Dear President Trump,

Two things this morning; one related to the ongoing menace of you and the other to salvation of a sort. Because I prefer to get unpleasant chores done first, I’ll start out with you. I know you plan to “speak to the American people” tonight to make your case for the wall and quite likely to proclaim a national emergency to obtain money for it without having to get congressional approval. And I know I plan to skip the broadcast, or at least not watch it live. You really won’t be speaking to me or to the rest of us who absolutely don’t support you or your wall.

No, you are using your platform to tell your base that you are coming through for them so they can check campaign wall promise off and you can reopen the government. Basically, the only emergency at hand is the one you are facing with your base over this ludicrous campaign promise. Full stop. There is no national emergency crying out for a five billion dollar wall. You are making shit up and now you are knee deep and sinking fast.

But maybe the best thing now is for you to declare your national emergency and make a show of wresting the wall bucks from the treasury. It would sate the blood lust of the pack, allow you to notch a win, save the Democrats from having to compromise, take years of study to figure out where exactly the money would come from, take years of litigation re whether you can even do this, and years of litigation with landowners along the border. Really, aside from the hassle and expense of all the litigation (which would keep a lot of people employed), it could be an ok solution since it would let everyone move on and the wall would almost certainly never be built.

That isn’t the salvation part of today’s message. Rather, this morning on my walk I found an ex-sticker that says “Art will save you.” It was face down in the dirt and I was just picking it up as trash, but now it’s sitting in my kitchen windowsill to remind me and Laura and anyone who helps with dishes or gets a drink of water that art will save us. Art, not walls. Creativity and earnest searching and making and stretching will save us. Not walls.

May we be safe from immature tyrants.
May we keep alive and healthy those things that feed us and bring us joy.
May we keep everyone from everywhere alive and healthy.
May we find creative peaceful solutions to our problems.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson