Dear President Trump, Last night Laura and I had our evening chores (including my letter to you) done early enough that we could take a walk while it was still light out. We piled the dogs into the car and drove up to the odd gated-yet-open community at the top of the ridge that overlooks … Continue reading 1 weird rainbow and 2 cloud unicorns
Your Base
We failed them
Dear President Trump, Behind all of the drama about what Barr said Mueller said has been another devastatingly sad story; the deaths by suicide of two Parkland, FL teens who survived the mass shooting at MSD high school last year and the death by suicide of a Newton, CT father of one of the first … Continue reading We failed them
“The scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out”
Dear President Trump, After reading Barr’s four-page distillation of the Mueller report another line from another Roots song has been playing in my head on continual loop: “the scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out.” The song, “Tip the Scale,” is from an African American man’s perspective and he’s basically talking himself through his various … Continue reading “The scales of justice ain’t equally weighed out”
No further indictments =>Limbic overload
Dear President Trump, How are you? What’s your world like tonight now that Mueller has submitted his report to AG Barr? It’s pretty inconceivable to me that you haven’t somehow been able to find out the contents of the report. In fact, I think you found out what is and isn’t in it a couple … Continue reading No further indictments =>Limbic overload
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
Not condemning white nationalists encourages them
Dear President Trump, A wave of sadness washed over me on our way to where we planned to walk the dogs this morning. It was no doubt fueled in part by being exhausted from having been at the vet ER at midnight last night with the little dog who couldn’t stop licking. He seems better … Continue reading Not condemning white nationalists encourages them
Words have life and death consequences
Dear President Trump, Christchurch, NZ is 8,904 miles from Washington D.C. as the crow flies and yet ideologically the distance between the men who murdered 49 people during prayer services yesterday and you is not nearly that far, your thoughts and prayers Tweet notwithstanding. The men who carried out the horrifically well-orchestrated attacks on two … Continue reading Words have life and death consequences
Police state budget
Dear President Trump, On my way to the car after work yesterday I thought about how I hadn’t thought about you all day and how incredibly nice that was (of course thinking that spoiled the effect, but still). Although reality set in all too quickly, I even ventured the thought that you are becoming irrelevant. … Continue reading Police state budget
A break from the mayhem
Dear President Trump, I wasn’t trying to stay off my computer today, but there was other stuff to do and so I’m just now breaking a 26 hour-no-computer run and really, it’s been lovely. If I didn’t need to write to you I would have let the streak go until tomorrow morning. Truly, I think … Continue reading A break from the mayhem
“Victimhood for Dummies”
Dear President Trump, You’re the master of the aggrieved victim charade and we’re watching yet another round of your ‘woe is me, what have I ever done to deserve this?’ performance as the House Judicial Committee gears up with their record requests. I know they’re being accused, and not just by you and yours, of … Continue reading “Victimhood for Dummies”