To the editor:
The very substantial gift of $6.25 billion by Michael and Susan Dell to help fund so-called “Trump Accounts” has brought new attention to the federally funded children’s investment accounts that were part of last summer’s Republican budget bill.
Originally named “Money Accounts for Growth and Advancement,” the MAGA acronym did not flatter Trump enough, so they were renamed after him. Like so much else Trump does, it is all about his self-aggrandizement. The accounts are misnamed. They are funded by taxpayers, not Donald Trump.
The accounts are a gimmick to make it appear that Trump cares about the welfare of American children.
If Trump truly cared about the well-being of our children, he would not have appealed all the way to the Supreme Court to keep states from funding food stamps during the government shutdown, creating a crisis of food insecurity affecting millions of children. He would have met Democratic demands to restore Obamacare premium tax credits so millions of families with children could avoid skyrocketing healthcare insurance premiums. Instead, he refused to negotiate, leading to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
He would not have Robert Kennedy Jr., whose anti-vaccine agenda will put the health of American children (and their parents) at risk in profound ways, as secretary of Health and Human Services. He would not be trying to abolish the U.S. Department of Education when education is foundational to children’s futures. He would not be dismantling programs to address climate change, calling it the “greatest con job perpetrated on the world,” when it represents an existential threat to future generations.
Trump claims to care about government waste but created a program that will cost taxpayers billions of dollars, a significant amount going to the children of families who do not need government assistance.
Don’t be fooled. What Trump really cares about is his self-image, amassing power, and enriching his billionaire friends and sycophants. The well-being of your children is an afterthought.
Jonathan Perloe
Great Barrington
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