Letters to the editor Nov. 19

The right direction

President-elect Donald Trump has already demonstrated that he has learned from his first term appointment mistakes by selecting mainly non-Washington people for important jobs. The most exciting is his nomination of Pete Hegseth, a decorated soldier, for secretary of Defense. Perhaps we will finally get rid of the woke culture that has decimated our fighting forces both in numbers and readiness.

I am equally excited by the appointment of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head the new Department of Government Efficiency aimed at reducing the glutted 2.9 million people comprising the federal workforce. The spurious narrative that these people sacrifice private sector salary and benefits to serve in the government is hogwash. With the exception of those with advanced degrees (and even they are not much higher) federal employee combined wage and benefits exceed the private sector. Not to mention that it is virtually impossible for them to be fired.

Almost 70% of federal employees are still working from home two years after the pandemic shutdown.  The GAO studied federal office space utilization of 24 agencies and found that 17/24 used less than 25% of allocated space and the highest percent was still under 50%. Federal agencies spend $2 billion a year to operate and maintain these buildings and another $5 billion a year to lease largely unused space.  

Someone is getting rich from this fraud and people like Musk and Ramaswamy have been given the task of getting rid of the waste that our taxes support .

With other exciting picks such as Susie Wiles, Elise Stefanik, Michael Waltz, Tom Homan, Mike Huckabee, Lee Zeldin, John Ratcliffe, Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller perhaps we will finally get America going in the right direction, but only if Sen. John Thune (the new Senate leader) doesn’t pull a Romney.

— David Myerowitz, Columbia Falls

Trump’s promises

The election is over. Now what. I figure one of two things will happen. All the cruel and inconsiderate words, and the undemocratic and impractical promises made by President-elect Donald Trump, will fall as flat as a WWE wrestler during one of those fake matches. Once out of the arenas of entertainment — wrestling and Trump rallies — participants and observers return to reality; governing will take place without brutality.

Or, Trump and his growing clown show of cabinet appointees will do what he’s promised, and in the process unravel the safety and security of Americans, including those who support him. Once Trump voters are surprised by even higher inflation, accelerating world instability, and unrelenting climate crises, Democrats will return to power in two to four years and do what they have always done: fix the messes left by the Republicans.

For sure, things have been messed up for a long time, at least since 9-11. I’d suggest (having lived long enough now) we dove into darkness following the assassinations of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Then the Vietnam war, and so on. It almost makes me long for President Ronald Reagan.

We’re busy people, raising families, working hard to make a living, finding ways to combine what we have to do to survive, with what we want to do to thrive, find love, be happy. Often all we’re left with, or have time for, is how we feel about things. Trump tapped into fears and anger. He commiserated (as much as a billionaire can) with our struggles, some legitimate, many manufactured or (at least) exaggerated.

He’s promised to fix things. Let’s see how it goes. In the meantime, let’s take care of ourselves and each other.

— Roger Hopkins, Columbia Falls

Real news anchors

I am writing to show my support for a long lost relic. The unbiased news anchor.  

I grew up watching Tom Brokaw and that era. Locally we had Mark Holston. After reading his letter to the editor today, it was like a breath of fresh air. A reminder that there are many sensible people who aren’t willing to bend to the pressure of politics.  

I sure wish we could just have normal news and videos on MTV again. Being of the last generation to grow up without social media this has been really eye opening. Thanks to all who have tried to contribute sensible submissions. 

— Jeremy Phillips, Kalispell