Dear President Trump,

Happy Groundhog Day. I’m (sort of) curious – did you ever see the movie? The one where Bill Murray has to keep redoing the same day over and over until he figures out how to be a decent human being? I think it’s ripe for a remake. It probably wouldn’t be all that expensive since we could use footage of you acting nasty over and over again. We could easily establish the conceit that you (and we) are caught in a horrific time warp where you (and we) have to keep reliving the same day over and over until some magical thing happens to release us all from the grips of your sociopathy. I don’t have the end worked out yet, but somehow I think the remake will have to depart pretty dramatically from the original if we are going to stick with actual footage. Sadly, there’s no chance you will morph into a person with integrity like Murray’s character did and there will have to be some other denouement.

Because I needed to sort out whether to use the term “psychopathy” or the term “sociopathy” to describe your behavior, I looked them up and learned that both describe people who are “….ruthless, callous and superficially charming, (with) little or no regard for the feelings or needs of others” (from forensic criminologist Xanthe Mallett). And they “…..may manipulate someone else into breaking the law, while keeping themselves safely at a distance.” Hmm.

Ok. But there are differences. Psychopathy is somewhat worse, is linked to genetic predisposition, and is associated with being especially calculating and non-reactive. Sociopathy tends to come about as a result of head injury, trauma, and/or abuse and such people aren’t as effective in their criminality. As much as I’d like to say you’re the worst, I think we have to peg you as a sociopath. You do, however, almost certainly have a true psychopath (Vladimir, of course) whispering in your ear. You also have a coterie of GOP congressmen willing to provide you cover. Thus, in spite of your many missteps, it is not a forgone conclusion that your criminality will be punished nor that we’ll come through this nightmare-on-repeat with our democracy intact. Nonetheless, I’m going to hold out hope that somehow goodness will win out and you sociopaths and psychopaths will have to go back into hiding.

May we be safe from you.
May we hold onto happiness as a radical act of fortitude.
May we keep ourselves healthy in spite of the rampant toxicity.
May your instincts for self-preservation allow us to avoid war.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson