4/27/2020

My Friend DJT,

            I don’t know what to make of the ad that John H. Tyson (JHT) put in the WP yesterday. I’m afraid he’s playing with fire & could ignite an inferno by calling into question the food supply. Most Americans have never faced food insecurity. As my dad loved to say, Americans enjoy the cheapest food in the world & we take it for granted. Folks will freak out if that changes.

            Apparently, you & JHT are kindred spirits. You are both heirs to a family fortune. You both tend to shock people & are perceived as “bad boys.” You both love to entertain. Unlike you, he did go through a rough patch with drugs & alcohol, but now he participates in AA on a regular basis. So, you both are clean and sober. Since you have so much in common, I think you should share some Norm Peale philosophy with him so he can communicate some optimism.

            A cynic would say that he’s using scare tactics to get a share of the federal bailout. I suspect that like you he’s going with his gut & his gut tells him he’s in trouble. Unfortunately, he’s in trouble because workers in meat processing facilities toil in close quarters. Since they are paid minimum wage, live in crowded domiciles & cram into a vehicle to get to work, the factories are almost as much of a CV petri dish as a cruise liner. The meat processing industry is troubling for lots of other reasons, too, but I’ll use up all of my 2000 characters if I go into them all.

            Let’s just press the reset button and eat less meat. You could start by setting an example & tweet about a delicious vegetarian meal that you enjoyed. I’d be happy to make you some avocado toast w/home-made sourdough & a side of home-grown broccoli. That’s what I had for dinner last night & it was delish!

            Stay well,