This Piece is Translated from Spanish*
Letter to Donald Trump
January 13, 2021
Dear President,
I would thank you for the last four years, but I can't. You have made the lives of people who don't look like you terrible. Black people, brown people, legal or illegal immigrants, especially those from DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), people in the LGBT+ community, people with disabilities, women, and many more. I have been ashamed to be an American for four years because you, my president, do not care about the human rights of your own citizens. Here, I will name some of the instances in which you failed.
You failed to protect our country from COVID-19. We have 381,000 deaths and the number is still increasing every day. When we adjust for population, we have 50% more deaths on average than 18 other countries in a study published in a peer-reviewed journal called the Journal of the American Medical Association (Bilinski and Emanuel; Beaubien). Those countries include Germany, Italy, Sweden, Canada, Spain, Japan, and more. We mock them here in the United States for being worse countries than we are, we say that people there have no voice under their governments, they are “shithole countries”, we say that we are the best, but obviously, we are the worst in the category that matters most. The category of dead people.
You have proven on many occasions that you sympathize with white supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Proud Boys. The racial divide has never been greater in recent years in the United States. You said that the group of people in the KKK in Charlottesville, VA, were "good people" in 2017 (Haltiwanger). You said there were "good people on both sides”. Let me tell you why that's bullshit. On the one hand, there were activists fighting for human rights (that you don't care about); that side was angry because it's still legal to organize a hate demonstration against another race. The other side was a well-known hate group that has historically done many acts of hate and terror against black people. They started that "demonstration" and started the violence. From the outside, it is obvious which group is good and which is made up of terrorists. For your old memory, the definition of terrorism is: the use of violence and intimidation against citizens in pursuit of political power. Under your administration, the prison population is disproportionately black. In addition, the police have their blessing to kill citizens on the streets without consequence. You have terrorized your own citizens and you have made racist people in this country comfortable.
To continue with the issue of racism, I know you think you have done a good job with the immigrant population in the United States. I want you to know that this is one of the biggest failures in your career. First, you created a division between the white and brown population; you said that all immigrants from Mexico are rapists and criminals. Without any base, this remains in the minds of many white people in the U.S. and is demonstrated in the acts of discrimination and the acts of ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE is the equivalent for brown immigrants that the police are for black people. You have passed laws that give more power to ICE that allows it to stop a person because of the color of their skin (Foer). You have given false information about the immigrant population in the U.S. (yes, they pay taxes). You have pushed them into cages and your biggest concern when confronted is "well who built the cages?”. Children are being separated from their parents and their parents are dying without proper care. Your actions will show your priorities, and your priorities are with white people, a group that you think, mistakenly, is synonymous with the American people.
All of that doesn’t matter to you because you say the economy is more important than anything else. With a good economy, the U.S. is fine and all problems go away, you say. While you say that the economy is much better than in the past and it's because of you, I have bad news for you. One thing you don't like to say is that the economy you inherited from Obama was a good one. Obama inherited a terrible economy and did a phenomenal job of improving it. So, let's compare your economy with Obama's economy. According to the vice seat of the Joint Economic Committee Don Beyer, Obama's unemployment rate started at 10% and he brought it down to 4.7%. You inherited a rate of 4.7% and lowered it to 3.5%. The average number of jobs increased every month under Obama was 227,000. Under you, 191,000 each month, which is less. The average annual family income under Obama increased by $4,800 in the last two years of his presidency. The average annual family income under you increased by only $1,400 (Beyer (D-Va.)). In conclusion, Obama did the job and you've been taking credit for it.
You would be tweeting right now how the presidential elections were illegal and you should have won but Twitter decided that you are not fit to use their platform and they banned you. If we cannot trust you to make a tweet without inciting a riot by your own followers, how can we trust you to be the president?
Most importantly of all, you are responsible for the coup that happened on the 6th of January, 2021. It has been 67 years since there has been a coup attempt in the United States and under your administration, the police helped the (white) insurrectionists enter the capital. After, you told the domestic terrorists that “we love you, you are very special”. Speak for yourself. It is obvious that you do not have respect for democracy or the American people.
One point I don't need to make, but I will, is that the image of the United States is currently destroyed and it's because of you. We are the laughingstock of the world and you are totally oblivious. So congratulations, Mr. Trump, for being the only president that 1) lost the popular vote, 2) was impeached, and 3) only served one term. You’ve really done it all. If you don't realize all the problems you've caused, I hope you live with the (false) idea that you were cheated. That is the worst punishment I can think of for you.
Without love,
Laci Gray
(https://theconversation.com/a-year-of-resistance-how-youth-protests-shaped-the-discussion-on-climate-change-129036)/ (Shutterstock)
Sources
Beaubien, Jason. “Americans Are Dying In The Pandemic At Rates Far Higher Than In Other Countries.” NPR, NPR, 13 Oct. 2020, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/10/13/923253681/americans-are-dying-in-the-pandemic-at-rates-far-higher-than-in-other-countries.
Bilinski, Alyssa, and Ezekiel J Emanuel. “COVID-19 and Excess All-Cause Mortality in the US and 18 Comparison Countries.” JAMA, JAMA Network, 24 Nov. 2020, jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2771841.
Beyer (D-Va.), Rep. Don. “Since You Won't Get Them in the State of the Union, Here Are Some Facts on the Trump Economy.” The Hill, The Hill, 4 Feb. 2020, thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/481321-since-you-wont-get-them-in-the-state-of-the-union-here-are.
Curnow, Joe, and Anjali Helferty. “A Year of Resistance: How Youth Protests Shaped the Discussion on Climate Change.” The Conversation, 27 Jan. 2020, theconversation.com/a-year-of-resistance-how-youth-protests-shaped-the-discussion-on-climate-change-129036.
Foer, Franklin. “How Trump Radicalized ICE.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 17 Aug. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/09/trump-ice/565772/.
Haltiwanger, John. “Trump's Biggest Accomplishments and Failures from His 1-Term Presidency.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 9 Nov. 2020, www.businessinsider.com/trump-biggest-accomplishments-and-failures-heading-into-2020-2019-12.
“List of Coups and Coup Attempts by Country.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempts_by_country#United_States
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