To the editor:

The Trump administration says it is trying to solve a crisis: our national budget deficit. It is doing that by firing (or eliminating the jobs of) thousands and thousands of federal workers, by gutting entire departments, by (illegally) rescinding funds appropriated by Congress, by dismissing top military officers, national security experts, and weather scientists, as well as disease researchers, doctors, diplomats, postal workers, national park rangers and too many others to list here. At Trump’s orders, “our” government has reduced or canceled federal programs overwhelmingly popular with the American people — even those which are essential to the health and welfare of all, particularly mothers and children.

If the goal is to reduce government spending, as is loudly claimed, I’d like to know three things: 1. Why Trump has spent more than $30 million of our taxes — so far — to pay for his private golf trips; 2. Why he plans to spend an estimated $100 million on a military parade on his birthday; and 3. Why he is planning a rich-people-first tax cut in the trillions of dollars that will gigantically increase the national budget deficit.

Fellow taxpayers, do you smell a rat?

Haskell Springer,

Lawrence