Dear President Trump, If you want to send your BFF, Vladimir, an early birthday present (he turns 67 on October 7th), you could simply forward him the HP Highline piece by Samanth Subramanian (complete with awesome illustrations by Zach Meyer) entitled “What if the World Treated the U.S. Like a Rogue State?” You might want … Continue reading Sadly, a Happy Birthday for Vladimir
Visibility
Icebergs and dewdrops
Dear President Trump, Did you know that Jennifer Rubin sometimes contributes five columns a day to the WP editorial section? She did so yesterday and the day before yesterday. I wonder if she’s doing this so that she can address the crap that’s constantly going on with you and still make space for talking about … Continue reading Icebergs and dewdrops
Shifting the baseline towards love
Dear President Trump, Yesterday when I was mentally formulating my letter to you I kept thinking that the “shrinking baseline syndrome” was the “shifting baseline syndrome” – not that far off, but not quite right, either. When I was in “shifting baseline” mode, though, I found myself toggling between the frightening shifts in ethics and … Continue reading Shifting the baseline towards love
Susurrations and shrinking baselines
Dear President Trump, Susurration is such a wonderful word. If you don’t know what it means, you stable genius you, you might be able to figure it out if you say it aloud because it’s an onomatopoeia. And in case you also don’t know what an onomatopoeia is, it’s a word that was formed from … Continue reading Susurrations and shrinking baselines
Safety and equality, equality and safety
Dear President Trump, There’s a line in Melinda Gates’ new book, The Moment of Lift, which I keep coming back to (pg. 163): “There is no equality without safety.” There are hundreds of insightful, gasp-in-recognition lines in the book, lines that evoke reverential nods and copious underlining for their elegant statement of fact, but this … Continue reading Safety and equality, equality and safety
Risking connection and compassion
Dear President Trump, I didn’t tell you about this part of yesterday in yesterday’s letter because I wanted to hold it close for a little while before sharing it with you, my most difficult person – still. What happened is that the universe did its universe thing when one of our neighbors called in the … Continue reading Risking connection and compassion
‘Blessing Boxes,’ tent encampments, and our messed up priorities
Dear President Trump, Yesterday on our Saturday dog walk we were in a neighborhood we frequent pretty often and we saw one of those Little Libraries. They sometimes look like the houses they belong to, but are always smallish wooden boxes with shelves that are perched atop a post. Each one has a glass-paned door, … Continue reading ‘Blessing Boxes,’ tent encampments, and our messed up priorities
Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
Dear President Trump, It was a long time ago now, but I remember writing to you about photographs and the framing of them, about how shifting the camera slightly to one side or the other will often reveal an entirely different image or convey an entirely different feel than whatever was ultimately selected as the … Continue reading Gushy-eyed First Ladies and Zombies
How about also undoing sexism?
Dear President Trump, This morning I read another well-intentioned article about the scourge of slavery in the WP and was following along nodding and sighing when I came upon a reference to how in 1870 the 15th Amendment afforded African Americans the right to vote (byline: Michael Ruane). There was no reality check about how … Continue reading How about also undoing sexism?
The second ring propping up racism: Gate-keeping
Dear President Trump, After sending you that long, heavy list illustrating impacts of internalized racial inferiority yesterday, I feel the need to remind you of some of the things that the people of color at the Undoing Racism workshop said they like about being part of their respective groups. Every one of the four lists … Continue reading The second ring propping up racism: Gate-keeping
Daily Trump Letters 