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
Truth
Shows of force ~ now and then, then and now
President* Trump, Everything that I’ve seen written about the illegal assault on peaceful protestors last Monday to clear Lafayette Square focuses on your desire to strut over to St. John’s to have your picture taken holding up a bible. Every single one of the dozens of articles I’ve read, whether they are directly about the … Continue reading Shows of force ~ now and then, then and now
Raising up the gnat
“President” Trump, I want to come back to Sister Dang Nghiem and what I’ve learned from her so far. I finished her dharma talk on how to grieve last night and over and over I was astounded by her incredible equanimity and restraint. You see, throughout the entire hour and 23 minutes of her lesson, … Continue reading Raising up the gnat
Assuming the tyrannical mantle of “leader” and “guide”……to hell
“President” Trump, I just looked up how dictators prefer to be addressed and Wikipedia indicates that it’s a mix of variations on “leader” and “guide,” like “Supreme Leader,” “Great Leader,” “Dear Leader” or “Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution." I took German in high school (and one miserable year of it in college), but … Continue reading Assuming the tyrannical mantle of “leader” and “guide”……to hell
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
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
99,805
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
“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
Putting down the hot coals – very reluctantly
Dear President Trump, Our church service was super brief today, lasting all of 30 minutes – I think they set a service-speed record. There was no offering time or contemporary voice, and when combined, the two youth-led sermons maybe lasted eight minutes. Given what folks have going on, I think this is all for the … Continue reading Putting down the hot coals – very reluctantly
Daily Trump Letters 