Don’t buy Mahoning GOP’s spin on Trump; he’s a major con artist

Don’t buy Mahoning GOP’s spin on Trump; he’s a major con artist

I have to chuckle a bit each time I see the Mahoning County Republican Party leadership on television trying to convince area voters that Donald Trump is a fantastic candidate. As you may recall, they enthusiastically supported Gov. Kasich in the Ohio primary, and the governor won.

Since then, he has made no secret of the fact that he doesn’t believe Trump is qualified or temperamentally fit to be president, and Kasich refuses to say he will even vote for Trump. But yet all of the most ardent supporters of Gov. Kasich in the local GOP are now walking around pretending Trump will carry the Valley and win Ohio. I hate to burst their bubble but that isn’t going to happen.

I consider Trump a snake- oil salesman in a $7,000 imported suit. We are going to outregister, outwork and outvote the opposition, and the Clinton-Kaine ticket will carry the Valley, win Ohio and the presidency.

They love to point out the fact that registered Democrats switched parties in the primary to vote for Trump and the national media has been all over this story for months. They rarely mention that some did it intentionally to vote for Kasich to stop Trump from winning Ohio.

Also, there is no mention of the local registered Republicans who are either voting for Clinton or sitting this election out because the thought of Trump holding the nuclear codes sickens and scares the hell out of them.

In addition, we don’t know how many of these Democratic Party switchers even voted for President Obama in the 2008 or 2012 general elections, opening up the great possibility that they were not voting for Clinton no matter who the Republican party nominated.

Another story line that the local GOP leadership spins is that area active and retired union members will be voting for Trump in droves.

I can only speak for the UAW, but the vast majority are supporting and voting for our endorsed candidate Hillary Clinton.

Tim O’Hara, Austintown

Trump speaks with a forked tongue; do not believe a thing he says

22Our family was in the Air Force for 17 years, and we never met an airman or officer that wasn’t great. My late husband served overseas and went to war to save Trump’s sorry “empire.”

Trump calls women fat, slobs, pigs, etc. Nice for our young men to hear. Trump berates the disabled, elderly, poor, blacks and Latinos, and thinks it’s OK. And when anyone says anything to the contrary at his rallies (which is called freedom of speech), he hollers, “Get him out of here” or “Go ---- yourself.” Our so-called next president thinks it’s OK to say that word. What is he showing our children by these actions?

Trump brags he doesn’t pay his taxes. And we are supposed to admire him? No. He takes from all Americans and our country by not paying those federal taxes. So he’s stealing from every American worker current or retired. Hard working Americans pay their taxes.

How dare Trump to say, in America we are like the “Third World.” We are hard working people. We didn’t have a silver spoon in our mouths. If we are like a Third World country, it is on him. Think of all the roads and bridges and buildings that could have been replaced with the millions in taxes he avoided paying every year at the federal level for the past many years. Do the math.

Please vote wisely.

Marilyn Abbey, Struthers

Passage of Warren tax will make city safer, emergency help quicker

As president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, I know all too well that cities have been negatively impacted by cuts in local government funding from the state. I also know that the heroin crisis that is gripping our state requires that we dedicate more officers to combat the problem. Most of all, I know that when our citizens call 911, they expect police and fire to respond quickly, rather than when it is too late.

The ballot issue in Warren would raise the municipal income tax on a person making $100 per day by 50 cents. For that half-dollar, the city will hire additional police officers and firefighters to protect your family. Voting for the levy will help improve street maintenance and will also ensure fast response times from first responders. It sounds like a good investment to me.

Let’s not forget. A safer city is a city that can attract jobs. A safer city is a city that protects its senior citizens and its kids. A safer city is city committed to fighting this heroin epidemic. A safer city is a city where families can work and raise their children. A vote for this tax measure is a vote to make Warren a safer city.

Please join me in supporting this effort to make Warren a safer city.

Jay McDonald, Columbus

Jay McDonald is president of the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio.