Dear President Trump,

Surely I’ve asked you this before, but how much of what you say do you actually believe? We know you tell multiple falsehoods a day, but it’s still not clear how much of what you say you’re saying to consciously manipulate your base and how much of what you say you’d tell Rudy in confidence. Where is Rudy, anyway? Did you put him in stasis for the duration of the Brett K battle? I really do wonder where in the world Rudy is, but my main focus tonight is what you and the GOP are doing to milk the angry reactions of so many women and men to Brett K’s ascension to the Supreme Court.

I guess I’m not really surprised that you’re characterizing the demonstrators as “angry mobs,” but wow is that a brazen mischaracterization! If you were willing to say that there were “fine people on both sides” about a bunch of white men caring lit tiki torches, many of whom were armed, marching at night shouting racist and Nazi slogans, it seems hard to believe that you really think unarmed survivors of sexual assault and their allies truly comprise mobs.

Unfortunately you all are brilliant tacticians and have a knack for using whatever we do against us. It’s pretty slick. You hardly have to do anything except show some strategically edited footage of angry demonstrators and throw in a few inflammatory sound bites and voilà, you’ve got yourself a bunch of righteously freaked out partisans ready to believe the country is going to go to hell in a hand basket if they don’t contribute to the RNC. Immediately.

I’m 99% sure this is a major reason Michelle Obama urges liberal folks to go high when you go low. Clearly one’s basic integrity is at stake and that’s no small thing, but strategically taking the high road and protesting in calm, measured ways gives you all a hell of a lot less to use against us. Granted, it’s hard to get people inspired and fired up if yelling and flipping you off is off limits, but given the sick ways you are spinning our energy against us, I think we need to rethink our strategies. If we try to fight you with the sort of vitriol you all are throwing at us, we are going to fail – we aren’t desperately mean like you and even if we could match you blow for blow, where would that leave us? Nowhere good, I’m certain.

May we be safe and free from harm.
May we all be happy to respect one another.
May we all insist on healthy ways of promoting our agendas.
May you stop this divisive madness before it’s too late.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson