that are wanted by business, they will have confidence in themselves and would be less likely to waste their lives. And isn’t it nice to know how to do something that is rewarding? We shouldn’t waste our young talent and energy as we are all part of the whole society.

Put up a virtual border wall

First President Donald Trump wanted a steel wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Now he says he doesn’t care what kind it is as long as it’s a wall. I propose Democrats tell him we will build a virtual wall. They can take Donald to the border to show him a prototype section and they can hire a Mexican pantomime artist do a trapped-behind-an-invisible-wall routine. Problem solved.