Phil Spampinato is a resident of Dover.
Deirdre Taylor wrote a lengthy Opinion piece promoting Republicans continuing to run the country (“Vote Republican to keep moving US forward”). Let’s take a look at some of her rationale.
She applauds “money in your pocket” steps like no tax on Social Security. In six years, those receiving $2,000 a month in Social Security will get $1,560. By eliminating taxes and increasing deductions, Republicans have accelerated the reduction of Social Security benefits.
Trump Accounts benefit children born now through 2028. Those children are probably not the 1.5 million children who lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits since July 2025, due to Republican policy. It won’t help the children who die from measles, a disease that was eliminated in the U.S. until Republicans began an anti-vaccine push. The American Academy of Pediatrics sued the Republican administration, stating that its actions were an “assault on science, public health and evidence-based medicine.” So much for benefiting children.
Ms. Taylor says the Republicans closed the border and captured the worst of the worst. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics from June of this year showed that 72% of those detained had no criminal record. Fifty-two people have died in ICE detention since the beginning of 2025, along with citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. ProPublica found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will in that time.
She trumpets energy independence and businesses coming back to the U.S. without mentioning that the U.S. was energy-independent throughout the previous (Democratic) administration. She also fails to mention that returning businesses have caused no significant net gain in total manufacturing jobs since 2025. However, Republicans support artificial intelligence without any restrictions, despite its causing 130,000 job losses since 2025, with far more losses predicted each year.
Ms. Taylor needs to check her sources on exploring space. Joe Biden funded NASA at $23 billion each year of his presidency, allowing the U.S. to build the hardware to later fly a record mission around the moon. The Republican administration proposed a 24% cut to NASA’s budget for 2026.
She prefers Republican health policy, which, through executive action and the “Big Beautiful Bill,” has set in motion roughly $900 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade, with Congressional Budget Office projections of 7.5 million more uninsured Americans and a drop of 2.1 million from Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment. Republican policy is to deny healthcare to all but the well-off.
She credits government crackdowns for reduced crime. An FBI analysis shows that violent and property crimes spiked in 2020 (Republican administration) and 2021 (Democratic). Psychology Today published data showing that the pandemic was the cause of these spikes. Crime came down with the easement of restrictions on physical movement during lockdowns and the return to employment, not some imagined crackdown.
The EU is paying more for defense, and Republicans can take the credit. The EU and the rest of the world recognize that the Republican administration is an unreliable partner and can no longer be counted on to protect them in a war with Russia. NATO now understands that the Article 5 agreement, which had much of the EU fight and die in Afghanistan after 9/11, no longer suits the Republican administration and that the EU is now on its own fighting Russia.
Ms. Taylor states that the Department of Government Efficiency found billions of savings but was stopped by Democrats. DOGE claimed it saved about $214 billion to $215 billion, but independent reviews found verifiable savings of between roughly $1.4 billion and $5.5 billion. In contrast, the Partnership for Public Service estimated $135 billion in losses during DOGE’s 100 days, citing reduced productivity, repeated “fire-and-rehire cycles” and paid leave. DOGE’s charter expired July 4, as set by Donald Trump’s executive order, signed Jan. 20, 2025.
Ms. Taylor decries Delaware’s annual budget increases and blames them on Democrats. She fails to mention that Delaware is required to balance its budget, so it has to have more income to spend more. She might also have mentioned that the Republicans increased federal spending by 6.3% in 2025, with less income, leaving a $1.85 trillion deficit to add to the $40 trillion national debt being left to our children and grandchildren.
She asks, who hires a friend (for surgeon general)? The answer is Republicans. The company hired to paint the Reflecting Pool is Trump’s swimming pool service contractor. The U.S. envoy to Russia is Trump’s golf buddy. The ambassador to France is his daughter’s father-in-law, who Trump pardoned for tax evasion and witness tampering. The list goes on.
Without evidence, Taylor accuses Delaware Democrats of protecting criminals. She makes no mention of the 1,270 convicted criminals who attacked the capital on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop a fair and legitimate election (and who the Republican administration pardoned). That is protecting criminals.
Finally, she proclaims that Democrats embrace socialism. If socialism is defined as Social Security or Medicare or veterans’ benefits, I believe many Democrats and Republicans would say they do embrace these social programs, as well as others like nutrition benefits for hungry children and older adults, such as SNAP and Medicaid. On the other hand, this Republican administration embraces communism, helping Russia’s economy by relieving sanctions and buying diesel fuel, so Russia can continue its war against a Democratic Ukraine.
Ms. Taylor offers a poorly researched argument for voting Republican in the November election to continue to make America better and better. She’s not all wrong. Republicans have done some good things in the last (almost) two years. But she’s ignoring the wrong direction Republicans are leading us:
This election, America needs to prioritize putting guardrails on the Republican administration. We need a Congress that isn’t afraid of Trump hurting their reelection chances. We need an America where the middle class can afford to buy food, drive to work and heat their homes. We have to stop the appointment of government leaders who hurt the nation’s health. We need a Congress that will speak up in the face of corruption. We need change.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
