Dear Editor,

As GOP members celebrate the likely passage of their “tax reform” plan, which enriches the already wealthy (including, despite his claims to the contrary, President Trump and his family) and blows a massive hole in the national debt of approximately $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years, they are already gleefully talking about the next phase of their plan: cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security as the only way to address this deficit. So much for their previous claims that these huge tax cuts to the wealthy and the corporations would “pay for themselves.”

We shouldn’t be at all surprised – this has been major goal of theirs for decades. It seems they just cannot tolerate the idea of any government effort to provide any kind of “social safety net” to seniors and the neediest citizens of our nation, while massive tax cuts and other benefits for our wealthiest citizens and corporations clearly continue to serve as a top priority for them. And so this current “tax reform” plan now reveals itself to be just the first step in achieving this longer-range goal.

However, looking back a bit, let’s not forget candidate Trump’s repeated and passionate promises that he, among all the Republican candidates, would never cut these programs, and would instead “”save and protect” them. Consequently, it would seem inevitable that a telling confrontation between Mr. Trump and the GOP now looms.

So – will Mr. Trump now follow through and honor his vow to stand up for hard working middle-class Americans and our neediest citizens by opposing this chilling GOP plan to cut these programs which are so crucial for so many? Or will he fold and go along with this heartless GOP agenda?

His actions in terms of this particular issue will clearly reveal the true nature and integrity of this man who was elected to our nation’s highest office to serve us all. We all need to remember his promises and hold him to them, or else watch helplessly as he steps aside and allows the GOP to progressively sabotage and destroy these vital programs which he promised us all he would protect.

Stay tuned…

Respectfully submitted,

Dale E. Buonocore,

Warren