Dear President Trump,

It was pretty self-indulgent to take a break from the mayhem with yesterday’s letter about the reservoir across the street from us, but I’m weary and feeling even more disillusioned and sad than usual lately. From the conversations I’ve had with folks this week, it’s clear I’m not alone. No one appears to be giving up, but those of us who’ve been disgusted with and disturbed by you and the GOP all along seem to be feeling as though we’ve been hit with a new level of toxicity since the disaster of last weeks’ hearings and your shameless mocking of Dr. Ford. It was stunning to see that Eric Holder has reworked Michelle Obama’s “they go low, we go high” advice into “they go low, we kick them.” He means metaphoric kicking and isn’t encouraging violence, but still, this can’t be a good sign if for no other reason that you and your nefarious schemers will find a way to use our metaphoric kicks against us.

Yesterday a friend told me about having gone hiking over the weekend in the Cascades with her husband. She recounted how when they got to the gorgeous lake at the summit someone was playing “America the Beautiful” on their flute. She said she just cried. As she told the story, tears welled up in her eyes and I had to blink a bunch to keep from crying too.

This place is beautiful and the people are beautiful but our land and our lives are in peril. Literally. Wildfires are the new summer normal for vast parts of the West. The Florida panhandle will probably never be the same and North Carolina is still struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. Your response is to basically say, ‘gee, it sucks to be you and I’ll pray for you some, but I’m going to hang out with my fans at a rally a thousand miles away ‘cuz whipping up fear and hate is way more important to me than caring for the citizens of this country.’ Plus, in the face of these horrific natural disasters and Monday’s UN report on climate change you all continue to push ahead with plans to further de-regulate coal. It is f*cking insanity. We are teetering on the edge of disaster and our President is doing everything he can to push us all the way over. It’s worse than a nightmare. At least with a nightmare one can wake up.

May we at least have the basics needed for safety.
May we be able to enjoy our beautiful America without despairing that we are losing it.
May someone, somehow get you to at least pretend to care about the nation’s health.
May you stop terrorizing us.

Very sincerely,
Tracy Simpson