President* Trump, You probably love, love, love Mr. Mark Thiessen, conservative WP editorialist extraordinaire – he’s really your kind of guy. It probably doesn’t hurt that he seems to love, love, love you. I know it’s not very tolerant or open-minded of me, but I usually don’t even bother reading the titles of his editorials, … Continue reading Breathtaking and heartbreaking
Anger
Segregation and bootstraps
President* Trump, This afternoon Laura and I watched Sarah Cooper’s latest Trumpian lip-sync on YouTube – “How to Lincoln.” Although Cooper portrayed you brilliantly, it was an especially vile 24 seconds of Trump-speech and when it was over, all I could think to say was that you are loathsome. You truly are. Fortunately, though, this … Continue reading Segregation and bootstraps
The imperative Monopoly monologue
President* Trump, I drafted almost an entire usual-length letter to you this morning, but I’m not going to send it. Maybe it’ll make it out of the gate tomorrow, but today it’s far more important to send you a link to Kimberly Latrice Jones’s brilliant, devastating monologue “How Can We Win?”, which was posted on … Continue reading The imperative Monopoly monologue
Overwhelmed and (sort of) nattering on
“President” Trump, Well, by the time I got your letter sent last night, our “end systemic racism now” sign had come completely unstuck from the window. Turns out that the fancy little “leave no trace” poster stick-ems don’t stay stuck to glass. This setback happened late enough last night that we decided to wait to … Continue reading Overwhelmed and (sort of) nattering on
Righteous eventualities
“President” Trump, It’s been just over 1.2k days of writing to you and I’m finally done with the polite “Dear President Trump” salutation – you never deserved it, but for the longest time (a seriously very long time) I couldn’t bring myself to address these letters to you in any other way. I’m over it … Continue reading Righteous eventualities
May we accept that real change is scary and hard
Dear President Trump, The overriding emotions for me today have been shame and fear, which may explain why I’ve been so irritable and sour. I don’t know about you, but often when I’ve got strong primary feelings on board, niggly secondary ones pile on and poke at me, trying to grab my attention. Well, I … Continue reading May we accept that real change is scary and hard
A “depraved heart” if there ever was one
Dear President Trump, It was another one of those mornings when I just didn’t have it and all I could get down was the date and the salutation. I don’t know – maybe it was the effort needed to stay polite in the aforementioned salutation or maybe it was just plain weariness from all the … Continue reading A “depraved heart” if there ever was one
A possible remedy for the problem of large, round numbers
Dear President Trump, Right this minute at 7:18am the Worldometer says that 99,883 people in the US have died from covid-19. I’m going to try to not check the website compulsively throughout the day as we close in on 100,000, but I’m not making any promises. Why do you think it is that big round … Continue reading A possible remedy for the problem of large, round numbers
Piecing together connection and being
Dear President Trump, For about the last year I’ve closed my walking lovingkindness meditation with the following: May we all have the courage and the resolve to be peace and kindness. May we all have the resolve and courage to accept kindness and peace. Maybe I’ve told you about this before – I’m not sure … Continue reading Piecing together connection and being
How we are in the world
Dear President Trump, Over about the last six weeks I’ve changed the final line of the loving-kindness prayer I say every morning at least four times. The other three lines, the ones sending out wishes/hopes/intentions for safety, happiness, and health/strength have stayed consistent except for occasionally focusing on how much I want the person, typically … Continue reading How we are in the world
Daily Trump Letters 