Dear President Trump, So hey, I’m pretty sure being caught “back on your heels” is worse than being caught “flat footed” but neither one is good and both would be generous descriptions of your administration’s inept response to the covid-19 crisis. You see, both these idioms reference situations where someone is surprised by something or … Continue reading Thank goodness for true leaders
Voluntary and involuntary social distancing
Dear President Trump, I’m hanging out upstairs semi out of earshot of Laura as she conducts her review session via Zoom with her class ahead of their online final tomorrow. I don’t know how many of her 83 students have joined, but when I was still downstairs I heard quite a few of them exclaiming … Continue reading Voluntary and involuntary social distancing
Questions and more questions
Dear President Trump, I know we aren’t supposed to panic – check, got it. Well, I’ve got it in theory, anyway. How about you? I’m thinking you’re probably feeling waves of panic too as this thing barrels ahead, no holds barred (I know viruses aren’t sentient, but this is how it feels). I would venture, … Continue reading Questions and more questions
Getting really real
Dear President Trump, Friday the 13th came a day early for Robert Redfield, didn’t it? Seriously, did you watch the tape of Katie Porter relentlessly aiming her logical questioning super powers at him yesterday, finally extracting a begrudging “yes” from him that all Americans, regardless of their ability to pay, can be tested and treated … Continue reading Getting really real
Steady there, please
Dear President Trump, Because the odds that you read any newspaper, let alone the WP, are slim to none, you almost certainly don’t know that their new online format leaves out obituaries. I first noticed this on Sunday or Monday (days are kind of a blur lately) and found it disturbing, but then the next … Continue reading Steady there, please
Oh, it’s just words (not)
Dear President Trump, When one’s community is in the midst of a crisis, whether of the immediately obvious variety like the covid-19 situation or of the drip, drip, drip variety that is climate change (at least here – elsewhere it’s far more in people’s faces), it probably seems like a bad time to zero in … Continue reading Oh, it’s just words (not)
Bad politics kill
Dear President Trump, Throughout this primary season our daughter has been texting with Laura about the candidates, about how the process is going, how the issues are (and are not) being covered, and who we are voting for and why (I get the texts about recipes and airline schedules). A couple of weeks ago she … Continue reading Bad politics kill
Women hold up more than half the sky
Dear President Trump, It’s entirely possible that I’m missing relevant counter examples due to my own biases, but it sure seems to me that most of the non-politician people speaking out about your administration’s bungling of the covid-19 situation are women. For example, the women who lead the national nurses and flight attendants’ unions have … Continue reading Women hold up more than half the sky
Imagine…. if there were no International Women’s Day
Dear President Trump, Well, where to start on this 110th anniversary of International Women’s Day (111th if we count its initial instantiation in 1909 in NYC as National Women’s Day)? There are so many relevant directions one could go, but I think I’ll start by telling you that Friday night when we went to the … Continue reading Imagine…. if there were no International Women’s Day
Making space and time for delight
Dear President Trump, I can’t remember if I told you about it back at the end of January when it came out, but I’ve had a tab open on my browser since 1/31/20 set to the This American Life podcast episode entitled “The Show of Delights.” Our friend told me about it the day it … Continue reading Making space and time for delight
Daily Trump Letters 