Dear President Trump,

I’ve been thinking about the disclosure of Dr. Ford’s identity and trying to make sense of the timing of everything. A case could be made, and has been made vociferously, that Feinstein and the Democrats withheld the letter and Dr. Ford’s identity until after Brett’s formal hearings were over to make a bigger, louder political splash. There is also a case to be made that the Democrats (and probably some Republicans) thought there were enough problems for Brett’s nomination that they didn’t need to bring anything else forward, that they could honor Dr. Ford’s wish for privacy until it became clear that Brett wasn’t going to be snagged by his inconsistencies or the thousands of withheld documents, and since Ford had already gone public it made sense to insist her allegations be heard.

What scenario #1 assumes is that you nominated an all around stellar man whose path was threatened by desperate Democrats willing to do anything to stop you from having your pick installed on the high court for life. This version maintains that Brett was a perfect shiny penny and that everything alleged by the formerly credible (your word) Dr. Ford was fabricated by the Dems to bring you both down. In contrast, scenario #2 assumes that there was enough evidence that Brett was too blatantly partisan and untrustworthy for at least a few Republicans and that there would be a clear majority of Senators willing to vote against him so that Dr. Ford’s allegations would not be needed. Neither scenario was accurate, but it seems like these two fictions drove each sides’ behavior.

Now for yet another twist to this already severely messed up tale –Mitch M is blasting the Democrats for putting Dr. Ford through this terrible ordeal and may ask for an investigation into who leaked her identity. WTF? How can he (and you) in one breath say that her allegations were vile lies fabricated by the Dems, which if true, would make her a party to the deception, and in the next, slam the Dems for being so insensitive to her? This makes no logical sense at all. But, since you can apparently convince your peeps that the sky is green and down is up, this cynical strategy may be just the ticket. Arg.

May we all be safe from dishonorable pseudo-leaders.
May we all be willing to think for ourselves and not fall for bullshit.
May we all insist on legitimate, healthy argument.
May you stop waging war on your own people.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson