Dear President Trump,

Obviously I’ve not thought we’ve been doing well since you won the election, but this week things are looking even more bleak than usual. I kind of thought having Senator Corker talk candidly about his concerns about your fitness would have lightened things some. He’s a Republican so it seemed great that someone firmly in that camp was speaking out and calling it like many of us have been seeing it since Day 1. But boy howdy do you have a stranglehold on the rest of the bunch! This really shouldn’t be surprising given what they’ve already let you slide on. They are far more invested in surviving the next election cycle then coming down on the side of integrity and what is actually best for the country. Who knows, if we were in a similar situation with a Democrat President and Democrats controlling both houses of congress, we might see the same sort of avoidance we are watching the Republicans engage in now. Self-preservation is an incredibly strong drive and humans are capable of rationalizing almost anything.

The focus of Corker’s strong talk isn’t news at all — it’s the insane new normal around here. I guess, then, what’s troubling me more than usual is that so very many awful things have happened recently or are happening and someone in your own camp has pulled back the curtain and revealed in no uncertain terms that there is really no one with any sense or integrity at the helm. Of course I’ve known this intellectually for months but the image of the generals having to take turns monitoring you while Puerto Rico’s people suffer, wild fires eat up thousands of acres in Northern California where it looks like nearly 200 people are missing, the best anyone can hope for in the wake of Paddock’s killing spree is a possible ban on the bump stock device, Pence doing your dirty with the NFL, you still managing to get out scary tweets egging Kim Jong Un on, and scads of dangerous policy rollbacks that will leave us sicker, weaker, and poorer. It’s all just so incredibly disheartening.

It’s way too far off, but assuming we are still around to vote in 2018, I do think things will start looking up then. Here is a blessing to help us hang in until we can right things:

May we all keep one another as safe as possible through this nightmare.
May we help each other keep our spirits up.
May we insist that each one’s health is precious.
May we not be fooled by divide and conquer strategies.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson