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.
Your Base
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
She’s not a corrupt monster so she has that going for her
Dear President Trump, For the first time in a long time things felt light enough around here last night that Laura played me some new music she thought I’d like (which I did). We also looked at pictures of the very cute long-haired Dachshund named Buddy Schweitz on Twitter (our Dachshund is also named Buddy … Continue reading She’s not a corrupt monster so she has that going for her
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
Leaders who play with fire
Dear President Trump, In a conversation with someone yesterday I mentioned that I write to you daily. I don’t tell all that many people about this because it’s such an oddball thing to do, but when I do, it’s interesting to see their reactions. Are they appalled that I waste any time at all on … Continue reading Leaders who play with fire
Exploiting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Dear President Trump, Sunrise this morning was at 6:34, which means we are solidly back in the kind of dark/light cycle where sidewalk tripping hazards are a thing again. I had a taste of this the other morning, but fortunately the sidewalk didn’t fully catch my foot so it was a small stumble instead of … Continue reading Exploiting Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Piling more suffering on suffering people is bad karma
Dear President Trump, Sometimes I know the night before what I want to write to you about in the morning, but last night was not one of those nights. I’ve been topically untethered for some 10 hours and I don’t like it. What’s worse is that this morning all I’ve been able to think about … Continue reading Piling more suffering on suffering people is bad karma
Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
Dear President Trump, It was a long time ago now, but I remember writing to you about photographs and the framing of them, about how shifting the camera slightly to one side or the other will often reveal an entirely different image or convey an entirely different feel than whatever was ultimately selected as the … Continue reading Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies