Dear President Trump, You know Mr. President, there are a lot of people out there who toil away at thankless tasks day in and day out, year in and year out. The variety of such tasks is vast; some get undone almost as fast as they are done and some would be squelched if the … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 6)
Intolerance
Piling on in the worst ways
Dear President Trump, Over the last couple of days I’ve started seeing media folks (David Leonhardt, NYT; Joe Scarborough, WP) calling out your tepid response to the white nationalist terrorist attacks in Christchurch. They are pointedly saying that your failure to condemn such attacks encourages violence towards non-Christians and people of color. It’s a huge … Continue reading Piling on in the worst ways
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
Radical empathy ~ it takes a village (Part 5)
Dear President Trump, Did you see the piece in the WP this morning about the teens from Newport Beach, CA, who threw a Nazi-themed party over the weekend? They arranged their red plastic drinking cups in the shape of a swastika and took selfies in front of it. Understandably there’s a lot of anger and … Continue reading Radical empathy ~ it takes a village (Part 5)
Radical empathy (Part 1)
Dear President Trump, I suppose it doesn’t matter too, too much where I start, no matter what angle one approaches it from, it’s sad, infuriating, and overwhelming. But it does feel important to get the story straight and to tell it reasonably well since it’s one that so many of us white people have a … Continue reading Radical empathy (Part 1)
Burnt toast and hogwash
Dear President Trump, This morning….. Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m guessing you aren’t exactly feeling the love from your loudest peeps as they attempt to raise the freak-out level over the compromise budget bill that most certainly will not buy you or them a wall. In fact, I bet you’re getting many a nasty-gram as you … Continue reading Burnt toast and hogwash
Where do we draw the line?
Dear President Trump, I just made myself read the WP article about Elizabeth Warren and her claims of Cherokee ancestry. Before that I read the HP piece about Amy Klobuchar having trouble staffing her campaign because many of her former staffers say she was awful to work for. A couple of weeks ago Bernie Sanders … Continue reading Where do we draw the line?
Space to thrive should be a given
Dear President Trump, Who do you think it was that leaked your schedule? And did s/he really need to leak it? There’s a handy website (Factbase) with your daily schedule and you’ve got lots of “Executive Time” blocked out (in addition to golf time). So, I don’t see why someone would bother with this particular … Continue reading Space to thrive should be a given
Major negatives and a positive
Dear President Trump, Since there are both major negatives related to you that burbled up today, as usual, and a really nice positive development to shine light on, this letter will be a bit of a smorgasbord. Negatives first. Earlier in the day a friend treated me to an indignant retelling of an upstate New … Continue reading Major negatives and a positive
Daily Trump Letters 