Dear Mr. Trump,
I congratulate you for winning the presidency last Tuesday
night. You ran a masterful campaign and,
despite being the underdog, pulled off a huge upset. Your strategy to focus “under the radar” in
all the important swing states was masterful and I’m sure that campaign
strategists will be studying your tactics for years to come. For you took your gift of intelligence and
management savvy that made you a multibillionaire in real estate and, without
any political experience, just inherited one of the most difficult and
underpaid position on the planet. You
caught many by surprise: the media, the Clinton campaign, and the world. So now, barring an unprecedented action by
the Electoral College, you will become the 45th President of the
United States.
I hope that you understand that, despite the fact that you won
306 out of 538 electoral votes, over half of the people in the country did not
vote for you. You are only the fifth
president who has won despite the other candidate garnering more of the popular
vote. This has been perhaps the most divisive
election we have had in history, with very strong views on both sides. As a result, you will be inheriting an
America that is more polarized than ever.
There are demonstrations against you in the cities. There are strong views and charged
discussions in public and on social media.
Many of the people I see at work, in restaurants, in airports, on the
streets are quiet…sad…subdued…angry…many are worried about their future and the
future of their children. So you say
you want to make America great again. What
is your plan? What are you going to do
to bring us all together working for a common cause, for a sustainable planet
that will be here for our future generations, for a safer world for our
children, and for inclusion of all Americans despite their gender, race, creed,
ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation?
I am greatly worried about the future of our country. In this campaign, I saw prejudice, bullying,
impetuousness, ethnic and religious intolerance, threats of violence in
rallies, threats of violence and war in the world arena, and the casual use of
nuclear weapons. I heard locker room
talk, women being treating as sex symbols and women being insulted if they did
not meet your perfect ideal. I also
observed alleged sexual misconduct, ignorance on major world issues such as
global warming and clean sources of energy, lack of respect and empathy for
disabled people, especially our service people who defended our country and
suffer post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result.
Being bullied most of my childhood, I fear for those who are
being bullied today. Bullying will
increase because you bullied your way first to the Republican nomination; then
to the White House. I have heard that your
wife is going to address cyberbullying.
Is that just window dressing, or are you willing to change your behavior
and apologize to those whom you have bullied.
How do I advise my friends who have children that are actively being
bullied to cope with the new reality that hit us on Wednesday, November 9? Do I advise them to sign up for marital arts
defense courses so they can defend themselves and beat up the bullies? I worry that our children in our schools will
be at much greater risk for gun violence, as those who are being bullied may
see no way out but to lash back with bullets.
What are you going to do to actively address bullying on all levels,
from our school children and our places of employment to our political arena,
where incivility and bullying has become perfectly acceptable; in fact,
required to win any major office.
My daughter is 18 years old and a freshman in college with
her whole life ahead of her. She is
adopted from China, an Asian American.
She has been raised her entire life to believe that she has the same
opportunities as anyone else in this country.
She is a successful scholar, track athlete, and musician. And she voted. When she woke up Wednesday morning, she saw
that her future is more dangerous. She
fears that your impetuousness will lead to a nuclear war. Opportunities may be harder for her to come
by because she is a woman minority. She
is worried about being bullied, about being sexually assaulted, about being
judged based on her looks, not by her talents.
How do you plan on alleviating the fears of young women like her, their
parents, and their families?
I worry about the future of our planet and the amazing, but
fragile species Homo Sapiens. Our
politicians have lost contact with the scientific community, choosing instead
to spout campaign rhetoric, and you are no exception. You deny global warming and have proposed to
burn more dirty coal at the exclusion of cleaner forms of energy. This puts our future generations in
jeopardy. You plan on cutting the EPA’s
budget dramatically. Who is going to
keep companies from polluting our environment?
I pray that the leadership in our major corporations will hold
sustainability as part of their vision and mission and choose not to pollute. I fear, however, that the intense pressure
from Wall Street to perform will tempt them otherwise. How do you plan on directing our national
policy toward sustainability and ensuring our future generations have a clean
planet to inherit from us?
I worry that the anger fueling this year’s election will
persist. Locally there will be more
riots, more violence, more crimes of passion.
Families and friendships will be broken as society continues to polarize. In world matters, you have stressed the need
to rebuild our military. One can certainly
argue that is necessary. However, you
have stated your willingness to use nuclear weapons. A year ago you said that you would “bomb the
shit out of ISIS.” And later you said
“If somebody hits us within ISIS, you wouldn’t fight back with a nuke?” And as soon as one nuke is launched, a chain
reaction likely will ensue that will cripple, if not destroy mankind. Even if Russia does not retaliate, what about
North Korea, Iran, China? Who knows
where all those old weapons from the Cold War wound up? One wrong move and Humanity is wiped
out. And with your consistent display of
impetuousness, can we trust that you will not make that wrong move?
In your recent speeches, you talk about reunifying this
fractured country. Quite frankly, Mr.
Trump, you have a lot of apologizing to do and statement retractions to make to
even begin bringing us all together.
Even then the road will be long and tortuous. You will need to establish policies that bring
ALL people in this country together as one.
Even with the resounding Republican performance in the house and senate
races, you still need to form a bipartisan coalition as the Democrats still
hold enough seats in the senate to block new bills and without them, you will not
be able to accomplish much, if anything.
I remember Ronald Reagan, perhaps the last great president
we have had, and how he charismatically and masterfully formed a bipartisan
coalition to push through an agenda that brought this country out of a deep
inflationary recession into a long era of prosperity. Even more remarkable, through his diplomacy,
policies, and leadership, the United States won the Cold War leading to the
break-up of the Soviet Bloc. I hope and
pray that you will be more like him and less like the man I have witnessed over
the previous years. I hope and pray that
your behavior was only part of your strategy to win votes, not what we will
actually witness over the next 4 years.
Although I did not vote for you, I am willing to go by “the will of the
People of the United States of America” and give you a chance to fulfill your
campaign promise to “Make America Great Again.”
Please don’t disappoint us.
Sincerely,
A deeply concerned American
