Dear President Trump,

I’ve noticed the last few days that your White House contact page’s reply system is malfunctioning. Typically there’s a confirmation notice for each submission so I usually get two a day since I’m still using up the original 2500 characters allowed in the first instantiation of the page while your current one only allows 2000. Lately, though, I’m either getting one reply or none. Surely these replies are sent by an automated system and aren’t dependent on a poor, bored-out-of-their-mind person sending them, so what’s up? I know that when things get stressy for you, you all cut corners and the replies are of the short, completely canned variety rather than a propaganda-laden message crafted for the specific day. It’s how I get a rough gauge on how you and your team are doing. Since the automated replies started, though, there’s never been a time until now when they failed to arrive so I’m wondering if you’re having an especially tough time lately. One can only hope.

Sort of.

I certainly don’t want your life unfolding and intersecting with ease, but when you’re stressed, things don’t go well for the rest of us. You’ve got no distress tolerance skills so your M.O. is to become even more angrily unhinged, bashing whoever happens to be in your crosshairs or might serve as bloody red meat for your base.

And every time you do that, you give other unhinged, angry people permission to bash others too. Sadly, infuriatingly, since I started this letter I learned that my family has a fresh case in point. I don’t yet have the whole story, but my brother was in the ER last night after being verbally attacked by some racist guy who also tried to assault him physically. There were likely hundreds of other sons and daughters and brothers and sisters who endured racially (or religiously or gender or sexuality or disability) motivated attacks last night that did and did not involve ER visits. Yes, these kinds of attacks predated you, absolutely, but I also absolutely know that you and many of your fellow GOP goons have made the world far less safe for my brother, for me, for Laura, for my boss, for our next door neighbors, for the young woman walking down the street in front of our house. You. And you are doing it on purpose and it is the sickest thing I’ve ever witnessed.

May we be safe from you.
May we all be willing to break with you, leave you out in the cold alone.
May we make the repairs needed to build a healthy culture.
May you stop waging war on your own people.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson