There is a lot of crazy going on right now.
It’s hard to decide what issue to write about amidst all the dysfunction.
ICE agents are acting with impunity.
They’re not just arresting undocumented people, but arresting US citizens, tear-gassing children and local police officers, and blatantly lying to federal judges. Some of the detainees go to a gulag that we have created in Africa and El Salvador.
Our newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, is deployed in the Caribbean.
It’s the largest navy presence there since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. It’s deployed against speed boats.
Mr. Trump recently called for the execution of several federal Senators and Representatives because of statements they made.
These legislators, all veterans themselves or former intelligence officers, reminded those serving in uniform not to obey illegal orders; it’s both legal and required for them to refuse. They simply quoted the law. Mr. Trump’s response, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!”
But I think one issue truly highlights how Mr. Trump and the millionaires and billionaires he surrounds himself with think. Mr. Trump insists the economy is doing great. Well, the stock market is rising now; that benefits those with money. But I’m not so sure those that are earning paychecks or living on social security feel the same optimism. For us, since Mr. Trump took office, costs are going up: electricity, gas, gasoline, beef, oranges. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) It's this lying that’s troubling. We all see what is happening every time we go to the store. Prices are going up because of Mr.
Trump’s ill-advised tariffs or his special deals with countries or people that end up costing the US taxpayer billions of dollars. One, a flagrant slap-in-face to taxpayers, is the $20 billion given to Argentina to prop up their government, and subsequent purchases of Argentinean beef versus real support for U.S. farmers. All this happened while Mr.
Trump refused to pay SNAP benefits in the U.S. to 42 million Americans facing serious food insecurity, saying he didn’t have the money. Mr. Trump canceled SNAP benefits at the same time he provided billions of taxpayer dollars to Argentina. SNAP has been restored, but after billions went to Argentina.
Those who say that Mr. Trump is saving America, please explain to me how this works. It seems to me that Mr. Trump is single-handedly making America worse: worse for those that work for a paycheck, worse for seniors, worse for those that need to buy health insurance. How is it that the richest country in the world can afford to spend billions of dollars on a random country in South America, spend millions of dollars deploying a fleet of ships to attack a few speed boats, spend hundreds of millions of dollars arresting a few thousand undocumented workers, but we cannot afford to support those in our country who need a meal or buy health insurance.
Mr. Trump and Republicans are showing you exactly who they really are.
Richard Chamberlain Colchester
