Editor, News-Register:

Perhaps the main reason as to why current President Donald J. Trump was victorious in the most recent US presidential election was based on his oft-repeated campaign promise that, if elected, he would resolve perhaps the most concerning issue facing the American people — massive inflation — on day one. However, the reality is indeed very far from the case. Inflation continues to climb and with President Trump’s plan to enact massive tariffs on our trading partners, the horrific impact of which to be felt by U.S. citizens, as a result of continuing out of control, inflation will most assuredly escalate even further.

In addition, President Trump has pledged to arbitrarily eliminate government waste and has assigned the world’s wealthiest individual, Elon Musk, who, under the Department of Governmental Efficiency, has, with Trump’s approval, implemented monumental cuts to available public services and has terminated a large number of federal employees without conducting any in-depth study whatsoever to indicate as to why these monumental cuts and layoffs are necessary. Among those entities being so targeted include the Social Security Administration that Musk has referred to, without a shred of corroborating evidence, as the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.

For the record, the Social Security Administration has an 85-year record of paying beneficiaries what they are owed as the administration currently successfully serves more than 69 million retirees and disabled Americans. Also, Trump has promised to eventually eliminate more than 80,000 staff positions at the U.S. Veterans Administration, which will undoubtedly have a horrific impact on a great many of America’s veterans, who are the heroes of our great nation. These actions coming from Trump and the South African Musk, neither of whom ever served in our nation’s military.

Waste and fraud, if or where it does exist, must be identified and properly eliminated, but done professionally, respectfully and seriously. This was not the action we saw from Musk recently, who announced the proposed cuts to federal programs at a conservative Political Action Committee meeting by disrespectfully brandishing a chainsaw and grinning. Perhaps Trump and Musk should re-examine the massive tax breaks and subsidies, provided to the wealthiest among us, such as themselves, before targeting such successful programs to those in need, and perhaps they would find legitimate such violation and resolve them for the overall good of our country and its people.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry