I respect Cliff Heck’s right to write his letter to the editor on President Donald Trump and his detractors (Baker City Herald, March 7).

Mr. Heck is right: Trump’s an easy target. Maybe because Trump is weak on facts. Correcting yourself when you say something wrong is common. Trump, however, is endlessly repeating false claims.

Conservative David Brooks wrote recently (New York Times, March 6)” “Trump is a leader who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Mr. Heck’s wrong that Trump won by a landslide; he got only 1.6% more votes than Harris.

The massive firings and across-the-board cuts that Trump (Elon Musk) is doing have little to do with cutting waste and fraud. President Barack Obama’s special bipartisan committee, chaired by a Republican, found lots of waste and fraud, but did little. This is where Trump should have started instead of having Musk fire inspectors general whose job it is to find it.

Cutting waste and fraud is a noble ideal. What the Department of Government Efficiency is doing will have devastating impacts on Eastern Oregon. Our congressional district has above average unemployment, and now increasing, and 40% of residents receive Medicaid.

DOGE plans to cut 83,000 Veteran Administration jobs, a significant reduction in services to our veterans.

Health care and social service programs are major targets of Musk for significant cuts. With these cuts, we may see local clinics and a few hospitals close. Our local school district said it is looking at a 25% reduction in funding because of the cuts.

I trust people will figure it out.

Rick Meis

Halfway