Dear President Trump,

I see Melania is slated to attend a Gold Star event today so that will put to rest the furor over her whereabouts, if not her wellbeing. It’s still very odd she was out of the public eye for so long and that she’s not traveling to Singapore with you, but I suppose it’s not all that different from when she and Barron lived in NYC much of your first year in office.

With her basic safety established, we can turn our attention back to the GOP’s missing spine, which has not been seen for a lot longer than Melania was out of the public eye. Today would be an especially fine day for the GOP to muster some courage and reestablish their collective spine as they are the ones who need to call out your absurd claim that you can pardon yourself. The idea that you are above the law because you are president is like saying you are king or that you’ve been installed as dictator for life. I know you probably slept through your US history class in high school, but surely someone has told you that things don’t work that way here. Usually. Unfortunately, if the other two co-equal branches of government fail to bring proper checks and balances to a presidency run amok, we could devolve into a totalitarian regime. To push this along, you and the Sean H’s of the world, have been working overtime to sow dissension, discord, and division so you have a base in place that will follow you right off the cliff. You’ve also made sure that not a one of them has to give up their guns making the situation incredibly scary. We need that GOP spine to show the f— up now before it gets worse.

At this point, though, I’m not holding my breath waiting for them to come around. The twin evils of greed and fear have worked their magic on all the feckless GOP members of congress who aren’t retiring this year. I really want to know how you (and Vladimir) pulled it off – that’s a lot of people to cow all at once. Have you pitted them against one another so they aren’t talking and comparing notes, so they don’t know they aren’t alone in being blackmailed and bribed into acquiescence? Well, whatever it is, they need to step up and tell you that you aren’t Czar Trump and they need to protect the Mueller investigation.

May we be safe from insatiable power mongers.
May we be happy to call out crooked leadership for as long as it takes.
May we insist our other branches of government check your ass for the health of the nation.
May you not start a war.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson