Dear President Trump,

Our political essay instructor strongly cautions us against indulging in rants and strongly encourages us to make sure our work carries added value. The rant prohibition is self-explanatory (no fun, but clear), and the added value requirement is really just saying that it’s not enough to parrot what others have said about a particular topic; to be effective one must have a new take, new information, or somehow distinguish oneself from the pack.

These both make tons of sense and I appreciate her clarity about them. However, I’m finding that worrying about doing the first and not doing the second has significantly influenced my choice of topics the last several days. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been steering away from the many letter-worthy current events of the past week and it’s because I don’t know that I can not not rant or that I have anything at all unique to say about any of it.

Just so we are semi on the same page, the list includes the cynical and inhumane abortion legislation so many states have passed recently, the trade war with China, your immigration proposals (to include your nutso-ness about making the wall into a medieval fortress sort of deal with sharp points at the top to cut people), confirmation of judicial nominees who don’t consider the Brown v. Board decision as settled case law, your entire administration’s stonewalling of Congressional oversight (notably including Minuchin not handing over your tax returns), and the Democrats’ waffling over what to do about both the stonewalling and the Mueller findings that already point to impeachable offenses.

Most of the above items are likely so many shiny (terrifying, enraging, horribly consequential in their own right) objects to keep us occupied and distracted from your oversight stonewalling. If I’m following this mess correctly the following are both true: 1) you all are assuming people won’t be jailed for refusing to testify or hand over requested items germane to the current oversight efforts (or more likely, you don’t care if they are jailed), and 2) unless and until the House formally initiates investigations specifically to determine whether articles of impeachment are warranted, you can continue to say “no” and thereby push the timeline out to whenever the courts might decide whether you have to produce whatever it is or allow whoever it is to testify.

If these are indeed both true, I think the question (as in the biggest, most consequential question of our lifetimes) is why the Democrats are f*cking waffling and not starting formal investigation into whether articles of impeachment are warranted? Or, really, why aren’t they just going for it? The evidence is there clear as day.

I know this is shading into rant territory and probably isn’t even adding any real value to the conversation, but WTF? What the hell is going on? Have you threatened Pelosi’s family? Is her staff being stalked and threatened? Seriously, none of this makes sense. If she or the other Democratic House leaders believe their oaths of office at all, what is happening (and not happening) makes no sense. Something stinks here.

May our elected officials be safe to carry out all of their duties.
May we be willing to step back and see that something is terribly wrong with this whole picture.
May we somehow wrest healthy governance out of this colossal mess.
May we not make peace with passively waiting this one out.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson