5/20/2023

My Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            How are you? Sorry that you had to leave the banquet early to talk to DC about the debt thing. I’m glad you are confident it will be resolved. I’m not.

            I am quite stimulated this AM from reading my news sources. The NYT says the G7 crew is unpopular at home & was full of troubling info like the fact that only “4 out of 22 major countries studied had approval ratings above 50%” & “freedom has retreated around the world 17 years in a row.” If you want more disturbing stats talk to Michael Abramowitz, of Freedom House. On the + side, he concludes unpopularity leads to accountability which is what democracy is all about.

            What did you think of the WP Editorial Board’s piece about your age? Did you see the bit about your “obligation to interact with the public, especially with reporters, regularly, & in settings that are not tightly controlled by the WH staff”? I say embrace your blunders, keep reminding everyone wisdom comes with age & highlight how you are guided by your convictions. Those are the things that make you a much more attractive candidate than your misguided opponents.

            Have you heard about the Called Here 4 the Kids sit-in planned for Denver in June? White women will be camping out on the capitol lawn to push for better gun laws. The stats informing this effort are rooted in race, specifically, White women are being enlisted to protest because they are least likely to be harmed by police while Black children are 100 times more likely to be shot than White children. Organizers suggest that Americans need to “question why living with mass murder is sane while a ban on guns would be crazy.” (WP)

            Regarding Burma, AJ reports that Human Rights Watch condemns the “plan to return Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, saying it poses “grave risks” to their lives and liberty. I encourage you to amplify this message.

            To get happy, look at the CSM series on front porches.

            BYBS,