To the editor:
Here are some reasons for Trump’s moves since being sworn into office.
Trump should be aware that the Federal Deficit will balloon if he re-ups his 2017 tax cuts at the end of this year. By drastically cutting federal spending, he hopes to offset the cost of continuing the tax cuts. So reducing the number of employees across the board and eliminating programs he doesn’t like allows him to achieve his goal regardless of the harm and inability for the government to function he causes. This is the federal government, not a mom-and-pop store. You need people to make it function.
Why is Elon Musk having such an outsize role? His moves are violating employment contracts, congressional rules, and treaties. When will Congress stop this?
One program that has helped make the U.S. popular around the world is USAID. This program targets health needs and food production in less-developed countries. By eliminating USAID, Trump is creating a vacuum that China will surely fill. Once they are in, we will have lost our edge on the world stage.
Trump’s style of diplomacy is being a bully. He doesn’t know how to convince other countries to cooperate other than by threatening tariffs, cutting off aid, or saber-rattling. It works, but at what cost to our perception throughout the world? He gave his aides instruction to “obliterate” Iran should it assassinate him. He thinks he can do that from the grave!
Trump is transactional. Most decisions are based on what is in it for him. He wants Israel to remove the Palestinians in Gaza (ethnic cleansing) so he can step in and build the Riviera of the Middle East. He wants to sell Federal properties, but to whom? He wants to privatize several federal agencies, but who will buy them, and at what price? My guess is Trump’s billionaire friends.
Instead of creating a path to citizenship, with four percent unemployment, he is deporting honest, hardworking people who pay taxes. Who will clean rooms in Trump hotels and mow the grass on his golf courses? There are more examples of the effects of deportations, but you get the picture.
Trump said he will stay out of foreign entanglements, but he is pressing to take back control of the Panama Canal, force Denmark to sell Greenland to us, and the aforementioned takeover of Gaza.
Trump is known to exaggerate the truth and is a constant liar. He claimed to know nothing of Project 2025 but is following it line by line. Replacements of those who are fired or leave of their own accord will have to pledge loyalty to Trump, not the Constitution. His cabinet picks are Trump loyalists. None can be expected to do anything against Trump’s will.
So far, Republicans in Congress have given Trump free reign, but eventually, ignoring the rule of law, pardoning the insurrectionists and having to confirm unqualified cabinet picks who can harm more than they help will hopefully get them to stand up to Trump. Until now, they have been curled up on the floor in a fetal position sucking their thumb.
Frank Gunsberg
Great Barrington
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