Letters

Waste, fraud and abuse, right? That’s what Republicans in Washington, D.C., claim to be hunting down and eliminating. Even after Elon Musk’s unceremonious departure, his many successors are flying the same flag, singing the same hymn — that they’re after waste, fraud and abuse.

Well, I’ve got some for them. I’ve got all three, in fact, in a place where they haven’t looked (or maybe have looked and cravenly passed over).

Waste, fraud and abuse are abundantly present in the actions of Donald Trump regarding Los Angeles in the last few days.

Let’s start with waste, one of the most egregious wrongs on this whole scene. The Defense Department has admitted to Congress that activating the National Guard and deploying Marines to L.A. will cost $134 million.

And for what? That’s where the fraud comes in. Donald Trump, typically, is lying to us about what’s been happening in L.A., taking peaceful protests that local police have fully in hand and making them into violent confrontations threatening people and property and needing federal troops to control them.

It’s the usual Trump fraud tactic: Don’t tell it like it is, tell it how you want it to be.

Finally, there’s the abuse. Donald Trump’s actions, in mobilizing the California National Guard without the governor’s assent and in the absence of an insurrection, and his deployment of Marines to L.A., constitute a major abuse of power. He is shamelessly creating a crisis where none exists.

So, there it all is: waste, fraud and abuse, not in the work of dedicated federal employees who’ve been falsely targeted by DOGE and others, but in this big, expensive lie that Donald Trump is telling to persecute immigrants and distract attention from his disgusting divorce from Elon Musk, his plans to cut food assistance and Medicaid, and his failing economy.

There’s an election in 2026, folks. We can change this sickening situation. Let’s do it.

George Lynch

Quiogue

Lynch is the communications chair for the Southampton Democratic Committee — Ed.