Dear Mr. President: It didn’t have to be this way

An open letter to the President

Hello, Mr. President. I saw you went to a World Series game, expecting to be welcomed with open arms. Basking from the news that our special forces had eliminated the leader of Isis, surely, our great leader would be greeted with cheers, bells, and whistles.

Sorry, Mr. President, the people at the game weren’t in the mood.

Frankly, the majority of Americans aren’t in the mood either. After nearly three years of constant gas-lighting and destruction of our democratic norms, the masses are restless and ready for your departure, one way or the other.

Indeed, not everyone feels this way. You still have a solid 35 to 40% of the public firmly in your corner, according to most polls. You’ve not deviated from your divisive governance and racial scapegoating, which appeals to many of your supporters. But, you’ve done nothing to court the rest of the public; nothing to help bring the country together in any meaningful way.

It could have been different for you. Most presidents realize that when you assume the residency of the White House, there’s an assumption that you’re President of all the people. Yes, of course, you have a base of support. But millions did not vote for you. Those people are Americans as well. Too often, you discard them for your own political and narcissistic motives. It didn’t have to be this way.

What would have happened had you not gone in this direction? Over the last three years, there are so many things you could have done, or not done for that matter, that could have changed the narrative. In modern history, no president has served his entire term without at least garnering a 50% approval at some point—until you came along.

It’s time to take a look at what you could have done differently. I know it’s asking a lot of you to govern like a man who at least has an ounce of decency in his DNA. It’s not easy for you. After five decades in the spotlight, we know the type of person you are. Those of us who did not vote for you knew that fact going in. Those who did vote for you had their own motives. Many were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, regardless of the immense flaws of your character. Perhaps, they thought, the office itself will change you, right?

But the office didn’t change you, did it? In fact, your malignant narcissism only got worse. Having obtained the highest office on the planet has only made your affliction grow to the size of Mount Everest. We now know it’s beyond the point of no return.

Engaging in hypotheticals is a risky venture. But in your case, perhaps it will help in the recovery process, either while sitting in a prison cell somewhere or at one of your failing properties. Whatever the case, it could have been different for you. Instead of the boos ringing down upon your head at the World Series, perhaps we’d have heard cheers.

What if …

You hadn’t encouraged crowds at your rallies to start the “lock her up” chant when referring to your opponent for the presidential election?

On the day of your inauguration, you didn’t lie about the crowd size?

On the day after your inauguration, you didn’t go to the CIA headquarters and demean the agency?

You hadn’t fired Jim Comey?

You didn’t continually question the integrity of war hero and lifetime public servant Robert Mueller?

You didn’t call for a ban on Muslims entering our country?

You hadn’t initiated an inhumane family separation policy at the border?

You didn’t refer to African countries as shit holes?

You didn’t say there were “good people on both sides” in protests at Charlottesville, Virginia?

You didn’t shut down the government to acquire funding four your divisive wall on the Mexico/America border?

You didn’t continually lie that Mexico was going to pay for that wall?

You didn’t refer to people from across the border as rapists, murderers, and drug dealers?

You didn’t lie or tell misleading statements over 13k times, according to the Washington Post?

You didn’t refer to various people on your Twitter feed as: “horse face,” “ human scum,” “fat pig,” “bimbo,” “slob,” “disgusting animal,” and other disgusting pejoratives?

You didn’t refer to certain politicians or other public figures with racist and derogatory terms like “Pocahontas,” “shifty Schiff,” or “little Bob Corker.”

You didn’t tell four women of color in Congress to “go back to their own countries?”

You didn’t continually obstruct justice and thumb your nose at Congress?

You hadn’t given such a massive tax break to corporations and wealthy people like yourself?

You didn’t continually do everything in your power to reverse everything Barrack Obama did, including providing health care to millions because of your obsessive jealousy?

You divested from your business interests, and put everything in a blind trust, as other presidents had done?

You hadn’t spent the better part of five years questioning the nation’s first African-American President’s citizenship?

Sorry Mr. President, but this is only a partial list. There’s more, but I’m pretty sure you get the idea. Any more, and it would seem as if I were piling on. That’s not the point of this letter, sir. As stated before, the point here is to help the recovery process.

Because if only you’d not done or said even half of the things listed above, maybe the outcome would have turned out differently at the game the other night. In fact, perhaps the cheers would’ve outnumbered the boos. Better yet, maybe the fans wouldn’t have started a “lock him up” chant. I know it’s a hypothetical, but how nice would that have been?

Unfortunately, we can only speculate as to how it would’ve all played out. We all saw what happened, though. You were humiliated, and for a brief split second, I actually felt sorry for you.

I saw the look on your face. It hurt, didn’t it, Mr. President? It burned deep inside your soul. How could these people disrespect me like this? I’m sure that was your thought process.

But you know what? There’s an old saying, and it goes like this: You reap what you sow. I’m sure you’ve heard it somewhere during your long life on this earth. And now, the chickens are coming home to roost. There’s also another saying about karma. I won’t go there, though. Again, I don’t want to pile on.

In closing, I’d like to say that I wish it had turned out differently. Like many others who didn’t vote for you, I hoped the enormity of the moment would change you. You were now the President of the United States, for crying out loud. Admittedly, it had to weigh on you. You must have thought the time to change had finally arrived.

Sadly, you chose a different path. And now, things are falling apart at the seams. Perhaps you won’t even make it till the end of your term. Maybe you do but then lose badly in 2020. Whatever the case, surely things haven’t panned out the way you thought. Never in a million years did you think you could go to a public event like the World Series and not be appreciated. But that’s what happened.

I’d like to say I’m sorry it had to be this way. I’m not, though. And neither are the people who booed and chanted at the game. They had every right to do so. The office of the presidency deserves a modicum of respect. But when the occupant of the office does not show that respect, neither should we the public. It’s the way it has to be Mr. President.

It didn’t have to be this way. You have only yourself to blame.