To my fellow working people of Franklin County who voted for and have been supporting President Donald Trump — please take a moment and reflect on what is happening to our country. Trump just enacted a massive tax increase on working Americans. Tariffs are not paid by countries, they are paid by consumers with the money going directly to the U.S. Treasury. At the same time, the president is allowing a billionaire to make equally massive and destructive cuts to programs that we all rely on. I’m talking about farms, schools, health care, necessities for a functioning society that are available to all Americans, not just the wealthy, because of our tax dollars.

Where is the money the government will collect through these tariffs going to go? Trump and Musk do not have a coherent plan. They’re not playing some game of three dimensional chess that no one else understands. They are showmen who make grand dramatic gestures and have little interest in doing the hard work of making informed, well-considered decisions. We’re all paying the price for it now and it is going to get worse.

I agree with many of you that the government before Trump was dysfunctional and not working well for the average person, but I hope that some of you will start to see that this dangerous regime is not the answer. Please stop and think about the kind of world you want to live in, the kind of world you want to leave to our children and reconsider your support for this president.

Edward Schwerin

Greenfield