By Jim Dickson
I felt like I should write something about the Donald Trump trial and conviction, but by now a hundred people a lot smarter than me have just about said it all, one way or the other.
The one thing that I have not heard, is that the good people of New York City may have done the one thing that they feared the most, and that is to put Mr. Trump back in the White House for a second term. I could be wrong but I think most Americans of all political persuasions have a pretty fair sense of justice and fair play, and many of those people who really didn’t want either candidate, and would have stayed home, will express their unhappiness with the way the trial was conducted at the ballot box on election day. It looks like Trump is now the victim and I have no doubt that he will play the role to the hilt.
One indicator is the many millions of dollars that are now rolling into his campaign war chest. Needless to say we are in for a rough ride for the next five months, but it will be interesting.
Moving closer to home, it looks like the race for who will be the Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District is shaping up to be a close contest between the incumbent Nancy Mace, and the top challenger, the former head of South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control, and businesswoman Catherine Templeton. The smart money is normally on the incumbent in that the incumbent has a clear advantage. In this case Templeton is well known and respected with Republican voters for her past government work and her business success.
I am hearing rumblings of discontent among Republican voters with Mace. It seems many think that she is spending way too much time being the darling of Fox News and not enough time working for the people of the 1st District. There is also a wild card, a sharp young Marine veteran, Bill Young, who although a political novice, is working hard to get his name out and will surely pull some votes away from Mace. It may be a real race to the finish.
If we don’t have enough politics to worry about, it looks like this hurricane season is shaping up to be one of the worst on record. We now have lots of new people who have moved here in the past two or three years and have yet to experience a hurricane or an evacuation. I hope that they are paying close attention to all of the information that is out there and will respond accordingly.
All of us need to be aware of what is going on, and those who can leave sooner rather than later, do so. With the influx of new residents the roads will be packed.
Other than that, life in Beaufort County is still wonderful, and we are among some of the world’s luckiest people to live here. I wish everyone a great summer!
Born, raised and educated in the Southwest, Jim Dickson served in the U.S. Navy Reserve in Vietnam before a 35-year business career. Retired to St. Helena Island, Dickson and his wife are fiscally conservative, socially moderate and active in Republican politics, though they may not always agree with Republicans. Having lived around the country and traveled around the world, Dickson believes that the United States truly is the land of opportunity.
