Readers Write: National debt, Donald Trump, turkeys in flight

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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I found the front page article on Nov. 25 to be well researched and written but I have to admit the timing is suspicious. And that the interest on our national debt would warrant the front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune has me at a loss for words (“U.S. debt is risk to Trump’s promises”).

Nevertheless, it is no secret that both Donald Trump and Joe Biden spent freely in the past eight years and our debt has gone from approximately $16 trillion to $36 trillion during that time period. It is also no secret that the inflation rate and the increased costs of basic goods, especially groceries, weighed heavily on voters’ minds as they went to the polls this election. Since 2020, inflation has grown as COVID caused issues with manufacturing and supply chains, but Biden’s response with more giveaways just piled on unnecessarily. How is it that just now the media realizes how this affects our national debt?

When the inflation rate was near zero, payments were lower. Now, with interest rates where they are, “Congressional Budget Office projections indicate that debt service costs next year could exceed $1 trillion. That’s more than projected spending on defense. The total is also greater than nondefense spending on infrastructure, food aid and other programs under the direction of Congress,” according to the article.

Every president elected in this century has kicked this can down the road. It would be nice to see a president actually address this very real issue. It is already a burden on us at a cost of $2.74 billion per day. It will only grow to be a bigger burden for our children and grandchildren unless something changes.

Tim Rubash, Apple Valley

The Star Tribune’s Nov. 25 story on the U.S. debt is troubling, and yet there’s another way to frame this story. Trump totally mismanaged the coronavirus pandemic, and then was rewarded by being elected again. Prices might have been lower during his first term, but was that due (at least in part) to him riding the coattails of the Barack Obama administration? Trump touts that there were no wars while he was in office, but he failed miserably on the war with COVID and then handed the inflation problem off to Biden.

Also in the Nov. 25 Star Tribune, the reprinted Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press editorial warns of the potential harm to our nation’s weather services under another Trump administration (”As Trump enacts his agenda, weather services must be protected,” Other Views). There is a comment from Project 2025 stating that NOAA is “harmful to future U.S. prosperity.” Trump’s promotion of fossil fuels and climate change is the greatest threat to U.S. prosperity, especially hurting those least able to withstand the effects. Trump, the incoming commander in chief, failed us for four years in the war against climate change, and will likely fail us for another four years. As with COVID, people will unnecessarily die and pay more, including tax dollars, under Trump. The U.S. and the world will have to do more, in spite of Trump, to reverse climate change. Or, maybe we can rely on the Electoral College process to save us, since it appears that the wrong person was elected.

Peter Berglund, St. Paul

The “gotcha” headlines in your paper continue to spin negativity on anything to do with Trump. Do we have to see this for another four years? Haven’t you all figured out in your newsroom this is why “you” — that would be the far-left-leaning Democratic press — lost the election. Your trustworthiness is at an all-time low because you never write anything positive about a Republican. When half of your readers disagree with you, it is amazing how you continue to shove it in their face. It is like late night television now, which cannot help themselves to be anti-Republican. That is why I simply do not watch it anymore. Where is Johnny Carson? I see Andy Brehm is getting beaten up as well; you love to publish letters that beat up your Republican contributors.

There was only one sentence in the front page article on Nov. 27 that mentioned the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants, and 99% of the article was all negativity on tariffs (”Trump vows tariffs on U.S. neighbors”). The same people who said that inflation would be “transitory” are now fanning the fire with commentary that tariffs will cause inflation, even though from 2016-2019 it did not. What causes inflation is too much money in the system, which Biden, Kamala Harris and Janet Yellen happily stoked. How about some headlines on how many criminals have come across our border? How about some articles in the business section showing a nice chart of the price of groceries since 2020? How about an editorial that speaks to how absurd it is to be forgiving hundreds of millions of dollars of student loans? How about an editorial that admits Hillary Clinton and Biden spread hundreds of lies about the Russian hoax? There are plenty of subjects that would make your conservative readers smile for a change. Give it a try.

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Reading the Nov. 24 article titled “After a century, voting red,” I was struck by the reporter’s observation that “The debate over whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports was brought up frequently by people in Carlton County.” That this issue could be a reason why Carlton County voted for Trump is a testament to the effectiveness of one of his campaign’s most prominent campaign ads: “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.” That this issue could gain such prominence when far more critical issues were ignored illustrates the vacuous nature of modern political campaigns. How are we to address such problems as an imperiled environment (due to human-induced climate change) and weakened social cohesion (due to growing income inequality and a lack of social supports) when we can’t even talk about them?

Roger B. Day, Duluth

Trump alleges that the tariffs he will impose on Mexico and Canada are to stop the flow of fentanyl into this country and to stop illegal migration (“Trump makes another tariff threat,” Nov. 26). I would invite readers to look at this article from the Cato Institute: tinyurl.com/us-fentanyl. Most of the drugs smuggled into this country are smuggled by U.S. citizens, not illegal migrants. In addition, the drugs often come into this country through legal ports of entry.

William Johnson, Roseville

The total net worth of the officials in Biden’s Cabinet was about $118 million. The estimated worth of Trump’s current roster of appointees is $344.4 billion, more than the gross domestic product of 169 countries.

A signal of the end to growing the economy from the bottom up, and the middle out.

David Pederson, Excelsior

I’m a south Minneapolis resident whose neighborhood hosts a turkey flock numbering 25-plus. I am also a turkey hunter. Maggie Koerth writes that turkeys are “flightless” (“The triumph of the urban turkey,” Nov. 25). In fact, this species is anything but flightless. Turkeys generally roost in trees overnight, will fly from field to field to feed and will fly in pursuit of a suitable female during rut. I know because a tom pursuing a hen flew in front of my car and did $4,500 in damage. The turkey in the opening paragraph of Koerth’s column didn’t climb onto the friend’s car. It flew.

P.S. I salvaged the turkey with a DNR possession tag. He was delicious.