President* Trump, Was your hand too gross and sweaty for Melania to deign to hold it for the walk off the debate stage or is she really, terribly not into you these days? It’s been a while since I’ve seen a clip of her pulling away from you like that and last night’s retaliatory little … Continue reading Rotten apples fall especially close to their trees
Suffering
The POTUS bok-bok
President* Trump, Hey, so it sounds like you aren’t down with participating in the debate next week since the Commission made the switch to virtual. I don’t know about you, but I’m hearing the insistent ‘bok, bok, bok’ sound chickens make. Before I dig into your anxiety bits, though, I want to sketch out what … Continue reading The POTUS bok-bok
Words matter, a lot
President* Trump, Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I realized that I closed out yesterday’s letter to you in a highly problematic way, one that betrays my implicit racial biases that, unfortunately, run parallel to the WP editors I called out earlier in the week. Here is the offending text: “This tree … Continue reading Words matter, a lot
Why now?
President* Trump, I’m 95% certain I’ve told you about this tree before – it’s the ancient chestnut tree a few houses North of the original 21st Buddha and I’ve walked past it at least once a week for about 10-ish years now. Because it’s sited at the end of the block its massive canopy shades … Continue reading Why now?
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
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
Strong medicine
Dear President Trump, The graphic accompanying the WP’s lead story this morning announcing that the official US number of covid-19 deaths passed 100,000 yesterday isn’t the gut punch that the NYT’s Sunday cover was, but it’s still quite moving. The idea that each person’s death is marked by a point of light on the map … Continue reading Strong medicine
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
Daily Trump Letters 