Letters to the Editor | May 14, 2026

It is time to recognize that Donald Trump’s six bankruptcies in a previous life weren’t a fluke. The president, who was elected to his first term after campaigning on his successes in business, only played a savvy entrepreneur on TV. He had a knack for making poor decisions, then getting bailed out, while his partners and investors suffered the losses.

Fast-forward to the present. We taxpayers are now essentially Trump’s “investors.” Trump began his second term promising to drop inflation from its then-3% level. The rate is now higher. The job market is stagnant, and consumer confidence has registered its lowest reading in history, a span that includes the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The damage to our economy has been self-inflicted. Trump’s erratic trade and tariff policies have raised our costs. The war of choice with Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz have created supply bottlenecks, which we are just beginning to feel. Trump never accepts responsibility. The fault must be Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s for not bowing to Trump’s demand to lower interest rates (which would add fuel to the inflation problem). The president’s actions show us daily how his businesses failed, but — unless we’re his donors or his friends and family — we’re the ones who are paying.

Elliott Miller, Bala Cynwyd

I went to pick up a prescription and was told I now have a separate prescription deductible, on top of the higher medical deductible I already struggle to meet. I’m a registered nurse. I care for people every day, yet this is what my own “benefits” look like.

I broke down at the pharmacy counter. It’s one more weight on a life already stretched thin. I worked for over a decade as a medical assistant, went back to school, and became an RN for stability. Instead, I’m still living paycheck to paycheck. My student loans are restarting after the SAVE Plan termination. I can’t afford to buy a new home. I had hoped to be fostering children by now, but I can’t afford that, either.

We’re told there’s no money. Lawmakers have proposed billions in healthcare cuts this year, while the U.S. burned through $30 billion during the war with Iran.

Funny how the budget always appears when it’s time to destroy something, but disappears when it’s time to take care of people.

If we can afford war overnight, we can afford care. What we lack isn’t money, it’s the will to value human lives.

Sara Emerle, Albrightsville

Having heard the rumors that Congress may allocate federal tax dollars toward construction of “the ballroom,” I respond as politely as I can: Not one dime of my money toward that ballroom. Not toward construction, security, or any gold leaf of any kind. He does not own the land or the building. We do. If he wants a project to distract him from his many troubles, I suggest he take his donors down to Mar-a-Lago, which we at least think he owns, and build something down there. If, however, through some miscarriage of justice, that ballroom gets built on our land, I will happily contribute as much money as I can to tearing it down.

Nancy Davis, Philadelphia

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