We should be worried with the election of Donald Trump as his previous presidency showed. His picks for powerful positions in the U.S. government which are being torpedoed by Republicans themselves are an example of his incompetence to lead the most powerful country in the world.

Nominees like Matt Gaetz, Pete Hesgeth, Peter Navarro and Kash Patel are reminiscent of Paul Manfort, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, and who could forget Rudi Giuliani.

Trump being the president of the U.S. will affect Canadians, with the proposed tariffs being the most damaging. Elon Musk is one of the champions of electric vehicles. He has, however, built the largest factory in China for that purpose. Trump proposes to put 60% tariffs on China, yet Musk has been picked to shave $2 trillion off the U.S. federal budget, which Musk himself has said will be painful for the American public for at least two years.

Robert Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services. Talk to the citizens of Samoa who listened to Kennedy when he said vaccines caused deaths, so they stopped vaccinations for polio and 83 children died out of a population of 200,000. We can all look back on COVID and find things that we could have done better. For the most part, millions of people were saved by being vaccinated, especially the elderly. The doctors, nurses, health support workers and scientists deserve our thanks. Yes, we can look back and do things differently and learn from that.

Do not forget Trump raved about an "injection" of disinfectant into a person infected with the coronavirus as a deterrent to the virus. Both citizens of the United States and Canada realize democracy does work and has done so for many years. Think of Iraq, Syria, Haiti, Belarus and Russia, and I say our form of democracy is the best way to live.

Claude Paterson

North Saanich