Readers Write: Cabinet picks, Dem’s message, DOGE

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Polio making a comeback in a couple of Asian nations. Measles outbreaks in Florida due to anti-vaxxer disinformation about autism. These had been preventable diseases. What’s next, the Black Plague breaking out and depopulating half of Europe?

And our current POTUS nominated an anti-vaxxer with very questionable qualifications to be the nation’s top health official? Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should absolutely NOT have been confirmed (“Senate confirms vaccine skeptic RFK Jr. for post,” front page, Feb. 14). To paraphrase the old movie “Shane,” “Doctor Fauci, come back!”

Paul Schultz, Ham Lake

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Great! The man who put live baby chicks and mice into the blender to feed to his pet hawk, as alleged by his cousin Caroline Kennedy, will now be in charge of our bodily well-being. I’m not sure who he’s going to put in the blender to feed the rest of us, but surely we are in good hands. After all, the senators we voted into office on our behalf as constituents surely thought very carefully about their decision. Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” is beginning to look like a joyful little romp with nary a moment to raise an eyebrow.

Shawn O’Rourke Gilbert, Edina

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President Donald Trump’s second term is still in its early stages, but already it’s causing trouble for the country and its people, not to mention the world in general. To make matters worse, Trump is loading his cabinet with unqualified, corrupt, like-minded nominees, like Linda McMahon, a veteran WWE manager. This is completely unacceptable! We must be ready to do whatever it takes to put an end to this corrupt insanity.

Ryan Baka, Minneapolis

The Democrats' messaging and ideology definitely cost them the last election. Americans were finally tired of being told we are a racist, homophobic, oppressive country that needed to embrace socialism. The statement by a Feb. 14 letter writer, that “whoever controls the media controls the mind,” was primarily true and indicates why this election was a mandate for conservatives. The media is over 90% controlled by the left and the majority of voters finally realized that the propaganda pushed by the media was false.

It appears the Democrats and media are doubling down on identity politics and saying America is a terrible country. The middle class is tired of being lectured by Democrat and media elites and want a return to patriotism, democracy and the long-lost American dream. Until Democrats and the media understand that desire, they are destined to become irrelevant. Democrats should listen to Sen. John Fetterman, former Rep. Dean Phillips and a handful of other Democrat leaders who show common sense. Unfortunately, common sense seems to be lacking on the left, which I enjoy because it makes it easier for Trump to put America first again

Bob Tumilson, Apple Valley

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Andy Brehm writes that Democrats failed in the last election because of their platform, not because of their ability to message (“It’s the Democrats' message that is the problem,” Strib Voices, Feb. 11). I agree with part of his message because most of us don’t like government intrusion into our personal lives, whether that means dictating how we raise our children or who we marry.

And most of us recognize that there is fat to be trimmed in the budget, whether that means canceling one of Bechtel’s contracts with the Pentagon or cutting veterans’ access to health care. We all want safer streets, whether that means getting rid of criminals — foreign born and home grown — or getting rid of guns. Or both. The $36 trillion national debt is daunting, whether we got there from overspending or undertaxing. As is always the case, we can agree on the problems, rarely on the solutions.

But the Trump/Musk solution is like a surgeon lopping off your head because you have a pimple on your nose. And despite their pro-life message, their policies are deadly, to people around the globe, to hard working Americans and to democracy itself.

Susan Lenfestey, Minneapolis

Trump and Musk don’t have to rely on their “common sense” or misguided assumptions about the size, staffing and funding of the federal government. They could easily get fact-based, data-driven research and analysis from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. They would find that the federal workforce in the 1940s represented 4.5% of nonfarm workers, but that today it is only 1.5%. Or they could find that the size of the federal government is too small to secure the health, safety and overall well-being of the people of the U.S.

According to Algernon Austin and Jordan Billings at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Trump and Musk would also find that, at the time of the Jan. 29 airliner and helicopter crash, two air traffic controllers were doing the work of four. Nearly all of the nations' air traffic control centers are understaffed. Also, some New York City air traffic control facilities have 40% of their positions unfilled, and two-fifths of the members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association are working 10-hour shifts six days a week.

At Veterans Health Administration facilities, 86% reported that they were short doctors and 82% were short nurses in fiscal 2024.

There were too few people at the FDIC recently to save Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank. The FDIC has too few people in the pipeline with the knowledge and training to effectively monitor the complexities of the banking system.

The IRS is losing billions, maybe trillions, of dollars from wealthy taxpayers — I can think of two — and corporations due to low staffing and the ability to do audits. Thanks to Joe Biden and the Democrats, the Inflation Reduction Act helped the IRS to increase staffing, but they still have fewer workers than in the 1990s.

Immigration has over a million court cases and growing and not enough immigration court staff to make a dent in the backlog.

Even privatization hasn’t worked to address these issues. The private contractors, who are more expensive than government workers, are insufficient or incompetent to handle all the work that’s needed to get done. No matter how you look at, it the federal government is too small.

Creighton Orth, Plymouth

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Let me see if I have this right: Sensitive information of the United States of America is now being accessed by a 19-year-old techno-gangster with an online nickname of “Big Balls”? (“19-year-old Musk acolyte gets wide-ranging access,” Feb. 13.)

Donald Voge, Minneapolis

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What fresh hell is this? A 19-year-old known as “Big Balls,” unvetted with little or no experience, hired by unelected, special government employee Musk, also unvetted, has access to private information! A child named X is in attendance at a presidential news conference. He wanders around picking his nose and seems to tell Trump on a hot mic that he’s not really the president. He might be right about that one. A pro-Russia politician is confirmed as intelligence director; an anti-vaxxer is confirmed to lead the Health Department; a man with an alcohol problem leads the Defense Department and intimates that Ukraine will have to give up land lost to Russia. Oh, and Ukraine is shut out of the peace talks. Trump plans to displace all Palestinians to turn Gaza into his own private golf resort. The price of eggs is up, as is inflation. Nazis march in Ohio. All this in less than a month in office! I cannot begin to imagine what four years will bring.

Jeanne Torma, Minneapolis