An Open Letter to President Trump

Dear President Trump,

You profess to love America more than anyone — and you have on several occasions demonstrated this love by hugging the United States flag. You proclaim this love as a rationale for your running once again for President. to “Keep America Great.” I will, for the sake of this letter, not dispute your claim.

However, if we look around our country, the reality is that your Presidency is not Making America Great. On the contrary, it is ripping the country apart. Perhaps, more accurately put, you are ripping the country apart.

I would ask that you — as well as your inner core — look deeply into a mirror and ask if you are the right people, in the right role, at the right time for our nation. Think about your answer through the lens of five simple questions below. They are not a litmus test on specific issues. The issues are critical, but they are also increasingly proving to be a means to divide. Instead, my questions are designed to get to the core as to whether or not someone has the capacity to lead this nation.

• Do you have the capacity for authentic sympathy and empathy that is required to unite an increasingly divided nation? We need to evolve from an “eye for an eye” to a “love thy neighbor” mindset.
• Are you driven daily to deliver on the promise that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all (people) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness?” And are you building and supporting the federal agencies required to deliver on this promise?
• Are you able to approach and address the three crises of our nation — COVID, social justice, and economic opportunity — by reaching out to all parties with an assumption of goodness and through intellectually honest problem solving?
• Do you embrace the fact that America, instead of being a select people or land mass, is first and foremost, an ideal that has for 244 years attracted the world’s best and brightest? And these immigrants have been instrumental in the creation of all that is America?
• Do you recognize the fallacy of your original campaign slogan — “Make America Great Again? The genius of our country has never been where we have been or are, but instead it is where we are going as we strive to achieve our ideals.

If you answer honestly, you will clearly see that you are not the right person, in the right role, at the right time. Digging deeper, you will recognize that you have lost the moral authority and are no longer capable of pulling the nation together. In almost any situation, you would likely no longer be in a leadership position.

• In a public traded company, share holder pressure would have certainly forced the board of directors to fire you.
• On a sports team, an owner looking at your team’s slipping stats (e.g., in this case, COVID, innovation, transparency, etc rates) would likely have let you go.
• In the military, you would likely have been relieved for lack of confidence in the ability to command or for conduct unbecoming an officer.
• In a parliamentary system, there would almost certainly have been a vote of no confidence.
• Under the US Constitution, you were saved during your impeachment as the Democratic House of Representatives created charges that were too narrow, giving the Senate Republicans the opportunity to dismiss a trial.

In this year’s election, you will lose.

Indeed, the November election will be an electoral landslide. It is increasingly likely that Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas, Ohio, and Florida will flip from red to blue. The blue wave will not stop at the Presidential election. It will see Democratic gains in the House — and a flip of the Senate. It will continue to roll into state elections.

But before President Biden’s inauguration, you will do even more damage to an already emotionally exhausted nation and political party. So, if you are a conservative who loves this nation more than anyone else, we need you to do the right thing and resign. Resign now.

Do it for the nation. Do it to save the federal institutions required to govern. Do it for the preservation of the Republican Party. Do it as a grand gesture that will wind up as your greatest legacy. Just resign.