I now know about the “waste, fraud, and abuse” the Republicans have been talking about for years. Waste is holding a $45 million parade for the president’s birthday and sending 10 agents in armored vehicles to arrest people of color. Fraud is promising to arrest and deport drug dealers and murders from abroad but instead doing it without legal warrants or due process to high school juniors, 55-year-old barbers who are grandfathers, and graduate students who exercise their freedom of speech right in a published article. Abuse is inventing a crisis by claiming there’s an insurrection in Los Angeles so the Marines and National Guard can be called out to solve a problem that didn’t exist.

Yes, it appears waste, fraud and abuse should be problems that can be easier to address than lack of affordable health insurance for the average guy, soaring home prices that keep people ill-housed, and climate change that is already wreaking havoc on the entire country. Can’t wait to hear how Republicans justify kicking 8.5 million people off Medicaid and then justify another massive tax cut for the rich.

Larry Cervelli

West Chesterfield