Military fort renaming looks like a sham
I was appalled to read in the AJC that Fort Eisenhower is being renamed as Fort Gordon. John Gordon was a Ku Klux Klan official and Confederate general after whom this property was originally named. Now, the Gordon that the fort will be renamed for is supposedly hero Master Sgt. Gary Gordon of Lincoln, Maine.
Not to take away anything from Medal of Honor winner Gary Gordon, but this whole renaming business is just an obvious sham to get the names of Confederates back on military buildings.
Last month, I traveled with my family to Abilene, Kansas, to see the Dwight Eisenhower Presidential Library. After serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe in World War II, both Republicans and Democrats courted Eisenhower to run for president. He served the country well as president, too, and even sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which integrated schools. Another major accomplishment was that Eisenhower initiated the construction of an interstate highway system.
Why take the name of hero Dwight Eisenhower off this fort?
JONI PELTA, ATLANTA
Trump sure acts like he’s king
President Trump made a bewildering statement last week that seemed to make an explicit case against his whole deportation plan. He described undocumented farm and hospitality workers who have been in this country for many years as “not citizens, but they have turned out to be, you know, great” and “the farmers love them,” so they shouldn’t be deported because “we can’t do that to our farmers.” He said the same thing about hospitality workers. Has he suddenly realized the value of immigrant labor to our economy? I doubt it.
Trump’s statement gives away the game: Immigration per se is irrelevant to him, except as a reliable hold on his base, in aid of the only goal he really cares about — pursuing absolute personal power. MAGA politicians are obviously complaining to him about farmers and owners of hotels and restaurants in their districts being unhappy, so Trump turns on a dime. He just wants to keep MAGA happy and blind to his power grabs. This played out clearly last week in California.
Trump has long yearned to have unlimited power to deploy the military in any way he wants, just like Putin and other dictators he admires. Last week, Trump issued a proclamation giving himself almost his entire wish list. It is a blanket proclamation covering all states and cities in the country (it never even mentions the state of California by name). It is so vaguely worded as to allow Trump to deploy the military and National Guard in any city in any state, against anyone, unconstrained by the Constitution or the law, against the wishes of those states and cities, anytime he wants, for as long as he wants.
No matter your stance on immigration and deportations, do you really want a monarchy?
JENNY SUTTON, WOODSTOCK
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