Dear Editor,

We are almost three weeks into Trump’s election. What has happened so far? First off, those who discounted some of his crazier and more vulgar statements made while he was campaigning because “after he was elected he would surround himself with real experts and those who would actually do the hard work of governing” have been proven wrong. Instead at the White House, we have alt right white nationalist and former Breitbart News Editor Steve Bannon. This is one scary individual as he has stated in the past that his goal was to “bring down the establishment.” He is particularly fascinated by wars and conflicts and has opined that we could well find ourselves at war with China in the South China Sea within two years. And then we have Kelly Anne Conway serving up “alternative facts” and lamenting the press’ non-coverage of the (non-existent) “Bowling Green Massacre.” 

On the more serious side, we have what has to be the most unqualified vainglorious group of individuals ever nominated for cabinet secretary positions that the nation has ever seen. None of them seems to have any particular skill sets appropriate to the jobs they have been nominated for.

Even more disturbing, most of them are openly hostile to the agencies they will be asked to lead. In particular Scott Pruitt who has been tasked to lead the EPA filed some 30 lawsuits against the EPA when he was AG of Oklahoma. He has openly disparaged the role of the EPA and believes that most of its functions should be rescinded and given back to the states. He does not believe that global warming or climate change is real and he wants the United States to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord. All references to climate change or global warming have been scrubbed from Federal Government web sites. Concurrently, these agencies have been ordered to cease all communications with the public and to not even respond to Congressional inquiries.

So what legislation has actually passed or been put into effect through executive orders? One of the first was the elimination of the “Stream Saver” law that forbids mining companies from dumping coal mining wastes and overburden into streams and rivers. Other pieces of legislation have proposed selling off or privatizing the national parks and making millions of additional acres available for mining and drilling. So is this what you voted for?

Jim Porter

Danville