Dear President Trump, When I was a child I was fascinated by the "accident of birth" idea and routinely tried to imagine having been born into the life of an East Indian in one of the untouchable castes. I'd try and picture picking through heaps of garbage to find food and anything I could sell. … Continue reading Privilege and the independence myth
Racism
You’ve just made America both less brave and less free
Dear President Trump, I don't know about you, but "The Star Spangled Banner" lyrics "o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave" always make me tear up (does anything make you tear up?). The notes climb so high and the singer has to be absolutely flawless to pull off "free" up … Continue reading You’ve just made America both less brave and less free
Rising hoards
Dear President Trump, I realized right after I sent your letter yesterday that there's another, far more cynical, more likely scenario with the 2020 census count that I completely missed that would allow you to indulge in foisting histrionics about government surveillance onto your base. Basically I can see how you all would actually think … Continue reading Rising hoards
You won by appealing to the worst in humanity (Fran Lebowitz)
Dear President Trump, Yesterday I read the NYT "Table for Three" piece featuring Fran Lebowitz and Bill Maher and I keep circling back to Lebowitz's statement that people who voted for you want the Confederate flag back. She also pointed out how you didn't win because you did anything right; you won by appealing to … Continue reading You won by appealing to the worst in humanity (Fran Lebowitz)
Paper trail
Dear President Trump, There is so much going on it's hard to choose what to write to you about today. Since it's clearly the biggest deal, the email exchange between your son and Rob Goldstone sadly wins out. I'd been all set to write about the beautiful human chain of rescuers in Florida that saved … Continue reading Paper trail
“Kindness is everything”
Dear President Trump, Have you seen the "In this house we believe...." signs? I don't think you all have any posted on the White House lawn and I bet you don't get out into real neighborhoods much so I'm guessing you haven't seen them. The rest of the sign reads: "Black lives matter. Women's rights … Continue reading “Kindness is everything”
Not an anomaly
Dear President Trump, I read a piece yesterday in the NYT about the steady rise in young African American people moving to the South. The overarching message was that because there is racism everywhere, they are choosing to be where there are ample numbers of other Black people and where people take more pains not … Continue reading Not an anomaly
White people may be the equivalent of kudzu
Dear President Trump, In our backyard every spring we have hundreds of volunteer blue bells and every summer we have dozens of rose campions. Both are pretty and both are noxious invasive species that serious gardeners do their best to eradicate. Invasive species, whether plant or animal, are huge problems in lots of ecosystems as … Continue reading White people may be the equivalent of kudzu
Nooses hanging in trees
Dear President Trump, I may have missed it, but I checked online yesterday to see whether you've made a statement condemning the nooses that keep showing up in public spaces and I didn't see anything. I googled "Trump noose" and the only things that came up were how there's been a dramatic increase in hate … Continue reading Nooses hanging in trees
Dual citizenship
Dear President Trump, How was your 4th of July? Mine was pretty mixed. We have a tradition of having people over on the 4th for a potluck and then most of us walk to the park across the street where we can see fireworks off in the distance. We had our party, as usual, and … Continue reading Dual citizenship
Daily Trump Letters 