Americans deserve better than Musk

As a former Navy officer who has worked with many civil servants over the years, I find Elon Musk’s attitude toward government employees offensive and ignorant. For instance, saying he would send USAID into a woodchipper reflects disregard for what these employees do in taking care of needy people around the world. Then his onstage antics of swinging around a chainsaw further denigrated civil servants who serve the interests of the United States and the world in many agencies.

Finally, making the government more efficient without considering effectiveness is ignorant. While DOGE may be reducing the immediate costs of government, harming mission effectiveness will likely result in far greater costs ahead. The American people deserve better.

— Capt. Bill Musgrave USN, SC (ret), San Jose

Musk has earned protesters’ anger

Re: “Protests dishonor work of DOGE, Musk” (April 10).

To Henry Risser’s point that Tesla protests are driven by people who blindly hate Donald Trump, I disagree. Protesters are tired of his lies, irrational thinking and lack of compassiont.

As you suggested, I did take a look at DOGE.gov and was struck by the flashy appearance of the tables and graphs of unsubstantiated data. I was also struck by the fact there is no narrative to explain the reasoning of any of the information.

I hope that everyone who continues to trust Donald Trump and Elon Musk with their future has a plan B because it’s only a matter of time before Social Security benefits are on the DOGE website as waste, fraud or abuse.

— Daniel Moore, San Jose

Trump, Musk plans meant to cause pain

Re: “Protests dishonor work of DOGE, Musk” (April 10).

I would like to know exactly what the “legitimate chance to save our country” is under Donald Trump. He and DOGE are driving the best economy we’ve ever had into a ditch. And it’s not just to trim government spending; it is done totally without regard to people who need jobs, health care, etc. It is being done with total cruelty. Trump was going to lower prices on “Day One”; what happened? Instead, he is taking away from the least among us and lining his own pockets (totally unconstitutional) while cutting taxes for the richest people in the country. He is targeting anyone who ever said one word against him.

I don’t know where the letter writer’s eyes have been, but they haven’t been open.

— Katie Dent, Sunnyvale

Community must rise again to save home

Pajaro Valley should be proud of actions to save the home and farm for the Hirahara family when they returned from World War II internment camps. Neighbors paid the property taxes to avoid the land grabs that happened in other areas.

But now, that golden story will be erased by Santa Cruz County County Historic Resources Commission actions to de-list the farmstead from the National Historic Registry. The people of the Pajaro Valley and beyond must act to renovate and repurpose it as a profitable event center. San Jose’s Emma Prusch Farm Park is a model.

Will someone please step forward to preserve the farmstead with a passion for highlighting the people of the Pajaro Valley? Time is running out.

— Becky Steinbruner, Aptos

Tariff exemptions bad news for small business

Donald Trump has given tariff exemptions to the richest companies in the world while trying to make America rich again by levying new taxes on small businesses. I own a small electronic manufacturing business, and we purchase as much from the United States as possible. We do all the manufacturing and assembly here in California; however, most of the components that go into our product are commodity items sourced from China, the only place they are made.

That is the global supply chain that was set up starting 40-50 years ago. CEOs wanted to reduce costs and transferred their production to China because of cheap labor and lax environmental laws. For this, they were lavished with huge bonuses. Now Trump is trying to make America rich again at the expense of new taxes on small business capitalists who have simply taken advantage of the global supply chain.

— David Lehrian, Royal Oaks