Is President Donald Trump trying to set Vice President Mike Pence up for failure?
On Mike Pence
Vice President Mike Pence had better beware: it seems clear to me that President Donald Trump will end up blaming Pence and his staff for not doing enough to quickly combat the coronavirus.
I wouldn’t be surprised if during some early morning in the near future, we will see a tweet from Trump complaining that he made a big mistake by putting Pence in charge of this serious national crisis — and that he will look to replace Pence on the ticket before the November election.
It will be the perfect excuse for Trump to come up with for not having a better plan in place to address the coronavirus threat — and for gutting the pandemic response team that had been put in place by former President Barack Obama.
The reality is that Trump never wants to put someone in charge of something if he thinks that individual is actually smarter than he believes he is — it’s the reason why Trump doesn’t like to rely on experts. Now, because of Trump’s ego and poor leadership, the United States lacks all of the equipment we need to fight the coronavirus.
Pat Clark, Columbia
On Santee Cooper
Moving toward clean energy sources is not only critical for the quality of life we leave for our children and grandchildren, it’s just plain cheaper. Whether we are working, driving, cooking or heating our homes; just a few changes in how we get our energy could significantly impact both our health and our wallets.
The potential sale of Santee Cooper could be one of the biggest decisions in South Carolina’s recent history, so I am glad to see that our lawmakers are asking hard questions and doing due diligence before making this critical choice.
A clean energy approach would save $360 million for our state and our taxpayers, and that makes it a far better choice for South Carolina than Santee Cooper’s current plan. Out lawmakers must make a common-sense decision that protects our land, water and air — and also ensures that our families have low-cost and reliable energy sources well into the future.
Katherine Levkoff, Lexington
On traffic cameras
South Carolina law prohibits traffic cameras from being operated at stop lights, yet motorists in our state are routinely fined for toll-booth violations that are recorded by cameras. I just don’t understand this: in my opinion, violating a toll booth on a one-way road is far less of a safety hazard than barreling your vehicle through a red light at high speed.
Throughout my travels in our state, I have noticed that many drivers treat a red light as though it is just a suggestion to stop rather than a command to do so. To make matters worse, drivers in 18-wheeler vehicles are among those who consistently speed through red lights.
I wish our elected officials would actually consider the safety of motorists in this state. But I doubt that’s going to happen, judging by the poor current conditions of our roads.
Lon Walsh, Barnwell
This story was originally published March 13, 2020 at 2:33 PM.