Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, Dc 20500
Dear Mr. President,
For your true and peaceful supporters lamentation may not be strong enough a response. Surely the actions taken and the words spoken on a most distressing occasion, the likes of which have not been witnessed since 1814, at least contributed, if not lit the torch of defiance and destruction. While your enemies label you an insurrectionist, no doubt the images projected conjure agitator at least. In fairness, and confident that history will dissect all things Trump like a sterilized scapel in the hands of skillful surgeons, or not, it is universally affirmed that “The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley.”[1]
First, some of the good intentions, motives it seems that can hardly be discounted in good faith:
4 million new jobs (pre-pandemic), including 400K in manufacturing; Economic growth approaching unprecedented levels with the highest income boosts for the lowest paid Americans;
Reduction in the poverty rate to a 17 year low, including historical lows for African Americans and Hispanic Americans; The continued decline of violent crime, save the summer of 2020, and recently; Expanded domestic oil production placing America at the top of the worldwide well; Creation of new tools to fight sex trafficking; Improving the Veterans’ healthcare system; Criminal Justice reform; Increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Efforts to de-criminalize homosexuality worldwide; Destruction of ISIS, although a continuing threat remains;
Ordering the vigorous enforcement of federal statutes protecting religous freedoms; Revised Trade Agreements increasing international commerce with the U.S; Negotiations securing the release of 12 hostages held by rogue states; Historic tax cuts, including Opportunity Zones in low income communities and the return of $8 trillion to the U.S. by multi-national corporations; Negotiation of the Abraham Accords leading to normalized relations between Israel and certain Arab nations; Median household incomes at the highest levels ever; and Decreased spending on NATO mandating increased spending by member states.
Keep in mind that your followers are aware that all this, and more, was achieved in the face of constant denunciations of your presidency as illegitimate and yourself as xenophobic and racist. From before day one (think Steele Dossier) and continuing into Russian Collusion and then impeachment, (with a second go round pending), you have been assailed, denounced and reviled by political enemies, Silcon Valley and other-sided Congressional voices; and then the pandemic.
But now it is time to reflect, and withdraw. Adversaries will only see you as they always have, dangerous, even criminal, while supporters will define your efforts as truly American. Overshadowing both however is the bold invasion of the world’s premiere House, a House not only revered domestically but also viewed worldwide as a Bastion of Freedom, and this irrespective of the foreign evils that would infect the great American Enterprise of equality and prosperity for all.
Whether the election was less than fair, or not, and your right to contest the process and results remains indisputable, until January 6 at least, it is time, in the name of the People, to turn the page. Although as we watched, and now remember always, the reprehensible actions costing 5 lives, and leaving a stain upon the Rule of Law which can only be cleansed through prosecutions and reaffirmations, it hardly seems accurate, at this time, to say that the Nation has suffered more painful episodes, but it clearly has. There cannot be any quarrel but that this democracy is resilient, built upon a durable and enduring foundation, and it shall weather this recent tempest, exactly because of that. Its underpinnings are calculated to survive the very uprising which took place, the propensity for which remains part of the human condition; thus the Bill of Rights and the U.S. Constitution. It is however beyond time to unite for the good of all, and those that would endeavor to violate the individual’s right to peacefully express one’s opinions must be rooted out from no matter which side of the avenue they reside. There is no right to riot, be you in Kenosha, Minneapolis, LA, Portland, Seattle, NYC, or least of all, the Halls of Congress.
[1] Robert Burns, To a Mouse on Turning Her Up in Her Nest With the Plough, 1785.