Dear President Trump, My talk earlier today went well and the symposium I was a part of was pretty much a hit. It was kind of amazing since we ranged from an overview of animal models of trauma and alcohol consumption to the epidemiology of trauma, PTSD, and alcohol use disorders among Mexican Americans and … Continue reading May we put the data we have gathered to beneficial use
LGBTQ
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
The “I wish they weren’t big dreams” list
Dear President Trump, I’ve come up with some more things for the list I started at the end of yesterday’s letter in response to Elizabeth Warren’s “Dream Big / Fight Hard” campaign slogan. I’m calling it my “I wish they weren’t big dreams” list: having a woman POTUS having at least half of all decision … Continue reading The “I wish they weren’t big dreams” list
Handy targets
Dear President Trump, Dude, why don’t you just introduce a new Amendment to the Constitution allowing bigoted people to discriminate against anyone they want for whatever reason they choose to pull out of their asses? If you did it that way we could be done with this cynical, piecemeal game you all are playing with … Continue reading Handy targets
Rainbows
Dear President Trump, Last night around 9:15 as we were winding down to go to bed I was in the kitchen and Laura was already upstairs when we called out to each other at the same time to look out back; there was a full rainbow arcing across the sky to the East against dark … Continue reading Rainbows
As long as the right people suffer and die, POTUS is good with it
Dear President Trump, This morning the emotions, including tears, were full on from the start – the very first headline of the very first WP article I saw got me going and I’ve been tremulous since. Here’s the headline (WP’s punctuation included): “An activist faced 20 years in prison for helping migrants. But jurors wouldn’t … Continue reading As long as the right people suffer and die, POTUS is good with it
Prejudice and Pride
Dear President Trump, The other day Laura texted our daughter to check in with her on the last day of their respective quarters to congratulate her on being almost finished with her first year of college and to see how she was feeling about finals. She texted back saying she’s feeling ok about how things … Continue reading Prejudice and Pride
Calling out “President Pussy Grabber” and other positives
Dear President Trump, Oh, oh, oh is there no end of shitty stuff that’s burbled up in the last 24, 48, 72, 96, etc. hours; no shortage whatsoever of mind-blowing crap that you and your hench-people have foisted on the rest of us. Then there’s the recent WP report piecing together how Russia manipulated Bernie … Continue reading Calling out “President Pussy Grabber” and other positives
We are not now and never will be an autocracy despite some people’s best efforts
Dear President Trump, In past letters I’ve covered how the Declaration of Independence promised only some life, liberty, and the right to pursue happiness, but Roger Kagan’s recent WP essay on the rise of autocracies has led me to revisit the topic. Kagan lays out how the predictability of contained communities and circumscribed kin-groups is … Continue reading We are not now and never will be an autocracy despite some people’s best efforts
Sick of sticking to the script
Dear President Trump, This morning on the way to church I was thinking about the HP article by Felicia Harris where she describes how Michelle Obama “crashed” her book club meeting. Really, the book club members won tickets to Obama’s book tour and it happened that Obama had read the love letter they sent her … Continue reading Sick of sticking to the script
Daily Trump Letters 