Dear President Trump,

So there’s probably not a sentient being in the entire country who doesn’t think Cohen is basically a self-serving sleeze. Pretty much everyone sees through the B.S. that he was so blinded by loyalty to you that he did countless ruthless, unethical, greedy-ass things and probably hundreds (so countable) of illegal things in service to you. He’s a schemer who was willing to do just about anything to stay close to the trough and to get some for himself on the side. But really, is what your boys did with the dumb posters at the hearing yesterday the best you all can do? They managed to get a couple of things out of him that are useful to you, but overall, the GOPs performance was utterly embarrassing for the party (or should be) and to the country.

Then there was AOC and her measured, calculated, brilliant line of questioning about your financial ethics and legality. She managed to secure a statement from Cohen that your income tax filings would indeed prove useful in pointing up your various shady, if not completely illegal, financial practices. You all should study the tapes like the pro athletes do and get schooled. I know you are able to bamboozle your base through slick charm, race-baiting, and fear mongering and that thus far you all have coasted on those hell bound skids, but really, just watch her and the others who stayed focused and on task. They are the future.

Now for one last topic from yesterday’s hearing. We’ve known, for what feels like forever, that you didn’t expect to win, but the idea that you ran for POTUS as a giant infomercial is beyond disturbing. And, if true (and it sure seems consistent with how you’ve handled the job), then Vladimir chose his lout incredibly well. If you were a world-domination schemer and you had the resources to skew things in favor of one or another candidate to lead your chief rival’s country, who better than a vainglorious, astonishingly low IQ, avaricious, uninterested thug who doesn’t actually want the job? These qualities would make that person malleable and ineffective and would provide the invaluable bonus of sowing vast amounts of chaos. So once again, hats off to Vladimir for orchestrating a robust kneecapping of the US and democracy in general.

May we be safe from nihilistic forces.
May we do the hard, desperately needed work of campaign and election reform.
May we do the hard, desperately needed work of creating a healthy democracy.
May we not make peace with greedy, lying scum for leaders.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson