A VOICE IN THE CROWD: An Open Letter to Mr. Trump ...
Hey! Father of our Country,
You sour, awful, stupid man. What the hell is wrong with you? Where did you ever get the idea that you could actually be a President of the United States of America? As a benevolent father figure for a country, a president should have a calming effect on the people. He should project a sense of well-being, that everything is okay and under control. That it will be okay. And then see to it that everything is okay. That's a true leader. But you, you absolute horror of a human being, are scaring Americans to death. Literally. You have become a catalyst for hate, not only between and among our fellow Americans, but between families and friends.
Mr. Trump, it gives me no great pleasure to disrespect you like this. You're the President of the United States for God's sake. I wish you no harm, and I hope you have a long and happy life. As much as any miserable SOB like you can have ...
... and I sincerely hope that you are right about everything. But having worked with you before, and observing you over the years, especially now, you never fail to disappoint ... as a man, as a president, as a human being.
Holding a yard sale on the White House lawn for your mentor and financier Elon Musk's Teslas was beneath even your dignity. Although you do look and act like a used car salesman.
You allowed yourself to be purchased by someone who knows less about government and decency than you. You play with our American presidency like it's just another one of your shady real estate scams, or more of your ridiculous golden sneaker, cologne, and your other merch junk. You are aligning yourself with our global adversaries, the bad guys, allowing them to manipulate you, while you shamelessly betray our trusted longtime allies and friends. This not only makes you a bad guy, but We the People bad guys as well in the eyes of the rest of the world. No one trusts us anymore. Your hateful demeanor, rhetoric, and reckless actions are hurting us.
What the hell is wrong with you?! You're like the loudmouth bully in a bar who starts a fight and draws his friends and everyone else into it. People get hurt ... and killed.
And now, due to your lack of knowledge and understanding of finance and global economics, and history, you're now predicting "a period of transition" in our U.S. economy? Not ruling out a recession?... which could lead to a depression! Your retribution tariff scheme is a wrecking ball. This has happened before in U.S. history. The great depression of 1929. Have you heard about that? It was the infamously ill-conceived tariff act (Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act) that accelerated that disaster. The tariffs decreased U.S. international trade by 65% from 1929 through 1934. Five years. Then there was the recovery period ... the "period of transition." And you're okay with risking that happening again? Well, We the People sure as hell are not. These economic shifts take time to "transition". You'll be way out of office by then, playing golf somewhere when We the People and our children are still waiting in line for a bowl of soup.
And it's not just the economy. It's everything. It's you. Anyone reading this knows what I mean. You always seem to be shooting from the hip. Reckless. Dangerous. Scary ...
Look, it's painfully obvious that you don't know what you're doing. Do you? But how can you expect the American people to suffer through your learning curve, that you will never achieve, while you are just playing at being president? Or king? Or whatever your grift game is. Do you realize or even care that you are playing with our lives? Of course you don't.
You are not the leader that we need or want. And the cracks are beginning to show already. Your evil regime is beginning to collapse in on itself. Just look around you. I mean, how long did you think you could get away with this? You better watch your back. Do you recall what happened to Julius Cesar? Although you are more like Nero who mythically played his violin while Rome burned ...
(Author's note: Cesar (Gaius Julius Caesar) was a Roman general and senator, while Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) was the fifth Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Cesar was known for his military conquests and political influence, while Nero is infamous for his personal debaucheries, extravagances, burning of Rome, and persecutions of Christians. Cesar was a beloved leader, while Nero was not.)
But I digress ...
You're visibly losing your cool, father of America ... scolding reporters for not asking the right questions, shouting at them, telling them that you don't want to hear about the price of eggs and groceries anymore. You don't want to get your hands dirty addressing our daily concerns and issues. You know, the ones you promised to address and what you campaigned on. You don't want to do the hard work, do you?... just the fun "presidential royalty" stuff. The TV stuff. How could you possibly relate to someone who is truly concerned about the price of groceries?
All you can lead is yourself, to a golf course and a Big Mack with fries ... or to Saudi Arabia to collect money and do the saber dance with your like-minded friends there. You're not making America great again, whatever that means, you are making us look real bad. Thanks a lot. And a shout-out of thanks to the people who voted for you too.
Our past leaders, presidents, have had the good taste and common sense to try to keep a distance between themselves and any hint of corruption (except maybe Nixon). They had an image to maintain as the symbol of "truth, justice, and the American way"... and they had the mental capacity and stability, and the dignity and grace (except maybe Nixon) to understand where they were on both the domestic and the international court. But you embrace corruption. You are the poster boy for corruption. You've made corruption popular and acceptable.
Ah, for the good old days of getting screwed indiscreetly, behind the back, slow and easy, by government. But now, today, we have something very different to contend with. We have you, screwing us hard and fast on national television then bragging about it. You're a disgruntled and barely elected president who is a convicted felon, a failed businessman living on borrowed time and borrowed money, accused of sexual abuse ... a fraud, cheat, and a thief. A real piece of work. America must have collectively forgotten all that ... or worse, shamelessly ignored it. Or worse, forgiven you. Or maybe half of America is not paying attention, or they're too close to the reality of what's going on around them to see or think clearly. They can't see the forest for the trees, or the grift for your lies.
You have absurdly coronated yourself as our king. You have coerced congressional leaders to fall in line, or else. You have bamboozled many in the general voting public, about half, by any measure, into singing your praises. And you have hooked up with your Apartheid boyfriend who manipulated and bought your presidency, and now doing your bidding by whipping us all into shape. And half of America is buying into all this while you two jugheads are laughing in our face.
Simply astounding. It's surreal. Is this really happening? What's going on here? Unscrupulous con men and grifters like this taking advantage of America for profit? Our Country has become a giant candy store for gratifying your pathetic egos and gorging your insatiable appetites for sweet power and money, and the revenge for whatever it is your fragile, vulnerable egos can't handle.
Hey, Father of our Country, the main purpose of government is not to be efficient. Efficiency lies in the details of the day-to-day line items. That's management. That can be fixed. But now we have to get rid of you first to fix it ...
... the primary function of any government, Father of our Country, is to protect and serve the people with compassion and a fiscal responsibility to facilitate that function. Not to serve and stroke its administrators' egos and line their pockets.
You are no FDR, Mr. Trump, no Teddy Roosevelt, although you'd like to see yourself that way. You talk too much and too loud and you don't produce anything. You don't "speak softly and carry a big stick."
But this transformation we are experiencing in America right now has been a long time coming. It's been decades in the making. Gradually at first, and now suddenly, here it is ...
You. The shitty end of the stick.
Sincerely,
We the People
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah
(Author's note: The image above is from Norman Rockwell's famous 'Four Freedoms' series of paintings. Shown here is his "Freedom of Speech", the graphic I've chosen for my own 'A Voice in the Crowd' series of op-eds. And, because I knew the man who is the subject of the painting. The three other freedoms in Rockwell's series are "Freedom of Worship", "Freedom from Want", and "Freedom from Fear")
Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech"
Norman Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms' series