When President Donald Trump started his second term, he allowed Elon Musk to cut government spending in an attempt to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. What effect these cuts would have on the American people played little, if any, part in Musk’s decisions. The bill has come due on several of those cuts.
Consider the wildfires ragging out of control in the Minnesota Superior National Forest. Musk cut a key fire mitigation program. The heavy smoke that hung over Northeastern cities for days is partially the result of that action.
Musk cut a committee staffed with federal officials working to identify toxic foods that could become a serious health hazard. Cyclospora has spread to 41 states. The Trump administration cut 30% of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff members who worked to contain outbreaks. It appears the Trump administration neither knows how nor has the resources to contain this fast-spreading disease.
And the administration has shown hostility to vaccines, putting people at risk. Measles is running wild in many communities. There is no drug for this disease. The human body must fight it on its own and hopefully not suffer any of the horrific potential side effects. And it’s spreading at a rate the county hasn’t seen in decades.
The American people deserve more than Trump’s vanity projects.
Thomas Posey
Yardley, Bucks County
Posey is formerly of Reading.