To The Reader’s Forum:

We hear often that Trump nominates this person, Trump wants to do tariffs, Trump wants to cut regulations, Trump wants to deport our neighbors

It’s always “Trump wants.”

But that is not what presidents are for. We, the people, tell our elected representatives what we want. We want clean air. We want to be protected from those who pollute the air (regulations do that). We want Social Security. We want Medicare. We want Medicaid. We want to be protected from fraud and corporate abuse (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). Congress passed those laws, saying these things are what the people want.

The president is elected to carry out the will of the people. The president is not a king who can rule according to his own wants. The president is not to be a billionaire rigging the system with his money. The president is not to be an autocrat who uses government agencies to protect him from criticism. We, the people, get to say if we don’t like what is being done by our elected leaders. If the elected leader does not like our criticism, then he can choose to do according to what the people want.

Too much reporting is done about what Trump wants, as if what the president wants is the right thing. No, reporting should be about what the president is doing to “provide for the general welfare” (US Constitution). Reporting should be about how the president’s nominees will help people, not about setting businesses free to push their expenses on to we, the people. Reporting should point out that what the president wants is to put too much power on to the office of the president. Government, which is we the people, is about what we want, not what one person wants.

Timothy Hoyer

Falconer