A Catalog of Losses Under Trump

New York Times

2 days ago

To the Editor:
Re 'This Is Why America Needs Public Media' (editorial, July 20):
Rural supporters of President Trump across the country are now likely to lose public media upon which they rely. They are also threatened with the loss of Medicaid and Affordable Care Act benefits; the shuttering of rural hospitals; the arrest and deportation of respected community members; a shortage of farm workers at harvest time; a tariff-driven rise in prices of food, clothing and other essentials, combined with problems marketing produce overseas; the dismantling of effective warning systems for tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and wildfires; and a weakened FEMA response to the subsequent devastation.
Abandonment of green energy initiatives and infrastructure projects will eliminate much-needed jobs and community development opportunities and ultimately lead to more droughts and flooding. Cuts to school funding will disproportionately affect the education of Trump supporters' children.
One might cynically observe that Trump voters are reaping what they have sown, but in truth, they were the victims of a con job. And no one deserves to be conned.
Lawrence KaplanArdsley, N.Y.
To the Editor:
Re 'Cuts Endanger U.S. Response to Calamities' (front page, July 14):
Homeland security officials have been describing the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a bloated dead weight badly in need of reform, but that rhetoric does not match the facts.
I was at my desk at FEMA headquarters on the morning of April 19, 1995, when the TV news suddenly announced the terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Staff members were placed on alert immediately, and within the hour we were receiving our emergency assignments.
Mine would be to work the night shift at FEMA's emergency coordination center, helping to monitor and support the rescue efforts. Meanwhile, staff members at FEMA's regional office in Denton, Texas, were already on the phone with Oklahoma state emergency officials.
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