Dear President Trump,

By the end of the day when I return to edit this letter to you, we’ll all know whether McGahn showed up in response to the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena slated to start at 10am your time. The odds that he’ll attend are infinitesimally small, but who knows, maybe he’ll have a very sudden change of heart and will realize his duty to his country and to his own integrity are both more important than caving to whatever you and yours have threatened or promised. Doubtful, but we’ll see. (Update: predictably, he failed to show and you have mortared another stone into your wall.)

On a highly related topic, I’m stumped by Pelosi’s argument against an impeachment inquiry. She’s essentially saying that the issues we, ‘The American People,’ want to see Congress tackle (health care, prescription drugs, immigration, infrastructure, climate change, election reform, etc.) won’t get the attention they deserve if House lawmakers are distracted by an impeachment inquiry. I mean I get that there’s only so much time in the day and that if someone focuses on Issue A they will have little, if any, time to devote to Issue B, but this presupposes that it’s even possible for said person to get any traction on Issue B if Issue A is ignored or minimized. What I’m really confused by is whether it matters if the House passes legislation when we have a Senate that is likely to either refuse to vote on it or will vote against it. If this is the case, then what is going on? Does Pelosi think we, ‘The American People,’ are so stupid that all we care about is hearing that the House is working on important issues regardless of whether anything real can come of that work in the current context of a deeply divided government?

It would be like me sitting in my house when it’s on fire insisting that I need to pay bills or make dinner because those things are important to my family and need to get done and ‘gosh, I can’t do them if I’m spending all my time putting out the fire or saving the animals or precious belongings.’ Even if there is only one brave GOP firefighter soul who is willing to come on board and help me do the things that are actually necessary and you and the rest of the GOP are standing across the street shooting fire arrows at the house, I still need to do what I can to save those I love and what I love. Even if it burns to the ground, I/we need to do what we know is right and act honorably in good faith.

Our collective house is burning and you and the other arsonists are doing your damnedest to gaslight your peeps so they won’t recognize that you are carrying a lighter, kerosene, and quiver of arrows with you everywhere you go. Moreover, you are pulling out all the stops to convince them that those who oppose you are the real torchers. I have no idea whether you’ve also somehow managed to blinker Pelosi or she is doing this all on her own, but thank goodness (literally) that Amash stood up and called out your atrocious behavior for what it is – impeachable – and that he is being joined more or less publicly by House leaders who are saying, “Enough already – we need to stand up to this bully (you) and start putting out the fire he started so we can take care of what we love.”

May our leaders charged with checking the Executive Branch be safe to do their jobs.
May we be happy to support them for taking the high road.
May we see that the health of our nation depends on dealing forthrightly with corruption.
May you not start a war.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson