5/12/2019

My dear Friend and president, DJT,

            Happy Mother's Day! I hope you and Barron have figured out some special treat for Melania and that you will choose to spend the day with them rather than go to the golf course. It would be nice if you can help Barron treasure his mom as much as you seem to treasure yours.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3602299/An-uncomfortable-truth-REAL-story-Trump-s-mother-climbed-penniless-Scottish-immigrant-wife-businessman-revealed.html

            I'd like to meet your mom and find out what you were like as a kid. It would help me to figure out your personality. I'm sure you are aware that some people, including my Congress person, John Garamendi, think you have a psychological disorder. Knowing more about your childhood would shed some light on this issue. 

            I shy away from psychological labeling. It's too essentializing, don't you think? For example, I may tend toward introversian, but if I call myself an introvert then I absolve myself of the responsibility to make an effort to socialize. You may tend toward narcissism, or have some psychopathic symptoms, but you keep trying to show your best self. Don't you?

            So, speaking of trying to show your best self, I think that comes from knowing oneseIf, so I encourage you to read the article, "Science of Anger" in today's Guardian. The article affirms some of your strategies. For example, it includes, "showing anger during a negotiation has been shown to increase the chances of succeeding in it." The author, Hannah Devlin, also points out anger makes us "more impulsive and make us underestimate the chances of bad outcomes." Please keep that in mind. 

            I think you may have read the studies of Larissa Tedens, who found that exhibitions of anger can help politicians overcome some of their faux pas, as was the case with Bill Clinton's reaction to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Of course, it would be so much better to avoid those scandals in the first place. I hope you will do that moving forward so you do not have to pull the anger strategy.

            I've gotta go so I can call my mom.

            Best,