Budget Cuts With Consequences

This letter to the editor, by Pam Fricke, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on August 6, 2026.

Remember when President Donald Trump suggested that wildfires could be prevented by raking and cleaning the forest floors to remove dead trees, brush and leaves? After the California wildfires in 2018 and 2020, he blamed the state’s failure to clean up its forests.

Though he was pointing the finger at California for its poor forest management, it’s actually the federal government that controls the majority of public forest land in California — and closer to home, Minnesota, where fires continue to burn.

And guess who authorized cutting the budget to support forest management? As we learned last week from a retired forestry manager in Minnesota, the DOGE effort, under the president’s leadership, put a halt to a $10 million federal grant supporting wildfire prevention work. That’s according to both WCCO-TV and the Washington Post (which I remind you is owned by Jeff Bezos, buddy to the billionaires). The Post couched that report by adding that the work might not have prevented the wildfires. But clearly it would have reduced the fuel (dead trees, etc.) feeding those fires.

So what can we do about it? Elon Musk has long since washed his hands of his responsibility in this disaster. The president can barely recall his children’s names, let alone what he said in 2020 about cleaning up forests. That leaves the smarmy, boot-licking, self-serving congressman who supported DOGE efforts unconditionally.

You guessed correctly: none other than Tom Tiffany. Although he can’t do much more damage in Congress, we must step up to keep him out of Madison. Any of our Democratic Party contenders for governor (and there are now four) is a better choice to lead our state. Vote wisely before Aug. 11.