4/7/2025

My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT,

                  I see that you’ll have an action-packed day at the WH. While I am tempted to call your day a “busy” one, I have decided to try to avoid that word. I do not want to participate in the “valorization of busyness” that leads many in America to distraction. As Dixie Lane writes in Public Discourse, “We fear that if we cease our activity even for a moment, we will be forced to confront some of the deeper questions that our busyness helps us avoid; to address some of the problems our constant motion allows us to skirt past.” Bragging about how much we must do is a symptom of our worship of the almighty $$ & I’m going to see if I can avoid it so I can marvel at the mystery of life & find joy in my day.

                  I hope you enjoy the Dodger’s visit today. It’s remarkable that the whole team will be there. I wonder if Mark Walter had to pressure Mookie Betts (MLB) & Shohei Ohtani (SO) to attend. As you will recall MLB did not join the Red Sox crew when they visited you in 2018. This time he’s coming to show solidarity with his teammates. I assume that SO is doing the same. Please applaud all the players for setting aside their egos for the welfare of the team. That’s a lesson we all could use, don’t you think?

                  Do you have a plan for navigating Bibi’s requests for tariff relief that he is certain to make in his visit to you today? Just remember that if you are lenient with him, you will be setting a precedent. Given the recent massive demonstrations and the drop in the Asian stock markets, you might just listen to ERM & reconsider the whole tariff idea altogether.

                  Please confer with Bibi about how to help the grieving & traumatized people of Burma. It’s been over a week since the earthquake. They need medical help. Please send the USNS Mercy &/or the USNS Comfort to the Bay Bengal. Even better would be some smaller medical vessels that could make their way up the Irrawaddy toward Mandalay. Helpers are better than supplies since medical personnel can’t be highjacked by the junta.

                  I hope you can work out a path to peace in Gaza with Bibi. We could use some good news right now.

                  BYBS,