Letters: Steer clear of consolidation talk; Trump’s sweet deal for Big Oil

Steer clear of consolidation talk

It appears that the sponsors of the failed 1995 proposal to “replace College Township, Patton Township, and State College with a new local government” are still lurking in the shadows, ready to ride. Let’s just cut them off at the pass right now. It is claimed that “the public was not properly informed of the rationale or merits for the union, and their skepticism was not addressed before the referendum.” This is total bull. The proponents and their allies tried to bamboozle voters with their one-sided dog and pony show but didn’t get away with it. A lot of folks in the townships have been around for a while, they weren’t born yesterday.

Township residents have no inclination to cede local decision making, taxing authority and oversight to the borough of State College. We are doing just fine, thank you.

Alan S. Krug, Ferguson Township

Trump’s sweet deal for Big Oil

Donald Trump, who has never met a “quid pro quo” he doesn’t like, hosted two-dozen oil company executives at Mar-a-Lago last month.

According to The Washington Post, Trump pledged that if they’d fork over a billion dollars for his reelection campaign, he’d roll back any and all Biden administration clean energy initiatives that the fossil fuel industry requests.

The Big Oil execs had a ready wish list: end restrictions on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic; back off emissions limits from cars; thaw the “freeze” on permits for liquefied methane gas exports — and much more, all of which will change the climate for the worse. (Oh, and more tax breaks would be nice too.)

That sort of wheeling and dealing used to be considered influence-buying — i.e. bribery.

Mind you, the oil industry isn’t struggling. The Post reports that the U.S. now produces more oil than any nation in history. Last year, Chevron and ExxonMobil racked up their biggest profits in a decade.

Politico says oil industry execs are busily writing executive orders for Trump to issue should he regain the White House. It’s yet one more sign that a second Trump presidency would mean oligarchy — government by the wealthy and powerful — and that Trump’s loyalties are to his corporate donors, not the American people.

The Post says several oil execs at the dinner were “stunned” when Trump made his offer. C’mon guys, you weren’t at Mar-a-Lago just for the shrimp cocktail.

Patty Satalia, State College

Present-day Svengali

In the 1894 novel “Trilby,” by George du Maurier, the character Svengali seduces and then dominates a naive young girl. Today the term Svengali refers to a person who, with evil intent, manipulates, dominates, and controls others, influencing their thoughts and decisions. Those easily captivated by a Svengali tend to be persons without deeply-held convictions. They believe they have arrived at their positions via their own analysis, unaware they have been so thoroughly manipulated.

Donald Trump is a present-day Svengali. With his bombastic oratory and forceful personality, he easily persuades otherwise rational people to embrace total nonsense.

Consider the evidence:

He has convinced millions that he is a financial genius, despite his long record of business failures and bankruptcies. He has influenced weak-minded, but otherwise decent, people to threaten the lives of judges, district attorneys, and election officials. He mesmerized thousands, many of whom are now in jail, into attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He convinced millions that he actually received the most votes in the 2020 election, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He has lured previously principled Republicans, like Elise Stefanik and Tim Scott, to forfeit their honor and integrity. Even those Republicans who don’t agree with him have been manipulated into silence. Many are so controlled they will vote for him this fall even if he is a convicted felon.

Vulnerable minds, combined with powerful, but evil, powers of persuasion, create a very frightening future for us all.

Richard London, State College

Party loyalty

If you were raised in a family with a dedicated political outlook, and you dearly wish to remain loyal to those convictions, now may be the time to reconsider. Political parties have changed so much that your parents/grandparents might well have changed their allegiances.

Trump’s trial has revealed a depth of sleaze greater than one might otherwise have understood, by way of his associates’ behaviors. Add to this, his recommendation of Paul Manafort to organize the Republican Convention in August. Remember Paul Manafort? (I didn’t either.) He was Trump’s campaign chairman when Trump ran for president in 2016. Manafort was later convicted of 37 felonies concerning bank fraud, income tax evasion, Moscow-based international business violations, etc., and he was pardoned by You-Know-Who.

Apparently sleaze can’t get away from associating with even greater sleaze.

Would your forebears have remained loyal? I am sure that my parents, loyal Republicans of the pre-Bush/Cheney variety, as they were, would not have remained loyal to a Party of divisiveness, wastefulness (consider the out of control expansion of national debt under Trump) and moral depravity that we have witnessed.

They were better people.

They would have known that today’s Republican Party could not possibly “Make America Great Again.”

Roger Herman, Bellefonte