Just a few necessarily short answers to some of letter-writer James Mayotte’s questions. USAID spends less than 1% of the federal budget on health care, food security, disaster relief, etc., all of which help millions of needy people and improve our image abroad. Elon Musk is a private citizen whose companies have billions of dollars in U.S. government contracts — see any conflicts of interest? Dr. Fauci, on the other hand, spent his career as a dedicated public servant with decades of success in improving our health.

Democrats believe that all criminals should be brought to our criminal justice system, where they will be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a jury of their peers. In 2023, for every $5 billion that Californians paid in federal taxes, $1 billion was returned to the state. That extra $4 billion dollars was distributed to poorer states, most of which happened to have voted for Trump. I can find no evidence that AOC has ever said anything like the claim by Mr. Mayotte — source please? Dr. Fauci did not save the U.S. Thousands of scientists and health professionals, including Dr. Fauci, worked extremely hard, many of them sacrificing their lives, to save as many people as possible all around the globe from COVID-19. Finally, most Democrats believe that Trump has done more in a month to endanger Americans and our friends around the world than any past president accomplished in an entire term.

Michael Ellenbecker

Concord