The priorities of our “Christian” president include cutting heating assistance for low income people, after school programs, Meals on Wheels, legal aid for the poor, PBS, jobs programs for people in Appalachia, deep cuts to the EPA and NASA — if we let other countries get ahead of us in space exploration we are guaranteeing our own demise. His budget cuts agriculture by 21 percent — something that will not go over well in agricultural states — and cuts State Department funding by more than 30 percent, which his secretary of defense strongly objects to and 120 generals wrote him a letter begging him not to do.

We now know he paid $38 million dollars in federal taxes in 2005. If a minimum tax for the rich had not been enacted to make sure the rich paid some reasonable tax, he would only have paid about $5.3 million. His stated goal is to eliminate that minimum tax requirement. Taxes on the very wealthy were increased to partially fund Obamacare. He claims he wants all people to have health care, but he himself has no interest in paying for it. He said he would not cut Medicare or Medicaid, but “Trumpcare” cuts $880 billion from Medicaid, while giving Trump and the donor class $883 billion in tax cuts. Meanwhile, a 64-year-old person earning $26,500 a year, who pays $1,700 in insurance premiums under Obamacare, would pay $14,600 a year under Trumpcare.

The draconian cuts he has proposed will not pass Congress, but his budget demonstrates his priorities. His spokespeople claim he is keeping campaign promises by, for instance, building the wall. His supporters were in favor of the wall when Mexico was going to pay for it. I doubt most want it enough to spend their own tax dollars for it to the tune of $8 million to $25 million a mile times 2,000 miles!

Budget Director Mulvaney said he did not think it was fair to ask a single mother in Detroit to pay for PBS or the NEA. It is my guess she would not have much of a problem with the couple of dollars those two programs would cost her in taxes. However, he said not a word about asking her to pay the $330 or so dollars she is asked to fork out for ExxonMobile and other corporate welfare recipients. She would very likely object strongly to having to do that.

I think Donald Trump is a dishonest man who thinks nothing of “bearing false witness” and never apologizes for the damage his lies do. His rhetoric and accusations have alienated our longtime allies. His and his campaign’s ties to Russia are undeniable. Now Secretary of State Tillerson, Putin’s good buddy, is not going to attend the NATO conference in April. He will make a trip to Russia instead — greasing the wheels, no doubt, for Exxon/Mobile and likely Donald Trump to enrich themselves through their Russian ties. This, in the end, is what this presidency is all about.

Lonna Gooden Van Horn

Northwood