To the editor:

It has, sadly, become quite obvious that the recently elected 47th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has no intention to respect our democratic system of government, as well as the legislative and judicial branches of our government, in order to attempt to arbitrarily exact his self-serving agenda in order to benefit himself, personally and professionally, as well as his extremely wealthy supporters, at the expense of America’s working class, poor, elderly and youth, for whom he had declared, obviously for political reasons, an affinity throughout the election process.

Recall that then-candidate Trump vigorously promised the electorate that the very high rate of inflation, which actually is a worldwide concern, would be eradicated on day No. 1 upon his return to office. However, personal revenge and retribution have quite clearly been Trump’s top priorities to date, and, as a result, inflation continues to spiral out of control in our land, as well as the world.

In addition, how is it that any individual with any sense of decency and decorum for others could exhibit such a pathetic and unsympathetic display as did the South African-born, world’s wealthiest individual, who has been documented as fathering 14 children with numerous women, Elon Musk, who serves as the leader of Trump’s recently created Department of Government Efficiency, during a recent Conservative Political Action Committee conference, when he made a mockery of his planned elimination of thousands of federal jobs, by brandishing a chainsaw and grinning throughout his disgraceful “performance.”

Musk, known as the world’s richest man, essentially bought himself into Trump’s good graces by reportedly contributing $288 million of his own money in support of the 2024 Trump presidential election campaign.

Cuts to federal programs to some extent may, indeed, be necessary, but such should be conducted in a professional and respectful manner.

Trump showed absolutely no respect for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a recent meeting in the Oval Office, as it appears that Trump has decided to abandon our longtime allies in support of longtime U.S. adversaries including Russia and North Korea.

Also, Trump’s imposing of massive tariffs on longtime allies such as Canada and Mexico has led to a most-concerning free fall of the stock market.

It appears, sadly, that our democratic form of government, which has long been the envy of the free world, is under unrelenting assault on the part of Trump and his sycophantic enablers, who are out to restructure our form of government from being by and for its people to an oligarchy under King Donald I.

Richard Hord

Martins Ferry