Dear President Trump, Just now my fingers seemed to want to type “President Tramp” but I overrode them and fixed the typo. I think though, if my fingers had decided to swap in an “o” for the “u,” I might have gone with it today – “President Tromp” fits our current situation exceedingly well since … Continue reading 99,805
Honor
un-Cheeto lines in the sand
Dear President Trump, Let’s get real here, shall we? You didn’t wear the face mask in the Ford plant today because you didn’t want to have lines of white, un-Cheeto’d, skin showing when you took the mask off. Given that you had to make a speech and would have had to temporarily remove the mask … Continue reading un-Cheeto lines in the sand
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
Another essential element: empathy
Dear President Trump, I’ve got another essential element for our post-covid-19, post-you, better-culture-for-all; empathy. However, before I unpack it (again), I want to do something I don’t do very often (ever?), which is to thank you for being such an incredible foil. Most of the time it would make no sense whatsoever for me to … Continue reading Another essential element: empathy
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
May we not capitulate to a stupid and dangerous patience
Dear President Trump, Kathleen Parker challenges her readers (WP editorial) to consider whether what one does in relation to the covid-19 crisis is helpful. I agree this is a worthy question, but she actually frames it through the lens of doing no harm, which is really a lower bar than whether something is helpful. And … Continue reading May we not capitulate to a stupid and dangerous patience
Bearing witness beyond the numbers
Dear President Trump, Are you getting daily (sometimes it seems, hourly) reminders to take care of yourself in the midst of the covid-19 crisis? Maybe it’s a function of being in the mental health profession, but we really are getting at least daily reminders that we need take care of ourselves, that we need to … Continue reading Bearing witness beyond the numbers
Local stars light the way
Dear President Trump, We got to watch Governor Inslee’s press conference this afternoon and Representative Jayapal’s virtual Town Hall this evening (we also tried to get into the one she is doing with Senator Warren right now, but all the lines were at capacity). As dire and awful as things are right now, and look … Continue reading Local stars light the way
We are truly all in this together
Dear President Trump, It’s really pretty mind-boggling how many of us are affected by the ongoing covid-19 crisis. Whether we are heeding public health guidance and curtailing our activities or we are bucking it and defiantly going about our business, we are cognizant of being on one or the other side of decision-making about it. … Continue reading We are truly all in this together
Daily Trump Letters 