Dear Editor:

It’s amazing how little you get for your money these days of Trumpflation!

The 97 millionaires and their spouses who are subsidizing Susan (“Our Senator”) Collins may help her win a sixth term, but all they will get is an elderly, MAGA-esque politician who casts occasional, meaningless votes to feign independence.

We the taxpayers of the United States contributed $79 million (and eleven months of work by government employees in seven Cabinet-level departments) to buy President Donald J. Trump’s big, beautiful birthday present — an obscenely large “Claw” for blood sports and dirt-bike stunts, desecrating the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and the World War II Memorial. All we got was a security nightmare, a national embarrassment and global contempt.

Turns out, he didn’t need our money. Polymarket, ExxonMobil, Lockheed Martin, Mastercard, Crypto.com and Ultimate Fighting Championship were just a few of the corporate sponsors that paid between $500,000 and $10 million for branding rights (and preferential access to government contracting). In one case, Trump Media purchased $105 million in CRO digital tokens from Crypto.com, which then bought $50 million of shares in Trump Media. Ditto for Ultimate Fighting Championship: Trump is a significant stockholder. He also promised that no foreign money would be used … but German-owned SAP was a major donor.

VIP tickets to the kick, choke, and punch-palooza were $1.5 million a seat and not available to the public. We the people could pay $27.49 to see it in AMC theaters or stream it on Paramount+ (owned by Trump’s buddies Larry and David Ellison) for $8.99 / month.

So: Trump’s faux-patriotic bash will have generated far more cash than it cost. But who will pocket the profits? MAGA Inc, the tax-exempt super PAC controlled by the Birthday Boy himself?

Finally, we supported an immigrant from South Africa (documented, I hope) on his way to becoming a trillionaire. In return, he pays little or no corporate taxes, and his wildly overvalued IPO may tank our retirement accounts.

In the immortal words of J. D. Vance, “Have you said thank you once?” You’re welcome, but I’m moving my money into soybean futures.

Bill Hammond

Boothbay