8/26/2019

My dear friend and president, DJT,

Sorry to miss our letter yesterday. I had a 24-hour flu. Deep breathing got me through the nausea and lying on the couch helped me with the headache and lethargy. I'm feeling better today but not 100%. This happens to me about twice a year. I've learned that a day of rest is the best way to handle it. It seems that kind of thing never happens to you. Maybe it does, and you're just really good at hiding it.

Congratulations on having a relatively uneventful G7. While the press has tried to create some hype by saying things like, "Trump ruined a G7 summit dinner by insisting the group readmit Russia (Quartz)" and "Don't get you know who mad (NYT)" and even they said, you "largely stuck to diplomatic niceties, refraining from hate-tweeting colleagues." I was thrilled that you followed my advice and chose to stay silent about the surprise visit by that Iranian guy, Mohammad Javad Zarif. 

Did you get a chance to talk to any of the Africans that attended? I'm curious about Roch Marc Christian Kaboré the President of Burkina Faso. He's the first person elected to that office who has no ties to the military so maybe he's helping them move in a more democratic direction. 

 I hope you got some new ideas about how to support some economic development in Africa to help prevent emigration and terrorism. Larry Elliott writing in yesterday's Guardian says that child poverty in Africa is a "time bomb primed to go off under the west" and that"the failure of poor countries to provide their young adults with decent jobs breeds extremism." Since our economy is so strong right now, certainly we can afford to help them out.

 I love seeing the "family photo" of the participants in the G7 but was disappointed that ADM was the only woman in the group. It's not your fault but I'd love to see more women in charge.

            Best,