
We assume you ran for president of the United States because you believed you had some really good ideas that nobody else was able to think of. After all, you have “a really good brain” and according to you, our leaders are “stupid, stupid people.”[i] During your campaign, you criticized Republicans President George W. Bush for his policy in Iraq, Marco Rubio for his voting record, John McCain for his war record, and John Kasich for his eating habits.
Cannot help but notice, though, now that you achieved your initial goal, now that you are president, you seem to be executing the Republican agenda of the past four decades. The Muslim ban? Deporting undocumented Mexicans? Mistrust of everyone not white enough? Republicans have been blowing those dog whistles since before you were born. The only difference is you’re using a train whistle. We hear you loud and clear. Tax cuts for corporations and the extremely wealthy? It’s been 36 years since I met a Republican who wouldn’t applaud that. Dismantle the social safety net: Social Security, Medicare, Obama Care, Medicaid? Republicans opposed each of those measures from the moment they were proposed, and they began working toward their demise the moment each became law.
Most of your proposals are simply vulgar repackaging of the worst ideas ever put forward by the Republican Party. Your other notions obviously please Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nothing could make him happier than splitting apart long-honored alliances among all his international adversaries. He wants us to browbeat member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, crush international trade, and abandon the Trans Pacific Partnership.
By ending negotiations on TPP, you probably made Xi Jinping pretty happy too. But let’s get back to Putin. He was pleased to see you embrace Nigel Farage and Brexit. He would love to hear you endorse Marine Le Pen next time she runs for President of France and Frauke Petry for German Chancellor. All those ideas are cyber war policies of Russia, so yes, Putin must be satisfied that his project is working as planned.
Nevertheless, proceeding on the assumption that you do have the best interests of the United States of America at heart, I would like you to accept the likelihood that Vladimir Putin is not our friend. Furthermore, I hope you will consider the possibility that the Republican Party might have been wrong about economics ever since trickle down became a phrase a few people take seriously. Imagine that the best-educated, best-trained scientists in the world are right about anthropogenic climate change and Republican politicians are wrong. Think for just a moment that your new National Security Advisor, General H.R. McMasters is right while your gut and Steve Bannon are wrong about the consequences of using the phrase Radical Islamic Terrorists.
Finally, please understand your stay in the White House is at our pleasure and your work as president is temporary. You do not own the job; it owns you. We do not serve to gratify your needs; you serve to gratify ours. We are under no obligation to show you any loyalty; your obligation is to remain loyal to us and to the Constitution. When your term is up, We the People would be grateful if the job still commanded the world’s respect when it is taken over by the next employee we hire.
THE END
This was an excerpt from the author’s new book, Speaker for the Powerless: Conversations We’d Have if Our Leaders Could Hear Us. Find print and eBook reading options here:(https://sites.google.com/site/toddledermanauthor/home/speaker-for-the-powerless)
[i] Donald Trump. (10–24–2016). St. Augustine, FL. YouTube. Retrieved 6–27–2017 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcCxGZ-y48w