
Editor, The Beacon:
Having survived polio and losing a sister to the disease, Robert Kennedy Jr. is not my choice to run Health and Human Services. Kennedy doesn’t have the experience, skills or knowledge to head the agency. Still, RFK Jr. and other nominees in over their heads, are not the problem. They’re pawns in the plot to destroy the U.S. government.
Reagan claimed our No. 1 enemy was the U.S. government. Republicans tried bringing it down by putting smart conservatives in charge of key federal and state agencies. They’ve had some success. Citizens United and dark money flood our elections. Medicare was partially privatized with Advantage plans. MAGA Republicans ignored the Constitution’s emoluments clause in Trump’s first term.
So far, there has not been a knockout punch. Bush failed to privatize Social Security. Some environmental protections survived. Biden passed an infrastructure bill to fix roads and bridges. Trump’s insurrectionist mob to overturn the election failed.
Trump 2.0 adopts a new strategy. Out with smart experienced conservatives. In with incompetent ill-prepared sycophants. Add the world’s richest man to handle the House’s constitutional budget authority and we’re facing Michael Lewis’ warning in his book The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy.
Don’t blame RFK Jr. and other flunkies. They’re just stooges. Trump, The Heritage Foundation, MAGA congressional Republicans, and the alt-right America First neo-Nazis are using them to destroy the U.S. government. Two weeks in. Chaos reigns. Democracy requires paying attention and hard work. Will Trump keep his promise to free us from voting?
Sam Sloss
DeLand