An Open Letter to the President-Elect

Dear President-Elect Trump:

 

As you know there is a great divide in this country, spurred in large part due to your election, and the words you spoke and actions you took during the election process. People in this country are fearful. They are concerned. They are skeptical.

 

I did not vote for you, nor do I agree with many of the positions you espoused during your candidacy. Initially, I was outraged by your election. I was disappointed, and frankly ashamed, that this nation would elect someone who ran on a platform such as you did. I was chastised for my reaction to your election. Perhaps, I thought, I overreacted. Perhaps I should heed the advice and pleading of those that supported you, to give you a chance; see what you can do for me, for the American people.

 

Sadly, Mr. President-Elect, you have already proven that my fears, skepticism and disappoint are well-founded.

 

It's now just shy of two weeks following the election, and here's what's transpired since November 8^th, 2016:

 

• You've chosen as one of your chief advisors a man who is renowned to be an alt-right supporting, white nationalist, misogynist.
• You have chosen as your attorney general a man who was at one time deemed too racist to be appointed to a federal judiciary position, and one who refused to acknowledge that grabbing a woman by her genitals without her consent constitutes sexual assault.
• You have chosen a man to advise you on national security who was fired from a national security position previously because he refused to act in accordance with United States policy, and who called an entire religion a "cancer."
• You have had your surrogates threaten your political opponents with litigation or criminal investigation because they had spoken out against and/or criticized you.
• You have cancelled a trip to Israel because its leader criticized your proposed policy to ban an entire group of people from entering our nation.
• Your surrogates have promoted a religious registration system, citing as precedent for doing so actions taken in our nation's past for which President Ronald Reagan issued an official state apology because of the atrocity of those actions.
• You have engaged in a social media spat with an actor because you are unable to accept criticism or satire at your expense.
• You have via twitter condemned the actors of Hamilton for a respectful plea to your Vice President-Elect to govern for all people and treat all citizens with respect.
• You have vowed to "drain the swamp" yet have surrounded yourself with long-time political insiders and lobbyists.

 

Mr. President-Elect, I was taught that respect is something that is to be earned. It is not something you demand, or command. While the office of President of the United States is itself deserving of respect, it is the man or woman that holds that office that must earn the respect afforded the position. Thus far, just two weeks following your election and a month and a half before you even have taken office, you have done absolutely nothing to earn the respect of the American people.

 

Quite the contrary – Your actions have, at worst, shown your purposeful disrespect for us, and at best, shown your ignorant indifference to those you seek to govern. You act like a petulant child when anyone speaks out against you or, in the case of Saturday Night Live, lampoons you.

 

Please, tell me, Mr. President-Elect; how can we believe that you are ready, willing and able to protect the American people when your temper is such that you cannot prohibit yourself from engaging in banal, childish retort to those who would oppose you on social media? How can we as a people believe that you will uphold all of our rights when you've already threatened to thwart or curtail those rights?

 

How can we accept you as our leader when you've done nothing thus far to prove to us that you are in any way capable of leading all of us as a united people?

 

Mr. President-Elect, I give this simple example of how out of touch you are: You campaigned on the notion of "draining the swamp."  Perhaps, if you spent a little more time educating yourself on the environment, you would understand how such a slogan so perfectly sums up the errors of your platform.

 

Swamps, while they can admittedly be disagreeable, are essential to our ecosystem.  Draining a swamp can have catastrophic ecological effect, altering our environment in devastating fashion. Doing so could completely upset the natural balance. And that, frankly, is precisely what you've threatened to do to our socio-economic environment.

 

I agree with the notion that we need change in our government. I agree that we need change in some of our policies. But your choice in words in describing the means by which you seek to do so belies the intention and exemplifies the inherent ignorance in your proposed policies. Then again, perhaps that is exactly what you meant, and if that is in fact the case, then you've already disrespected the American people.

 

For all intents and purposes, I am a member of the demographic that could stand to benefit from your policies. I am a white, educated, middle-aged man with above-average income. Yet I cannot abide what you're proposing for this county. I strive to look beyond my own self and position; I know too many people that will be drastically affected by your proposed policies, whether they are of minority skin tone, orientation, or religious belief. Our nation was created to foster inclusion and combat discrimination, not the contrary. I, we all have an obligation to stand for all others; this burden is especially yours.

 

I will not pretend that these words will reach you, or that you'd heed these words even if they did. A man's character is evident in his actions, and your actions thus far, just those since the election, have painted a very clear picture of your character. Mr. President-Elect, it is an ugly portrait.

 

It has sadly become evident that you neither contemplated the gravity of the position you will hold, nor are making sufficient efforts to do so. It is reported that you may not fully reside in the White House. Your surrogates made reference to the Presidency of the United States being akin to a "day job" for you. To quote you in speaking a word you used so extensively during your campaign:

Wrong.

 

Mr. President-Elect, this is our nation. This is our people. This is our American family. These are our lives. And you have a responsibility to each and every one of us now. You're not hosting a reality television show; you're hosting reality. It is a grave reality, and you must now prove to us, the American people, that you're capable of doing so. Thus far, you've failed.

 

So I beseech you, Mr. President-Elect, to re-examine your choices. To listen to the people you seek to govern. You were not elected by the majority of the American people. In fact, more than a million and a half people voted against you than they did for you. You became President-Elect by virtue of a few tens of thousands of votes that tipped the Electoral College scale, no more. You do not have a mandate to discriminate. You have no mandate whatsoever.

 

You have an obligation.

 

I hope you prove me wrong, I really do. I hope your promises are nothing more than rhetoric designed to pander for the purposes of winning this election. The fact remains that you did win, and now you must fulfill the obligations of the office. Please give us some indication that you intend to do so. Because you've haven't thus far. Not yet.

 

I leave you with this: You sought the Presidency of the United States. Whether you anticipated the amount of work, dedication, stress, and responsibility that comes with it is now irrelevant. The position is yours.

 

Do your duty.  

 

Respectfully,

 

A concerned American

 

 

© 2016 J.J. Goodman. All rights reserved.