To the editor,

Affordability is an ever-present and growing problem for so many Americans. In spite of this pain, President Trump spends most of his time these days promoting his taxpayer-funded real estate projects or blaming and prosecuting individuals that interfere with his branding: Kennedy Center for the Arts, Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, White House Marine One helipad, Trump triumphal arch, executive granite driveway and, of course his signature project, the White House Ballroom and Bunker.

The President has always been “a real estate guy” and he fancies himself an expert even though his expertise in this field has led him to six bankruptcies and left many, many creditors pinched by his lacking expertise. Real estate is his default setting, the place he feels most comfortable when everything else is off the rails: Epstein files, USS Abraham Lincoln, Iran war stalemate, high gas prices, high food prices, $40 trillion national debt, threats to demolish the Kennedy Center, and a recent spate of Trump-supported electoral primary losses, etc.

The President’s pet real estate projects are costing us hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in these tough, uncertain times. The President didn’t seek Congressional approval for any of them even though the Constitution required him to do so (Property Clause, Article IV, Section 3 and Enclave Clause, Article 1, Section 8.)

Congressman Derrick Van Orden has been predictably silent about the President’s failure to consult Congress. The Congressman says he is “working for you,” but in fact he’s all about giving Trump carte blanche permission whatever may be his request. His servile kowtowing to the President disregards the “affordability” chokehold besetting 99% of the Pierce County Journal readership and he’s done nothing to address those important issues above.

Think about what is happening here and whether you want to take it from the "Yes Man" for another two years.

Greg Erickson

River Falls