Today I’ve mailed copies of the following letter to all 12 members of the House and Senate Republican leadership (including Orrin Hatch as Senate President pro tempore, and even the new and largely ceremonial positions they created just recently). Salutations and addressing, of course, vary for each, but the body is the same for all.
Dear Speaker Ryan:
I write this letter to the collective Republican leadership of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. I am not your constituent, but I am a fellow citizen, and I write to you now as such, and because you are the only ones who can truly take the steps necessary to avert disaster.
Donald Trump is terminating the DACA program. He is implementing his threatened ban against transgender people in the military. He kept border checkpoints open in a hurricane evacuation zone. He has pardoned Joe Arpaio. He threatened – repeatedly, and in the wake of an unprecedented natural disaster – to shut down the entire federal government to finance a border wall that won’t work and which he has said repeatedly the United States wouldn’t even be paying for in any case. And that’s just what he’s done IN A WEEK.
He demonizes a free press and makes excuses for white supremacists. He threatens nuclear war with the most unstable regime on Earth. He seeks to make alliance with the single most corrupt leader in the world (and almost certainly knowingly accepted the same man’s direct aid in getting elected). He is trying to break the entire American health care system, killing thousands, so he can “win” a legislative victory unavailable by any other means. Across the board, he has appointed men openly hostile to their stated missions to virtually every government agency, where he has not emptied them out altogether. He pays himself with taxpayer funds in open defiance of the Constitution, and invites foreign dignitaries to do the same. He is a liar (and not even a good one), a sex offender, and a narcissist. He makes a mockery of every ethical standard; all the ideals of a country founded on principles of equal opportunity; the history of a political party whose first president was Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator; and even his own, ever dwindling supporters.
It is not enough to distance yourself from the controversy he generates. It is not enough to sternly disapprove of his wild accusations. It is not enough to call him corrupt or incompetent. It is not enough to mock his obvious inability to even behave like an adult, never mind fulfill the duties of his office. It is not even enough to (rightly) call him a racist or a traitor.
Calling him out for his lies on Twitter is not enough. Sharing memes making fun of him is not enough. Embarrassing exposes are not enough. Lodging complaints through public comments; even letters like this, contacting Congresspeople and Senators is not enough. Holding protests, however massive and however frequent, is not enough. None of it has been enough – he is still there, and he is still making it worse with each passing day.
It has been more than 8 months, and this dangerous lunatic has taken hold of the fabric of our country – it is frayed, and much patched, it’s true, but it is still OURS – and he is ripping it apart.
We must do more – YOU must do more, as an elected representative of this country, and among the only people with the power to do so. If you don’t hurry up, I fear there will only be 2 outcomes left – either it will no longer be possible to wrest it from him, or what we get back once we do will be too ruined to fix again.
So I urge you as plainly as possible, and in the strongest possible terms – set aside your partisanship. Donald Trump is not a Republican in anything but name – you have known this since he announced his intention to run. He is not on your team. He does not hold your interests or your goals at heart. He will not pay back your loyalty to him. He has already demonstrated that his only concern is his own survival and prosperity, and that he is happy to gain those things at the expense of anyone and everyone around him. He is a threat, clear and present, and he must be faced as such. Every day you do not initiate impeachment proceedings is another day you are in dereliction of your duty not just as an elected official but as an American. Impeach Donald Trump. Do it today. Do it before you cast away any remaining hope that history will remember you with anything but scorn.
Sincerely,
Alon Rand
I have few illusions about how weighty my words will be – I’m doubtful the men (and one woman) who are named on the envelopes will even read them. Letters to members of Congress are accorded almost no weight at all if they do not come from a constituent of the member in question, and I live in the districts/states of none of them. But it is what I can do right now, along with posting my words here, and speaking up elsewhere where possible, so it is what I have done.
Recite The Litany 