8/2/2019

My dear friend and president, DJT,

            Every morning, I wonder what I will write to you about. I wonder if I'll be able to conjure up some way to be encouraging and positive while also acknowledging your bad choices and disturbing rhetoric. I read things like David Brooks' column yesterday about how we need an "uprising of decency," and I wonder how we'll ever "rebuild the moral infrastructure of our country." It would be so much easier to express my outrage, but being outraged all the time is exhausting and drains the soul. Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out what you are doing in the WH, and the cognitive dissonance leads me to try to work it through, day after day. I keep looking for those glimmers of hope so I can maintain my belief that there is that of God in everyone.

The glimmer of hope this morning was that you did not attack Ilhan Omar during your rally in Cincinnati last night and your supporters did not chant "send her back." That was a relief!

Another glimmer of hope is your commitment to stop HIV transmission. Your guy, Dr. Robert Redfield, proposed organizing syringe exchanges. I think that's a great idea, and seems like a bold move for a Republican. In the past, folks like Jesse Helms said, funding needle exchanges was like the government saying, "it’s not only all right to use drugs, but we’ll give you the needles.” Did VP, MRP, convince you to give it a try? I understand that he came around to the idea after an HIV epidemic broke out in rural Scott County, IN, back in 2015. Anyway, I think it's great that you are trying to do something about HIV, and happy to see that conservatives can be influenced by scientific research that proves something works. That gives me hope that sooner or later, you'll see the light about climate change.

I hope you enjoy your weekend in NJ,

RCA