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I’m already tired of the Trump-DeSantis soap opera | Letters
Here’s what readers are saying in Sunday’s letters to the editor.
 
President Donald Trump talks to Gov. Ron DeSantis during a visit to Lake Okeechobee and Herbert Hoover Dike at Canal Point in 2019.
President Donald Trump talks to Gov. Ron DeSantis during a visit to Lake Okeechobee and Herbert Hoover Dike at Canal Point in 2019. [ MANUEL BALCE CENETA | AP ]
Published March 26, 2023

Trump legal woes pose test | March 22

Too much

Enough already! It seems every day that I see the front page to the usually excellent Tampa Bay Times, readers are subjected to the ever continuing Trump-DeSantis soap opera, or is it the DeSantis-Trump show? By the time we get to November, over a year and a half away, neither may be onstage any longer. This far out from the 2008 election it was Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton. By next year, Trump may still be fighting off lawyers and the Republicans may have found a more widely appealing candidate than DeSantis who plays solely to his base.

George Chase, St. Pete Beach

5 highlights from DeSantis’ book, ‘The Courage to Be Free’ and Manufactured circus | Feb. 27 and March 20

Keep up the good work

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ book, “The Courage To Be Free,” is his manifesto. In this political environment, I applaud the Tampa Bay Times for having the courage to stand up to the governor and take him on. If Floridians and America are not careful, history will repeat itself, but this time, with everlasting damage to our fragile democratic republic.

David Reines, Port Richey

Proposed amendment would lower annual property tax increases for Florida homeowners | March 21

Renters lose

Lowering the Save Our Homes property tax cap from 3% to 2% makes absolutely no sense. But intimating that lowering the cap would help renters is another example of Tallahassee not turning on the brain before opening the mouth. Rental property is not subject to the 3% cap.

Richard Ross, Brooksville

As DeSantis targets diversity in education, FAMU students fear for future | March 19

Let them speak

Thank you for publishing the voices of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University students last Sunday. Their history is our history, and it needs to be heard and studied, not ignored. The governor and the Legislature is doing a disservice to all of us by promoting an ignorant society,

Rev. Lois Rogers-Watson, Palm Harbor

Florida Atlantic tops Fairleigh Dickinson for Sweet 16 spot | March 19

College transfers

I am a huge fan of March Madness. While watching many of the college basketball games this weekend, there was an emphasis on the number of transfers on each team. I was curious, so I looked up the number of transfers in 2022-2023. I found over 1,000 transfers, with the number of transfers increasing dramatically each year. So are these players student-athletes or athlete-students? Are they going to college to get the best education possible or are they athletes wanting to play for the best team possible? What percentage of these young men actually graduate and earn a living using the degree earned?

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One thing is for sure, we fans can expect a flood of transfers as these “college students” go after the most lucrative “name and likeness” deals. So much for the purpose of going to a college or university.

Tom Craig, Riverview

Manufactured circus | March 21

The real issues?

I’m so happy to hear that our governor is focused on the “real issues” and is spending his time on the issues that “actually matter to people.” I’m assuming now that he has finished focusing on those top tier issues like protecting us from scary drag queen shows, those frightening pronouns, and the dangerous books and classroom lessons that would enable our children to learn about people who are different from them, he can move to the less important issues of unaffordable housing and skyrocketing insurance costs. Now that we’re poised to have a gun in every pocket and law enforcement in every uterus, maybe we can move to the less critical issues of toxic algae blooms and other environmental catastrophes, crumbling infrastructure and woefully inadequate public transportation.

If Florida is where “woke” goes to die, the governor’s office is where reality goes to die.

Lynn Barnhardt, Tampa