Dear President Trump,

Yesterday Mikhail Gorbachev said “Not the work of a great mind” in response to your stated plan to do away with the nuclear arms treaty we’ve had with Russia since 1987. I think this about sums things up. We could recycle this handy phrase and use it to characterize most everything you have done, are doing, and will do. Most everything, that is, except how skillfully you manipulate and inflame your base. There you are a maestro and while it isn’t a type of intelligence that’s ever going to earn you a “great mind” designation, you are deploying it in frighteningly effective ways. I wonder whether there were even 10 people in the Houston crowd last night that slowed down long enough to question your sincerity when you were lauding Ted – you really are brilliant at selling those folks tickets to your fantasy cruises.

So here we are saddled with you, our president, who is terrifyingly adept at manipulating certain of us into believing there is real risk of imminent annihilation from any number of dangerous brown-skinned people that the Democrats are heartlessly manipulating and organizing to tear your supporters’ throats out. Plus, we mustn’t forget the scary implications of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and the angry mob of women of all colors the Democrats have manipulated into hurling bogus claims of sexual assault at powerful (mostly) white men. You have done an excellent job of fabricating and dispersing these dark tales, convincing your white (mostly male) folk that they are the true victims (or are about to be if the Democrats hold sway in the upcoming mid-terms) and that you and your bulwark of currently loyal GOP are the only ones that can save them from disaster.

Then there are those poor ultra-idiots who are finding out that they really can’t get away with the kind of shit you brag about doing, that they can’t actually fondle women strangers’ breasts on airplanes and get a pass by saying “well, hey, President Trump says it’s ok.” Your brand of intelligence doesn’t elevate or enlighten your followers, rather it leaves many of them stranded in jail cells. Too bad you aren’t (yet) keeping them company there.

May we be safe from conniving manipulators like you.
May we be happy to resist the siren call to check our brains at the door.
May we be willing to engage in real, healthy debate about real issues of concern.
May you be stopped before you start stockpiling nuclear weapons.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson