Dear President Trump, If you want to send your BFF, Vladimir, an early birthday present (he turns 67 on October 7th), you could simply forward him the HP Highline piece by Samanth Subramanian (complete with awesome illustrations by Zach Meyer) entitled “What if the World Treated the U.S. Like a Rogue State?” You might want … Continue reading Sadly, a Happy Birthday for Vladimir
Divisiveness
Icebergs and dewdrops
Dear President Trump, Did you know that Jennifer Rubin sometimes contributes five columns a day to the WP editorial section? She did so yesterday and the day before yesterday. I wonder if she’s doing this so that she can address the crap that’s constantly going on with you and still make space for talking about … Continue reading Icebergs and dewdrops
Radioactive tippy top secret stuff
Dear President Trump, I did my civic duty and read both the whistleblower’s statement and the rough transcript of your call with Zelensky on 7/24/19. When I finished I felt ill. Ill and wrung out. The whistleblower statement shows that someone from the White House ordered the record of the call to be kept in … Continue reading Radioactive tippy top secret stuff
Dirty, filthy tactics
Dear President Trump, Ok, so I just read one of the HP banner articles (the one by Fuller, Delaney, and Bendery) about how things are somewhat confusing on the impeachment front since Pelosi actually only called for a formal impeachment inquiry, which was already happening. I guess I was engaging in some serious wishful thinking … Continue reading Dirty, filthy tactics
“Oh happy day”! Finally.
Dear President Trump, Ever since Laura told me she saw an announcement on Twitter that the House Democrats are meeting today at 4pm EST to discuss whether they’ll bring articles of impeachment against you I’ve had the beginning of Edwin Hawkins’ “Oh Happy Day” song stuck in my head. Well, really I’m singing a modified … Continue reading “Oh happy day”! Finally.
Impeachment is not for cowards
Dear President Trump, In his WP PostEverything piece this morning Daniel Drezner makes a compelling argument that not only would impeachment hearings that are fully embraced by House leadership be totally righteous, but they would also distract the crap out of you and could prevent you from doing as much damage during the rest of … Continue reading Impeachment is not for cowards
Shifting the baseline towards love
Dear President Trump, Yesterday when I was mentally formulating my letter to you I kept thinking that the “shrinking baseline syndrome” was the “shifting baseline syndrome” – not that far off, but not quite right, either. When I was in “shifting baseline” mode, though, I found myself toggling between the frightening shifts in ethics and … Continue reading Shifting the baseline towards love
A very simple, very basic question
Dear President Trump, There is one little positive thing that someone somewhere on the fringes of your administration did three days ago that I appreciate very much – they flipped whatever the switch is on your contact page to allow the full auto-fill function to return. For months it was in this weird in-between space … Continue reading A very simple, very basic question
Not afraid
Dear President Trump, Whether you care at all, I’m sure you’ve heard that Cokie Roberts died yesterday from complications of breast cancer. She was only 75. I heard clips of some of her interviews on NPR driving home last night and when they aired the one where she interrupted the other broadcaster and told him … Continue reading Not afraid
A “Twilight Zone” moment with Rod Rosenstein
Dear President Trump, This is a variation on my thought experiment exercises…. Let’s say an envoy of aliens from another planet (as in real aliens) plopped down somewhere in the US. On their way here they did some good homework and learned to read and speak several of our languages, including English. They also knew … Continue reading A “Twilight Zone” moment with Rod Rosenstein