Doris W. Draper is a resident of Houston.
Have our Republicans in Congress read our Constitution lately or listened to the Congressional Budget Office? It doesn’t seem likely.
Article 1, Section 8 says that Congress, not the executive, has the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises. The Supreme Court has ruled, but Donald Trump barrels on, adding more costs on the American people and creating chaos and uncertainty, which stifles our manufacturing.
Article 1, Section 9 says that no tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. Then, how is the White House allowed to take a 25% cut of the sales of some Nvidia chips?
While Trump assured you that he would protect Social Security and Medicare, his policy changes have erased, in less than a year, 12 years of solvency for the trust fund that pays Medicare Part A. His removal of immigrants — 70% of whom have no criminal records — will cost over $97 billion in federal, state and local taxes, including $26 billion in Social Security and $6.5 billion in Medicare.
Do you know that the immigrant workforce powers 50% of farming, fishing and forestry, 50% of home health care, 30% of construction and 24% of the service industry? As our population slows, we must have immigrants to keep the country going.
Trump has also cut off paying for medical care for immigrant detainees. We have pregnant women, children and those with major medical problems being denied care. Ronald Reagan signed a bill in 1986 that demanded that even those who lack permanent legal status be given medical attention.
We are now faced with the imminent collapse of farming, due to Trump’s tariffs and the inaction of Congress. His supposed $12 billion to help farmers does nothing to help them sell crops and manage input costs. We were once the breadbasket of the world; now, we can no longer feed our own people.
As our national debt nears $39 trillion, Trump is adding billions every day and spiraling us toward a major crisis. Every economist has stated that we will see a stock market crash, as our debt reaches 120% of the gross domestic product within 10 years.
Now, because of his being played by Russia and Israel, we are at war with Iran, while he ignores the buildup of 320,000 Russian troops in Belarus.
He has deserted the American people, the Ukrainian people and the Palestinians. In one year, he has taken us from being the beacon of democracy for the world to a predator nation.
Be advised and make sure you don’t wait until the last minute to mail your taxes or a mail-in ballot. Last Christmas, the administration changed postmark rules. Mail is no longer postmarked when you mail it but is postmarked when it gets to a processing center, which could be from one to four days later. Therefore, your taxes could be deemed mailed late and your vote not counted.
Everyone needs to go to the Mayo Clinic website and read the symptoms of antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder and frontotemporal dementia. Read these carefully. It is long past due for the 25th Amendment to be used. The oath of office is being violated every day.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
