I read with interest Ted Scott’s March 7 My Turn piece [“When they came for taxes from my paper route”] about getting a letter from DOGE that he owes taxes from the 1950s and 1960s, until I got to the end, where it said, “Some parts of this story are made up.”

What the? If it’s tongue-in-cheek fiction, don’t publish it in a My Turn column! I submitted a My Turn opinion last month about the importance of repeating truths so we as a society can hold onto the truth when many in the Trump administration are purposely and distortingly spreading lies and threats in order to create chaos and conglomerate power.

In the past month it has become frighteningly clear how much chaos is being sown. Mr. Scott’s piece might be a fun exaggeration, but irresponsible as an opinion piece. The facts these days are exaggerated enough!

For instance: Donald Trump is on a witch hunt, arresting legal immigrants who exercise their First Amendment rights, calling immigrants who are in the country illegally “dangerous criminals” just for the offense of entering the country, accusing people of antisemitic actions and arresting them when they show support for the other side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

How about using a huge ax, not a scalpel, to indiscriminately, abruptly and cruelly fire federal employees for completely arbitrary reasons that are not related to improving efficiency and excising fluff federal spending? How about decimating USAID — instantly pulling funding for projects all over the world that protect U.S. society by helping to stem the spread of infectious disease and other disastrous effects of poverty, and requiring that USAID employees pack up and come home in 30 days, without a job?

How about spreading lies about who is the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine war, and that Russia is winning? Russia invaded Ukraine, unprovoked, and has lost around 700,000 soldiers and controls about the same amount of Ukraine that it did three years ago, before its latest invasion. How about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), claiming that children in elementary school are discriminated against for being white and not LGBTQ? Poppycock — DEI is about creating equal opportunity for those equally and fully qualified for educational and employment opportunities, and creating a supportive environment for all students and all employees.

How about supporting the complete ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip? How about being vindictive and cruel toward anyone who opposes even one Trump initiative? How about trying to get rid of the First Amendment, and restrict the public’s access to a free and open press?

It is so much worse than most of us thought it ever could be in our United States. The situation is too dire to add more fiction to the folly. That’s the truth.

Louise Doud lives in Warwick.