In communications that Sen. Angus King has sent me, he spoke of “support(ing) a president’s broad ability to appoint heads of agencies as they see fit,” based on his experience as a former executive.

This is essentially trying to make the best of a bad situation. While that is not an unreasonable approach in normal times, it is a mistake in what are clearly abnormal times.

We have a president whose candidates for Cabinet positions are at least as ethically challenged as he is, and, in some cases, are unqualified. While I appreciate the good work that Sen. King has done for Maine, I have urged him to take a broader look at the impact of President Trump’s dysfunctional governing style. I do not think that senators who work hard to govern should try to finesse the chaos that Trump and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, are attempting to create.

I do not believe that Rick Perry will ever have the best interest of U.S. citizens in mind as he contemplates getting rid of the Department of Energy. We have an attorney general who never should have been considered and might well be indicted; a housing and urban development secretary whose own political mentor thinks he doesn’t know enough about government to work in it; an education secretary who supports charter schools when the recent data shows they are worse than public schools; a health and human services secretary who is in the pocket of corporate medicine and insurance interests, and an Environmental Protection Agency administrator who is a climate change denier.

I do not think that the current president has the right to appoint agency heads who oppose the will of the majority of voters (who did not vote for Trump), and our senators should not enable his efforts to do that.

Thomas Adelman

West Baldwin