President* Trump,

Fortunately Laura spotted the news that the Grand Jury transcripts in the inquiry into Breonna Taylor’s death are going to be released (see the LA Time article covering the story: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-09-30/grand-jury-transcripts-breonna-taylor-case-released). I’m not sure how she did it since all the news outlets I’ve popped in on this morning might as well have put everyone not covering last night’s debate into stasis. It’s all debate all the time. Or really, it’s all you being your very worst version of you all the time. The front pages are wallpapered with snaps of you squinting angrily with your mouth open looking like you’re yelling, which is absolutely spot on.

I’ll come back to the Grand Jury situation in a minute, but I need to say that after reading a handful of articles and editorials about the – the what? The show? The one-man-bully-fest? What does one call it when the POTUS screams and lies and taunts and acts in ways that would get anyone else permanently removed from the premises? I’m clear it wasn’t a debate. I’m also clear it wasn’t a brawl because that would‘ve required Biden and Wallace join you in the fray you created. I think for now I’ll call it “the debacle” – “debacle” is close to “debate” phonetically and it sums things up nicely.

So what I need to say is that after reading a handful of articles and editorials about the debacle, I see now why my brother was texting me last night with a ton of anxious stuff about you signaling support for the Proud Boys. He told me that the amount of racist shit that’s being visited on him has increased exponentially the last few weeks, and that he’s so afraid it’s going to increase further that he wants to buy a bulletproof vest. He didn’t mention that you called on your supporters to “watch” the polls or that you refused to agree to a peaceful transition of power at the end of the debacle, but if he hung in for those parts, they surely poured more kerosene on the flames.

You are, in essence, The Terrorist in Chief. Or better, The Terrorist Commander in Chief.

When we’re on the other side of this and finally in a space where we’re figuring out reparations for descendants of enslaved people, I think we’re going to need to also figure out reparations for all BIPOC people (and quite possibly members of non-Christian religious groups along with LGBTQ people) in the country now because the US government through the person of you, the POTUS, knowingly, purposely unleashed White supremacist hate and violence against them (us, if LGBTQ people are included). We’ll need to pay for lost wages, emotional distress, physical injury, and any future lost wages stemming from the harms inflicted. Between the business debts that are coming due and the economic fallout from this nightmare, you’re certainly running up deficits right and right.

The one tiny sliver of brightness in all this scary darkness is that a Grand Jury member filed a motion in court to have the Taylor GJ transcript released and a judge approved this. Apparently the GJ member made a compelling case that the Louisville AG is using the GJ as a shield in the decision not to bring charges against the officers and that there’s compelling information pertinent to the public interest. This is huge. Obviously we don’t know what will come of it, but the carefully crafted wall of secrecy and silence that’s protected systemic racism for-f*ing-ever is being breached. There are chinks in the mortar and some sunlight is getting through, and although they are over 400 years late, those rays are welcome today since they signal that you and your damn Proud Boys aren’t going to have the last word, no matter how loud or ugly you get.

May we be safe from lying, screaming, bully leaders.
May we all be willing to simply not have such people in office ever again.
May we all be strong enough to face our anxieties without relying on macho, jerk behavior for cover.
May we accept that someone needs to reprogram the nuclear codes so our POTUS cannot use them.

Sincerely,
Tracy Simpson