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
Fear
“Fixing” curves and bringing history into focus
Dear President Trump, This morning I had nada for you. All I could muster was the date and the salutation – I was so blank I thought I’d probably end up just writing a haiku. Well, you’re in luck because that was the then but now I have not one thing to tell you about, … Continue reading “Fixing” curves and bringing history into focus
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
We’re in trouble when our enemies have more substance than our loves
Dear President Trump, OMG has time gotten wonky. I thought I had opened the tab holding W. B. Yeats’s poem “The Stare’s Nest By My Window” days and days ago, but it was just yesterday morning that it was the featured ‘poem-a-day’ poem (an interesting choice for Mother’s Day). It was a very long, very … Continue reading We’re in trouble when our enemies have more substance than our loves
Covid charades and “The Betrayals”
Dear President Trump, I know you have (and take) plenty of opportunity to look in the mirror, whether directly at yourself or at one of your surrogates, but I thought we’d start the day with yet another (from the WP’s coronavirus updates): “Although the rate of infection shows no sign of slowing, Vice President Pence … Continue reading Covid charades and “The Betrayals”
An especially long, hard letter
Dear President Trump, I read the following three WP articles today in this order (and please note, I’m almost certain that earlier today the first one actually had the word “Government” in place of “Draft” in the headline). “Draft Report Predicts Covid-19 Cases Will Reach 200,000 A Day By June 1” “The Coronavirus Pandemic is … Continue reading An especially long, hard letter
Mayday, mayday!
Dear President Trump, Happy May Day. Happy International Workers’ Day. Happy (I guess….. not) First Day of the Fourth Month of Life As We Knew It No Longer Existing. And here we are. The stooped woman wearing the same brown corduroy pants and turquoise coat she wears every day is walking her (very) elderly chocolate … Continue reading Mayday, mayday!
Sunday snippets
Dear President Trump, A less than 2 minute scan over the WP headlines tonight suggests there are any number of heavy, hard, actually shitty, things that I could choose to write to you about – the heaviest, hardest, and shittiest of which is the headline “’For black folks, it’s like a set-up: Are you trying … Continue reading Sunday snippets
A mixed bag
Dear President Trump, This morning Laura wanted to make sure that I wasn’t one of the only people in the world to not see the film of Dr. Brix with thought bubbles added as she sat there and listened to your dangerous idiocy about injecting disinfectants into the human body. The first Twitter video she … Continue reading A mixed bag
Our free fall into tyranny isn’t going to stop by itself
Dear President Trump, Delays be damned, right? Oh, I forgot – your Treasury Department is so nimble that the staff can retool their whole printing process, from home no less, so quickly that they’ll still be able to get checks out to the poorest Americans by early next week, which is only 5-ish days after … Continue reading Our free fall into tyranny isn’t going to stop by itself
Daily Trump Letters 