Donald Trump and maga Republicans fake promise to bribe Americans with $5,000 for votes will burden our dangerously growing national debt

As November 3 draws closer by the day, Republicans are showing they are desperate, and none more so than Donald Trump.

Echo opinion letter published in the Sun Sentinel South Florida newspaper.

In Dallas, at his "fake-failed" rally billed as a convention, Trump made a basketful of ludicrous statements, and one was a stunner. He offered a 💲5,000 bribe to every American if, and only if, Republicans keep control of Congress after the midterms. The details as to how❓ to pay 💰 nearly 💲1 trillion in a nation already 💲40 trillion in debt were lacking, as are most of his boasts.

Forty Trillion looks like this: 💲40,000,000,000,000❗

The so-called convention was sheer desperation by a man who has proven his willingness to do or say anything to avoid repercussions certain to result from his numerous acts of corruption, insider trading, association with Jeffrey Epstein, economic incompetence and personal aggrandizement.

Anyone willing to buy what Trump is selling in exchange for their vote will see pigs 🐷fly before that 💲5,000 lands in their mailbox.

From David Kahn, in Boca Raton, Florida

Donald Trump and RFKjr are creating political confusion about vaccine safety without any experience or evidence

Echo opinion letters published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper:

Donald Trump and RFKjr are incompetent political bookends creating havoc about vaccine safety, when neither of them has an ounce of any medical education.  I sincerely doubt Donald Trump has ever read even one book having to do with medical information. RFKjr is a egotist who has no moral compass. 

Just when you thought our (stupid❗) omnipotent president exceeded his own reckless actions, he now reduced the number of universally recommended vaccines for our children, based upon his “feelings.”

This action has no medical prudence and totally contradicts the esteemed American Academy of Pediatrics.

Donald Trump tells parents that children should not be subjected to a vaccine “the size of a soda can” (that’s a lie 🤥), and he recommends three individual injections. What he neglects to say is that children should take a total of six medically recommended vaccines.

It is quite apparent that Donald Trump is taking out his frustrations on the medical community. He pontificates that vaccines cause autism (another lie 🤥🤥❗).

Hopefully, all pediatricians will follow our grandchild’s physician, who tells parents that if they don’t want medically proven vaccines for their child, then this is the wrong medical practice for them.

From — Neil Levine, in Boca Raton, Florida

Our kids will be the losers

As reported widely, “Stupid ❗[Trump’s] vaccine order will recommend separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different shots, administered in separate visits,” but “separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children … are not currently available in the U.S.”

Will we purchase these vaccines abroad and let families pay tariff money into Trump’s general revenues❓ Or will we find out that a Trump-affiliated pharma company is already gearing up to produce them here❓ Either way, Trump wins, America’s kids lose.

From — H. Joan Waitkevicz, M.D., in West Palm Beach, Florida

Donald Trump's hideous excesses

Echo opinion letter published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper:

It is so apparent that selfish Donald Trump, the repsident of the United States doesn’t give a damn about this country or its people.

He only cares about himself and how much he can enrich himself and his family.

Since he has been desecrating the White House, Trump's misguided priorities are the destruction and reconstruction of the the historic "people's house", putting tacky gold fixtures and needless embellishments throughout the building, redoing the now hideous Reflecting Pool, building grotesque statues of himself, trying to push through his Arc de Trump, putting his name on airports, selling cheap merchandise and illegally enriching himself while in office, slapping his name on American currency, adding his name to the Kennedy Center for the Arts (since taken down), holding boxing matches in the South Lawn of the people’s White House, doing away with programs to feed the poor and cutting back on Medicaid and Medicare.

There’s not enough space in one letter to describe the ugly aberrations about Donald Trump. 

All of the aforesaid is more important to Trump than the needs of the people. I hope Trump supporters wake up and smell the roses in the upcoming elections around the country.  Time to VOTE TRUMP OUT OF OFFICE NOW❗

*Senator Susan Collins Alert❗⚠️

From: Rosanne Gordon, Boca Raton

Donald Trump continues to look for ways to prevent him and his crime family from IRS audits

Echo opinion letter published in the Florida Sun Sentinel news:

Donald Trump’s anti-weaponization slush💲 fund has been cancelled. (For now 😓😒)

Even usually compliant Republicans balked at rewarding Januart 6 rioters for the inconvenience they suffered being convicted of and then pardoned by Donald Trump for attacking the U.S. Capitol.

In Yiddish, rewarding criminal behavior is “chutzpah.” North Carolina’s outgoing Republican senator, Thom Tillis, called it “stupid on stilts.”

An unrelated provision, insulating Trump his family and their affiliated enterprises from IRS audits, remains intact. 

But, after criminal Trump is out of office, the IRS can return to business as usual and may begin an audit, which the Trump crime family will argue is prohibited by the dubious provision insulating them from audits.

The legality of that provision will come before the courts, so even though the provision masquerades as a legal settlement, it will not survive the legal justification that exempts Trump and associates from the IRS.

Call it “chutzpah on stilts.”

From  Sheldon I. Saitlin, Boca Raton, Florida

Donald Trump and maga Republicans like Senator Rick Scott and Senator Susan Collins are ignoring their constituents' voices

Echo opinion published in the Sun Sentinel Florida newspaper by Katherine "Kitty" Donovan:  This is not what Republicans voted for.

In Maine Writer's opinion, this excellent opinion could just as well have been written about Maine Senator Susan Collins.

I am a lifelong Republican from Boca Raton. I never imagined I would be writing something like this. But here we are.

Like many Floridians, I feel unrepresented — not by the opposing party, but by my own. That should alarm anyone who still believes in representative democracy. When elected officials stop listening to their constituents, we are no longer participating in governance. We are being managed.

Recently, my U.S. senator, Rick Scott, sent out an update touting his efforts to pass the SAVE Act, a bill framed as necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting. The message was urgent, emphatic and unwavering.

But, it was also deeply disconnected from reality.

There is little evidence that noncitizen voting occurs at any scale that would justify sweeping new federal restrictions. 

What the SAVE Act would do, however, is create new barriers for eligible voters — particularly married women, seniors, disabled individuals and lower-income Americans — who may face additional hurdles in proving citizenship under stricter documentation requirements.

There is also a question of scale. Even conservative-leaning data sources have documented extremely few cases of noncitizen voting over decades, compared to the billions of ballots cast nationwide in that time. Meanwhile, millions of Americans lack ready access to documents like passports or birth certificates, and tens of millions — particularly married women whose names have changed — could face additional hurdles under stricter requirements. That imbalance raises a fundamental question: Are we solving a real problem, or creating a new one?

As Republicans, we used to stand for limited government and individual freedom. We believed the burden should not fall on citizens to prove themselves again and again just to exercise a fundamental right. That principle seems to have been abandoned.

At the same time, far more urgent issues are being ignored.

We are witnessing executive actions that raise serious constitutional questions, including military engagement abroad without clear congressional authorization. 

Regardless of party, Congress has a duty to assert its role in matters of war. Silence is not leadership.

We are also seeing growing alarm from communities across the country about immigration enforcement practices — families separated, detainees held without timely charges, and reports that demand transparency and accountability. These concerns deserve serious attention, not deflection.

Yet instead of addressing these pressing issues, our leaders are doubling down on legislation that appears more about political strategy than public necessity.



This is not the Republican Party I have supported my entire life.

Across the country, Americans are exercising one of our most fundamental rights: peaceful protest. 😊❗

Demonstrations on March 28th "No Kings" 👑reflected a growing sense that voices are no longer being heard through traditional channels. Dismissing these movements does not make them disappear — it deepens the divide.

Let me be clear: This is not about abandoning conservative values. It is about reclaiming them.

We should be defending the Constitution, not sidestepping it. We should be protecting the right to vote, not making it harder. We should be demanding accountability from every branch of government, regardless of which party is in power.

And above all, our elected leaders should be listening to the people who elected them to serve.

If the Republican Party continues down this path, it risks losing not just elections but the trust of those who once stood firmly behind it.

I am one of them.

Katherine “Kitty” Donovan, of Boca Raton, is a retired Broward County school administrator with 37 years’ experience in middle schools, a grandmother of three boys and the Florida state senior ambassador for Giffords Gun Owners for Safety.

Niki Haley failed American history 101- the Civil War was about slavery

Echo opinion published in the South Florica Sun Sentinel newspaper, by the editorial board:

American Civil War (1861-1865) was about slavery!

Republican Niki Haley claimed that the Civil War was about freedom and “what people could or couldn’t do”; but, her wrong minded respone shows the muddled reality of GOP orthodoxy.

Nikki Haley goes on Civil War autopilot, runs over her own campaign.

Republican governors and state lawmakers passed laws for years restricting access to voting, banning books in schools, limiting women’s reproductive health choices, denying parents’ decisions to medically treat their transgender children, cutting off health care to poor children, and enabling anybody to buy deadly weapons — to mention only the most prominent policies they espouse.

None of these actions enhances anyone’s “freedom.” All are designed to limit one’s freedom and to conform to someone else’s notion of well-being. Conservative political theory is based on less government intrusion into personal lives, yet Republicans pursue policies that put the hand of government into people’s affairs at every level.

Do Republicans even know anymore what the substantive meaning of freedom truly is? The record does not show convincing evidence that they do — or that they care.

Haley's answer to the simplest question ever, at a New Hampshire town hall, tells me that she really believes the Civil War was about states’ rights, as she doubled down with her answer. 

Moreover , Haley said people should have the right to anything (❓) without government involvement. So, that means that states could determine on their own whether slavery could exist in that state and not in others (but she never mentioned the word slavery).

Haley knows the history, yet she glibly said: “What do you want me to say about slavery❓” (with a smile). The following day she accused the questioner of being a “plant,” set up by the Democrats. But this was just another nail in her political coffin. (Shame on Haley for blaming the questioner, rather than own her ignorance about slavery as the reason for the Civil War.)

In the year 1619, was the beginning of African slavery in the continental British colonies that became the United States. The events of 1619 are documented and the British became the major importers of African slaves to North America,

Our first woman president couldn’t possibly be one that rejects Roe v. Wade and agreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn it. Her denial of slavery as being the cause of the Civil War is just the tip of the iceberg for Haley’s interpretation of freedom in America. So, beware of charm and good looks. It’s the same as the MAGA group that has overtaken the Republican Party, perhaps forever.

From Linda Gefen, in Boca Raton, Florida

Christian Nationalist Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has edited The Ten Commandments

As a longtime independent voter and an optimist, I’m saddened by the recent Republican choice for House speaker.

Maine Writer opinion-  Although right wing Christian Nationalist Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says he will govern according to the Bible, he obviously edited out The Ten Commandments. He endorsed philanderer tRumpz who is also a convicted sexual offender and he voted to keep the stealing fraudulent George Santos in his House seat although he used campaign money to pay for adult content websites and other stuff. 

Letter opinion echo published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper:  It was my hope that out of the chaos would come a conservative, right-centered leader willing to work across the aisle to get things done. Instead, in Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., we got a far-right election denier calling for Democratic blood.

We see the world on fire around us and we continue this internal warfare that’s tearing us apart. Even though I’m truly independent, as I like to examine both sides of an issue, I see the Republican cult as a clear and present danger to America.

I agree that the border and crime in our cities must be dealt with, but absolutely nothing compares to the lack of truth and compassion embraced by today’s Republicans. The anti-democracy extreme far right, wrapped in the flag and religion, is spiraling us down a dark path of destruction that must be stopped by my fellow independents and Democrats and the remaining free-thinking Republicans.

Every election, we hear that this is the most important election ever. Guess what? HELLO?  😳😲2024 really is!

Mark Lippman, Boca Raton, Florida

Russia - what does Putin hold over Donald Trump? Helsinki echo

Opinion letter echo published in the Florida newspaper the Palm Beach Post~

Donald Trump abandoned American patriotism and displayed incompetent leadership when he kowtowed to Vladimir Putin at the Helsinki summit.

On July 16, 2018, about the failed Helsinki summit

Letter to the editor:

I watched, along with millions of others, as Donald Trump, the president of the United States openly and shamefully sided with Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Federation, in denying their involvement in hacking, theft, and undermining of our American 2016 election process.

You don’t need to be a Democrat or Republican to recognize what transpired there. Our special counsel, Robert Mueller, a lifelong Republican, indicted with amazing and precise detail 12 military intelligence agents of Russia, who have obviously been under the direct control of Vladimir Putin.

Putin not only undermined our 2016 elections, but he also made similar efforts throughout Europe. We are only now beginning to understand and appreciate the scope of his efforts to undermine democracies in Europe and build up the forces of racial nationalism.

Furthermore, Dan Coates, director of national intelligence, has raised alarm about Russia's continuing efforts in 2018. Reasonable people will agree that Russia is emboldened when the strength of America's alliances with NATO is diminished and weakened. Russia is strengthened when we in the U.S. are divided and unable to even agree to the facts before us. From Tobias Raye, Boca Raton

MaineWriter postscript- what does Vladimir Putin hold over Donald Trump that would enable him to abandon his allegiance to American intelligence agencies and put US national security at risk of being subservient to the Russian dictator?