To the editor:

It is horrifying to watch the destruction of governmental agencies by a presidential administration that doesn’t even try to hide its lawless behavior. It might be even harder to watch the Republicans in Congress acquiesce to most of these changes with nary a whimper, and many of them applauding what is happening.

Under the banner of finding “waste, fraud and abuse,” Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the forces that they lead are recklessly and systematically setting up the United States to be less healthy, less able to withstand and recover from natural disasters, and less able to take care of the poor and helpless. By cutting off so much foreign aid and treating our traditional allies poorly, they have utterly ruined our reputation abroad.

Trump and those who follow him project hatred toward Democrats, liberals, minorities, immigrants and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Numerous members of my family fit into some of those groups, and I hear of the right wing’s disrespect for us each day. The arrogance of the Republicans, with tiny pluralities in both houses of Congress and a president who received less than 50% of the vote, is perhaps unparalleled in our history. I don’t know if this will end with canceled elections and dictatorship, or just a country that has been completely wrecked, or both, but we will all feel it, no matter how we voted in the last election.

Paul Laird,

Lawrence