Opinions flare over former President Trump’s game day visit to Williams-Brice Stadium | Opinion
Keep politics off field
Leave politics out of football games.
Both universities are responsible for educating young adults for the future but our governor parades Trump out on the football field – a man who says there were airports in the Revolutionary war, stealth jets cannot be seen when you are standing next to them, windmill noise causes cancer and the windmills on the South Carolina coast are killing whales, ultraviolet light and bleach cures COVID, and Puerto Rico is an island with “big water’ around it.
Our universities admit students of all races, genders and religious beliefs but this man degrades and name calls anyone who doesn’t agree with him from a military general to a handicapped person.
To the business majors, are you saying it is okay to have numerous bankruptcies with unpaid workers and companies and it is okay to commit tax fraud?
Trump is not an example of a man who should be paraded in front of our college students at a football game.
I did not come to the game to support the Gamecocks and have this man disrupt my enjoyment of the bands performing at halftime. Politics do not belong at a football game.
Pamela Powell, Little River
Searching for truth
If anyone is still wondering why readership of The State has plummeted over recent years, they need only read Issac Bailey’s editorial “Trump shows weakness as he sullies the South Carolina-Clemson football game.”
Following a preachy, morally condescending harangue against all-things Trump, the article provides what appears to be a succinct summary of what the owners of The State newspaper think of the people of South Carolina.
Apparently, if South Carolina voters do not reject Trump, McMaster and Graham, they are not among “…those of us with eyes, and a functioning brain…”, [who] “…know the truth….”
Blind and brainless, readers search for the truth. Just not in The State.
Walter Rolandi, Columbia
Visit insults female students, grad
Note: The writer is a USC graduate now living in Texas.
I’m a 1981 USC graduate and have always been proud to be a Gamecock, but allowing a man who has been indicted on 91 counts, accused of sexual assault by dozens of women and ordered to pay $5 million for rape and defamation brought shame upon our university.
It’s a slap in the face, especially to USC ‘s female students, staff and alumna.
Let me be clear: Trump’s attendance wasn’t the problem.
USC insulted a huge portion of its fan base by letting Trump walk onto the field.
I hope Republican donors can fill the gap left by Democrats who, like me, are for the first time ashamed to be Gamecocks.
Ronda Templeton, San Antonio
Support Red Cross
Note: The writer is CEO of American Red Cross of South Carolina.
As we come together with loved ones over the next few weeks, it’s important to remember the ways we can be a beacon of hope for those who need our support and care.
I think of the families whose lives have been turned upside down by the growing frequency and intensity of disasters. In fact, 2023 is a record year of extreme climate and weather events with each causing losses exceeding $1 billion.
Year-round, 1,741 local volunteers from the American Red Cross of South Carolina answer the call to help in people’s darkest hours.
With no signs of extreme disasters slowing down, we must work together to do more.
You can help by visiting redcross.org to donate, becoming a Red Cross volunteer or giving blood over the holiday season.
It takes all of us to care for one another.
During the holiday season, turn your compassion into action for the families who depend on our collective support.
Rod Tolbert, Columbia
Reporting appreciated
Thank you for your quite balanced news report about Mary Wood and the controversy over her teaching of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book “Between the World and Me” that appeared in your Nov. 28 edition.
I was very saddened to read previous articles about the controversy of teaching this book to AP English students.
It, as Ms. Wood states, is a well-written book about a topic that is important for students to learn about and discuss in a nonpartisan way.
Ms. Wood led the discussions but was also willing to listen to and read about the pros and cons about the book. This is what education is about, learning to be able to hold an educated debate and not being “protected” from real world concerns.
I, too, am very worried about the S.C. Dept. of Education’s proposed regulations that allow the state to censor what is taught in our schools.
South Carolina has always fought for home rule, but when a controversy erupts within the state, they want to quash it. How is that democracy?
Again, thanks for your very balanced handling of this story.
Anne Mellen, Lexington