Day 328 - Letter to Fellow Americans: Alabama Did It!!! Now Get Back to Work.

Dear Fellow Americans,

Image by Michael Dougherty

Roll Tide!

Alabama did it! They turned up in the special election to fill Jeff Sessions’ vacant seat, and they voted against the alleged child molester and for Democrat Doug Jones. It is okay to take a moment and celebrate; after the hard losses we’ve suffered over the last year, this feels like a chance to catch our breath and smile once again at the sun.

But don’t bask in that Alabama sunshine for too long. Alabama should have been a slam dunk, not a nail biter. No Alabamian in their right mind should have the urge to vote for a grown man who believes that dating a child is okay as long as you have her mother’s permission, a man who believes that getting rid of the constitutional amendments after the 10th Amendment would “eliminate many problems,” a  man who was removed not once but twice from his position as chief justice on the state supreme court because of ethics violations, a man who clearly has no idea how to ride a horse.

And yet, this man somehow earned 68% of the white vote, according to CNN exit polls; he earned 91% of the Republican vote. If it weren’t for the huge turnout by African Americans(who turned out with even more force than they did for the presidential election in 2012), we’d be once again pulling out our hair and rending our garments in rage and disbelief.

So don’t you dare sit back, America...

Don’t you dare consider this race won. Because this race is for so much more than a single Senate seat. This race is for equity and equality for our People of Color. This race is for recognition and respect of the basic human rights and humanity of our LGBTQ family. This race is for safety and safe passage for our Muslim neighbors. This race is for the fundamental right to the autonomy of our own bodies for all women. This race is for the maintenance of our planet. This race is not a sprint. This race is an ultra-marathon, and we’ve only run a 5K.

A rising tide lifts all boats, America. So let’s make sure that this tide continues to rise—not because of global warming—but because of the sheer groundswell of social and political activism brought on by our renewed faith in the humanity of our country. We can and should and will be the country we know that we can be.

Time and tide wait for no man, America. We cannot sit back and simply ride the tide. The time to act is now.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

Day 298 - We are Taking America Back

Mr. President,

Photograph from Unsplash

The 2017 off-year election results are in, and sir, I have bad news for you. It seems that your racist, misogynistic, homophobic, nationalistic, isolationist policies aren’t actually that popular. Sure, you talked and tweeted a big game as you threatened to destroy every policy that your predecessors had put in place. Sure, the white nationalists have been ranting and chanting, as you have empowered them to unify against every attempt to move our country towards equity and equality. Sure, you still have an excellent chance of destroying opportunities for our citizens to have affordable health care, access to higher education, quality reproductive rights, and equity and equality under the law. Sure, there’s even a good chance that you will walk us into war with your ridiculous need to one-up every world leader in your childish Twitter tantrums. BUT, it turns out that the MAGA policies that are near and dear to your tiny shriveled heart are actually not representative of what the people want.  Because the people voted a week ago, and what they voted for should make you a bit queasy.

For example, the American people elected Democrat Danica Roem in Virginia. She will be “the only openly transgender state lawmaker in America,” and she beat Bob Marshall, a man obsessed with which bathrooms transgender people are allowed to use. It turns out, sir, that Virginia recognizes that a person’s willingness to serve their country is much more important than their genitalia and which bathroom they use. Perhaps you could learn a lesson from the American people and slowly back away from your attempts to ban transgender people in the military from serving our country. It turns out that no one really cares about their gender; what we care about is their willingness and desire to serve.

The American people voted, sir, and they voted against you and your racist and misogynist and isolationist policies. They elected Democrats to gubernatorial positions in New Jersey and Virginia; they voted for Democrats in mayoral races across the nation, including a black mayor in Minnesota and a black woman as mayor in Charlotte, NC. They voted for expanded Medicaid coverage in Maine; they elected Latina and Asian-American delegates in Virginia. They elected transgender candidates in various races in Virginia, Minnesota, California, and Pennsylvania. And in Montana, they elected a refugee from Liberia to be their mayor. Perhaps you could learn a lesson from the American people and slowly back away from your attempts to build walls, ban travel, and limit immigration. This country is a melting pot of all races and religions; even the Drumpfs were successful not because they single-handedly built an empire but because this country embraced and encouraged immigration and opportunity.

The American people voted, and they voted against you. But we will not stop and celebrate for too long. We will not lose momentum. We still have a lot to do, to make sure that this country moves in the right direction: far, far away from you. Your blatant racist, misogynistic, homophobic, nationalistic, isolationist beliefs have been given way too much air time, but we will double down, to ensure that you are hobbled in your attempts to destroy what this country stands for. Because this country stands for freedom and equality and equity. It stands for opportunities for all. It offers a safe haven for the poor, the tired, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Sir, your time in the spotlight is waning. You promised to drain the swamp, but it turns out that your drained swamp stinks of raw sewage.

We are taking this country back and your days are numbered. We are finding our voices and our unified voices are so much louder and more coherent than yours could ever be. Your voice is old and tired and your policies are outdated, uneducated, and unthoughtful. You, sir, are the past, and we are the future. It’s time for you to listen to the people and serve us—or step aside. Because this land is our land, and we will make sure that our land is welcoming to all and supportive of all. Our America already is great and it will be even greater—with or without you. Our America is moving forward, and we refuse to be borne back ceaselessly into the past. We refuse to be destroyed by nostalgia and an irrational fetishization of our racist, misogynistic, homophobic history. The days of the good ol’ boys are over. The days of We the People have arrived.

We are finding our voices.

We are the future.

United.

For All.

We are the majority.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

Day 271- #MeToo, Mr. President

Mr. President,

Yesterday, a social media campaign went viral. On Twitter and on Facebook, women revealed with a simple “Me Too” that they had experienced sexual assault or sexual harassment.

This campaign shouldn’t have had to happen. After all, #EverydaySexism already made this perfectly clear in 2012. And #YesAllWomen went viral in 2014. It should be clear by now to every single person in our country that sexual harassment and sexual assault are simply part of the fiber of our social culture: things that, if you are a woman, are not about if, but about when. And yet, this morning, men I respect and whose opinions I value greatly were shocked and saddened at the sheer volume of #MeToo that had appeared in their feeds. It seems that, no matter how many times this topic goes viral, somehow it doesn’t sink in. Instead, women are forced to claim their own assaults again and again, and out themselves and vocalize their pain and humiliation, while the men continue to express disbelief.

I first witnessed this phenomenon at a book club years ago. As we women sat around a bonfire, wine in hand, our conversation moved from the book we’d read to our loss-of-virginity stories. A lone husband sat in the group, an “honorary girl” for the night. And as we shared our stories around the circle, it became painfully clear: 7 of the 8 of us women had lost our virginity in a situation that was clearly sexual assault. Only 1 woman had a lovely and loving story to tell, a John Hughes movie kind of story in soft-focus lighting. For the rest of us, our stories did not involve consent. This is the universal narrative of how the women of Generation X lost their virginity. Rape was our rite of passage. And the lone husband felt ill, realizing what had been taken from all of us…all of us strong, independent, self-supporting, Feminist, highly educated and highly successful women. All of us, sir.

And Mr. President, #MeToo doesn’t end there.

Photograph from Unsplash

Because I, too, was assaulted not once but twice on public transportation. And the look on that second man’s face as he rubbed his erect penis on me and knew I was powerless to move away in that incredibly packed subway car…that horrific look on his face will live on as the expression of pure evil in my memory for the rest of my life. #MeToo, sir, in my own dorm room, after I let a guy I met at a party crash there, later waking up to his literally being inside me…#MeToo, Mr. President. #MeToo. And yet, I did not fight him off. I did not accuse him of rape. For years, I called it a “one night stand.” I thought I deserved it, had asked for it even, since I let him crash with me. And #MeToo, sir, on the job, as I learned to quickly twist away when working on a construction crew, so that a man couldn’t undo my bra as he walked by. #MeToo.

Our stories are ubiquitous. They are everywhere.

Why am I telling you? Not only because you are a perpetrator yourself. Not only because you have wives and daughters who you want to protect from men like yourself. Not only because you have sons who you must teach to somehow be better than yourself. Not only because you want to dismiss all of the accusers as liars, women too ugly to be worth your time. Not only because you believe that men in locker rooms engage in “locker room talk.” Not only because you believe it appropriate to comment on the appearance of world leaders, their wives, and all women in general. Not only for all of these reasons, but also because you have a powerful platform. The world is clinging (unfortunately) on to your every word and tweet. Even if you are not capable of understanding how to treat—or not treat—women, you have the ability to advance our cause regardless.

Instead of spending all of your energy trying to undo everything that President Obama ever did, consider doing something revolutionary. (I don’t mean sending us headlong into war with North Korea and destabilizing the Middle East. We’ve actually already been in similar situations there, believe it or not.) Instead, I challenge you to do something that no one else has ever managed to do:

1. Listen.
2. Believe.
3. Write legislation that protects women and the non-cisgendered community. Instead of simply dismantling the 2014 Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces order and the Obama-era Title IX guidance on campus sexual assault and setting us back decades, write something that could actually help someone: write an executive order that demands that sexual assault and sexual harassment receive legislative focus, government funding, and an investment in education to finally turn the tide towards equality, equity, and safety for all women.
4. Use your rhetoric to promote respect. Find it within yourself to note the phenomenal women who surround you: not because they “are in such good shape” but because they are intelligent, educated, successful, worthy and equal human beings who are so much more than their physicality and sexuality.
5. Make it so that men finally realize that harassing a woman verbally or physically doesn’t make them strong; it only makes them weak and pathetic.
6. Make it so that women feel brave enough to speak, and so that women know they will be heard.
7. Make it no longer necessary for millions of women to out their own sexual assault and sexual harassment on social media just so we can be taken seriously.
8. Make it no longer happen. Make it so that our daughters will never have to say #MeToo.

Sincerely,

Sharon Murchie

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

Day 240 - A Golden Opportunity Awaits, Mr. President!

Dear Mr. President,

I am so excited for you! An amazing opportunity has fallen into your lap. Finally, you have the chance to put your name in your favorite all-caps font, gilded and glorious, on nearly 20% of the GDP in our country. No, I’m not talking about putting your name on a wall. That’s thinking small and I’m thinking Huge! I’m aiming so much higher for you. I’m talking about your chance to put your name on our health care system. This week, Bernie Sanders unveiled his plan for Medicare for All. A single-payer health care plan, Berniecare would systematically lower the age of enrollment in Medicare over the next few years until every single citizen in our country has free health care. Obviously, Berniecare, as a system, is unpalatable. It reeks of mildewy sweaters and socialism. But Trumpcare? TRUMPcare? That is a glorious word, full of majestic intonation and caps-lock bravado. And you could do this! You could make this happen! Just like Obama took Romneycare and made it his very own, you could take Berniecare to the masses, paint it gold, and live in notorious infamy, going down in history not as the worst president of all time, but as the one who single-handedly saved millions of lives. 

Photograph by NYMag.com

It’s really not so difficult of a sell. After all, if your name is on it, your loyalists will fall in line. And you could pay for this thing much easier than you can pay for a wall. You wouldn’t even have to bully Mexico. Yes, you’d have to raise taxes. But a tax increase on businesses would actually save them money, once they are out from under the weight of employee health care. Yes, you’d have to raise taxes on everyone…but everyone would actually save thousands of dollars every single year without the copays and premiums they currently kick out to private health insurance companies. You’d be saving every company and every citizen quite a lot of money. Think of the economy! Think of all the rounds of golf Americans could now afford at your golf courses!

A wise man once advocated for…and then backed away from…and then advocated for…and then said no to…and then praised universal health care. “We must have universal health care. Just imagine the improved quality of life for our society as a whole,” this wise man once wrote. You could follow his advice. You have the chance to do something great. The time is now, Mr. President. Listen to Donald Trump, sir, and replace Obamacare with something even greater. It’s time for TRUMPcare, Mr. President. It’s time to listen to yourself for once. Give in to your own peer pressure and do the right thing. If you do, I promise you that our nation will remember you, gold-plated and brazen, as the one who not only saved us money, but as the one who actually saved our lives.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

Day 208 - Mr. President, You have Blood on your Hands

Dear Mr. President,

Because of you, racists are alive and well in our country, Mr. President. They are crawling out of the woodwork, and they are looking at you as their leader in chief. You did this. You used a common phrase from Hitler for your own campaign slogan. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. You incited violence on multiple occasions. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. You repeatedly attacked President Obama’s citizenship. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. You failed to distance yourself from the KKK and David Duke and your attempts to later “disavow” were weak at best. The White Supremacists were watching and cheering. Even now, David Duke promises to fulfill your campaign promises. And the White Supremacists? They are ready. You have mastered whataboutism, the common Soviet propaganda move, and the White Supremacists have studied your rhetorical moves and have mastered them, better than you ever will.

They have been emboldened by your words, your behavior, and your inability to call evil by its name:

They are Racists. 

They are Bigots.

They are Terrorists.

Photograph from @m1523751

Because of you, 3 people are dead and 19 are wounded. Because of you, a community has been terrorized. One woman, at a rally counter-protesting the White Supremacists: dead because of you. Two police officers, sworn to protect our citizens and and finally rushing in after so many were injured and bleeding: dead because of you.

You cannot change the subject away from your guilt. You cannot shift the focus away from yourself and your White Supremacist followers by insisting that there is blame “on many sides” and that hatred, bigotry, and violence has been “going on for a long time in our country.” As Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large clearly states,”

“Chalking it all up to a violent political rhetoric that occurs on both sides and has been around for a very long time contextualizes and normalizes the behavior of people who should not be normalized.”

You have normalized the behavior of White Supremacists, and because of this, three people are dead and 19 are wounded. Your more recent statement that “Racism is evil…And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans” is a step in the right direction, but it does not diminish the damage you have already caused. It does not assuage you of your guilt.

You have blood on your hands, sir. You may not have driven the car into the crowd, but just like Lady Macbeth, your words caused the deaths of 3 innocent people. You cannot wash this blood away, no matter how many times you wring your hands and change the subject.

If you were truly presidential, you would understand that “The President—whoever he is—has to decide. He can’t pass the buck to anybody. No one else can do the deciding for him. That’s his job.” – President Harry S. Truman, 1953

You have to decide, Mr. President, to look in the mirror and acknowledge: you have blood on your hands. You did this. And it is now your responsibility to stop it. The buck stops with you, Mr. President. It is time for you to own what you have caused. It is time for you to call evil by its name, even when you are looking in the mirror.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

Note on the image: Suspected Murderer James Alex Fields stands in a line with young neo-Nazis and fascists before the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on Saturday.  He holds a round black shield belonging to Vanguard America, a group who actively recruits college-aged white men and operates under the slogan “the face of American fascism.”

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

Day 174 – A Piece of Legislation We Could All Get Behind, Mr. President. The Think Before You Act…Act.

Dear Mr. President,

You and your spokespersons have insisted that you have signed more bills during your time as president than any other president in American history. And, in a bizarre twist, Politifact has rated this claim as mostly true. You have, in fact, shown a very keen desire to sign your name as often as possible. However, it turns out that only one of these new laws has actually created a new policy. The majority of the rest of your signatures have been on laws that “have been passed through the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to roll back regulations imposed by the executive branch, and are aimed at dismantling former President Barack Obama’s legislative legacy.” This really isn’t groundbreaking legislation after all.

Photograph from Words Without Borders

And so, I have a proposition for you: I propose that you craft a piece of legislation that not only would be groundbreaking and legacy-creating, but that would actually make America greater.

I would like to propose that you create and sign a law instituting a mandatory “count to 10” rule. As any parent knows, a “count to 10” rule is a great way to teach children anger management. 

Thomas Jefferson said, “When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, a hundred.”

Just think of the legacy you could leave if you taught our entire country to stop, count to 10, and actually think before speaking. Think of all the lies you would no longer have to tell if the law of the nation demanded that you stop and think before responding. Think of the covfefe you would no longer have to tweet.

As Dan Johnston, PhD and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Mercer University School of Medicine explains on WebMD, “The “energy” of anger often leads to impulsive behavior that only aggravates an already tense situation. If given enough time to cool off, however, most people can learn to control their initial impulses.”

If the citizens of our country could learn to control their initial impulses, just imagine all of the violence that would no longer occur. Think of the strides we could make in human decency and global policy if only we could learn to control our impulsivity and anger. “Don’t react,” says Johnston. “Respond. Make a carefully considered choice about the best course of action to take and guide your response by the three anger-regulating principles of empathy, compassion, and assertion.”

Imagine a country where impulsivity was replaced by empathy, compassion, and assertion. Imagine what an incredible leader you could be if you simply learned to count to 10 (or 100, or 1,000) and considered the consequences of your actions before you acted. Imagine the civil discourse that could occur if we all stopped aggressively reacting and instead started thoughtfully asserting our ideas and responses with empathy and compassion.

You could lead by example and start exercising this behavior. You could encourage your children/cabinet to do the same. You could demand that those who voted for you and those who voted against you stop sniping at each other, take a deep breath, count to 10, and then speak and act with civility.

You could actually make a difference. You could actually make our country greater than it already is. But first, you have to stop throwing petulant temper tantrums. You have to stop mocking civility and instead be mindful of it. Take a deep breath. Count to 10. Act and speak with empathy, compassion, and assertion. Be a calm and thoughtful leader. I promise you, your countrymen will notice your example. They will follow your lead. You could make this newfound civility the law of the land.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

To the man who felt it necessary to question my son in the bathroom at IHOP

Dear Sir:

I don’t know why you felt the need to tell my eight-year-old son that he was in the wrong bathroom at IHOP. I’m not sure why you felt that his presence was a problem. What was your intention? If you truly felt that he was a girl, and that you were somehow going to protect him by questioning his gender, wouldn’t it have been even more effective to simply just make sure that he was okay? Why were you so concerned about his gender? Shouldn’t you just have finished your business, washed your hands, and gone back to your pancakes? After all, that’s what my son was planning to do. Instead, you told him he was in the wrong restroom. And when he told you he was a boy, you informed him that he didn’t look like one. And then you took it one step further: you told him he should cut his hair.

My son came back to the table, explaining that some man just told him he was in the wrong bathroom, that he looked like a girl, and that he should cut his hair. I asked my son how he responded to you. He explained that he just told you that he was a boy, but that he wished he could have told you that you were rude. I wanted to give my son permission to tell you that you were rude. In fact, I flippantly told him that he should have said exactly that. But, I have raised my kids to understand that telling someone they are rude is, in fact, a bit rude. My son said, “nah. That would have been awkward.” And so my son let it slide. But he was definitely shaken by your rudeness.

What right do you have to tell an eight-year-old child what he should and shouldn’t do with his hair? I have raised my son and my daughter to understand that their bodies = their property, and that no one else has the right to touch their bodies without their permission. And this goes for their hair as well as any other parts. They have autonomy over their own bodies, sir, and you have no right to tell them or anyone else what to do with --or to-- their bodies.

My son likes his hair. He knows that people, at first glance, think he's a girl. And he's okay with that. "I'm a boy," he says, and usually they say, "oh, sorry man! Great hair!" and then he goes on with his life. He's comfortable in his own skin, and he's comfortable with who he is. But he's not comfortable with a stranger telling him what he should or should not do with his body. "It's my hair," he said. "Why does that man even care about it?"

I know that girls have had the same issue recently. Our policing of gender has escalated, because somehow we all believe it is our duty to put each and every person into a box convenient to our limited understanding. Or maybe our policing of gender norms has always been this opinionated, and it’s only recently that we’ve become obsessed with bathrooms.

It seems to me that what really needs to be done in the bathroom is related much more to hygiene than to gender policing. And what my son needed was the chance to pee, wash his hands, and then come back to the table to eat his pancakes. If you truly wanted to be helpful, sir, you could have simply said “hi” and just made sure he could reach the paper towels. If you felt that commenting on his appearance was somehow necessary, you could have said, “hey, kid, nice hair.” And, if you really felt it appropriate to give him some advice, saying, “you have a nice day,” would be totally in line. Just think: you wouldn’t have felt so self-righteous and you would have taught a young kid how to be a decent human being. Instead, you pulled rank on an eight-year-old kid and taught my son exactly what kind of a man he never wants to be.

Day 143 - It’s Time for Contemplation…and Soap, Mr. President.

Dear Mr. President,

You have had, truly, an embarrassing week. From your insensitive and inappropriate response to the London attack, to your feigned bill signing and childish binder tossing of Infrastructure Week, to your inane and incomprehensible responses to Comey’s testimony, you have shown again and again, that you are out of your league.

But today is Sunday, the first day of a whole new week. It’s a day of reflection and a day of looking forward. It’s a day to plan a fresh start. I’ve laid out the steps for you, and it’s fairly simple: only a two-step plan. I’ll call it Contemplation Week.

1.  Read something that doesn’t have your name in it or on it. It’s time to take a lesson from U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis. “I like learning about something before I talk,” Mattis said. “So let me look into it.” You really need an education, sir. It is well-documented that you don’t respect education or teachers, and it is clear that you have little understanding of American history, geography, science, or the English language. And yet, without a basic understanding of how the world works, how we got to this point in our evolution as human beings and as a global community, and how to communicate with others, it is nearly impossible for you to move forward in any comprehensive and comprehendible way. Your legacy is crumbling, and if you don’t start to act like an educated and mature adult, your country –and your own children– will be left with nothing but gaudy, empty buildings, gilded but irreverent and irrelevant.

2.  Find a better role model, and then do what they did. So far in your administration, you have been a Typhoid Mary, creating destruction wherever you go, and refusing to acknowledge your role in any of it or change your behavior in any way. Typhoid Mary never learned. She never accepted responsibility, she changed her name and her story wherever she went to avoid detection, and worse yet, she never did the one simple thing she had to do to stop the destruction she was causing: she never chose to simply wash her hands. You, in your almost six months of office, have followed her model of behavior. You refuse to acknowledge your mistakes, you refuse to be transparent and truthful, and you refuse to take the necessary steps to end the destruction. You have blood on your tiny dirty hands, Mr. President. And if you don’t stop your dishonest and destructive behaviors, you will destroy much more than you ever built.

I suggest you start looking for a new role model. Might I suggest Frederick Douglass? I know that you don’t know much about him, so here is a quick summary: he was a slave; he taught himself to read and write; he escaped; he then became an impassioned reformer, a profound writer, a persuasive orator, and a highly respected and influential leader. He was a stalwart Republican, held political office, and changed the face and direction of our country forever. History.com calls him “brilliant, heroic, and complex.” A formidable leader, he “provided an indomitable voice of hope for his people, embraced antislavery politics, and preached his own brand of American ideals.” 

Isn’t this the kind of leader you strive to be? One who leaves a legacy not of destruction and gold-plated vacuous towers, but rather one who has a positive and lasting impact on the very direction of our country? One who affects people not by poisoning them, but rather by instilling in them a sense of self and of self-reflection, creating a path to a more just and humane world for everyone?

Which role model will you pick?

If this letter was TL;DR, here is a summary of your simple two-step plan.

1. Read something.

2. Find a better role model.

Instead of digging yourself deeper and deeper trying to get out of all of the lies you have told, start acting with honor and integrity. Stop denying your part in this mess you have created; stop pretending that your hands are clean. It’s time for Contemplation Week, Mr. President. You are running out of time; your country (and the world) is running out of patience; and your administration is running out of soap.

You can be a better president. Start today.

Sincerely,

Letters2Trump

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)

Day 122 – Kiddo Letter: Try to Make a Difference.

A guest post by my daughter. 

Dear Mr. President,

I’m almost 11, and over the years I’ve noticed that girls are treated very differently than men. And, being a girl, I care very much about that. You may not care, because, you  are a man. Youdon’t have to worry about earning less money than men, because you are a man. Before 1920, women weren’t allowed to vote, to own property, or work for equal pay. And, even if you were alive then, it wouldn’t matter. Because you are a man. None of this would affect you much.

But it affects the women around you.

 How are women so different anyway? Sure, maybe their hair is longer, and they have a slightly different body structure, but they can still build things, they can still do sports, and they definitely can do more than sit around all day doing chores and taking care of children.

They can even lead countries, just like Angela Merkel, who was disrespected when someone (a man) refused to shake her hand.

My mom can build and paint just as well as anybody. Our house has undergone many changes. When mom first moved in, the carpet upstairs was a dirty pink. Now it’s a nice shade of blue. The bathroom is now a storage room, and the storage room is now a bathroom. The kitchen cupboards have been repainted several times. Dad didn’t help with any of this, because he moved out when I was about four.

Photo of Helena, age 10, in action taken by Rhonda Morse Photography

I play on a Roller Derby team, and we’re one of the remaining handful of all-girl teams. And, I’ve noticed that on “normal “teams (teams with both genders), they play the boys over and over again, and sit the girls. The experienced girls sit. Who cares if the boys aren’t good? As long a you’re a boy, you might as well go out and play.

You matter more anyway.

I don’t tell you all of this to just to tell you. I’m telling you because as president, you can make a difference.  You can at least try to make a difference. You could try to pass a law to make things equal, or if there already is a law, you could enforce it. Or, you can sit around and pass more American Healthcare Acts.

It’s your choice.

Sincerely,

Helena, age 10

(Originally posted at Letters2Trump.)