An Open Letter To #DonaldTrump: Thank You.

Dear Mr. President,

You have truly done so much for this country. As a black man and 21-year Army veteran, I, for one, would like to sincerely thank you.

There is so much to thank you for that I don’t even know where to begin. But here goes.

Picture a beautiful house with all sorts of electrical problems. Then someone comes along to expose those issues, either as a professional or someone who simply plays around with the light switches, outlets, and so on. Despite how nice the house looks or how long things have been hidden, that professional or other person had now brought to light issues that have always existed, but are not at the surface.

Thank you for helping to expose and bringing the country’s “electrical problems” to the surface.

I once thought that people running for office would never allow other countries to interfere so that they could win. I thought something like that was only done on television and cliché movies. But you allowed Russia to interfere in 2016, paving the way for your Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton, showing us that this can be reality and not just fiction.

Thank you.

I actually thought that we were truly making strides as far as sexual assault, harassment and overall sexism toward women was concerned. That is, until you said this on tape in 2005:

“I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and fuck her. She was married. And I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, “I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.” I took her out furniture—I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.” in reference to trying to seduce Nancy O’Dell.

Then, in speaking of Arianne Zucker: “I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Now that isn’t even the worst part of all this, believe it or not. It is when you later came out to imply that this “wasn’t a big deal” and that it was “locker room banter.” It’s great to know that a 70-year-old man (at the time of that comment, as the 2005 comment came as you were 59) still finds it appropriate to totally degrade women in that disgusting fashion, only to dismiss it as “locker room banter.”

On top of that, your supporters came out and just rallied behind all this, helping you to earn cheat your way into the presidency, letting me know that while we have made some strides, we still have MAJOR problems.

Thank you.

I thought that surely we were past racism, at least as bad as it once was. I mean, I know better to say that it was totally gone, but we’ve definitely come FAR from the 1950’s and 60’s.

But because of a number of comments you have made over the last few years in which you have berated mainly people of color for one reason or another, whether they are NFL players, fellow politicians, celebrities, or Latinos, there are MANY videos now circulating in which white people are extremely open in harassing people of color, with even some admitting ON VIDEO that they are either “racist and proud of it,” or mentioning you by name, for example, in telling Latinos, “Trump is gonna send you all back to your country!” even though many of those folks are either here legally or Puerto Rican (psst…that means they are American citizens). Then when crime happens from people of color, you tweet and everything else about it, while mass shootings from white males don’t get so much as a peep from you. Then that whole “fine people on both sides” deal when speaking of the White Nationalists who protested in Charlottesville. You’ve definitely helped me to realize that no, we are NOT in a good of shape as I thought.

Thank you.

Speaking of NFL players, I thought it was cool that you mentioned us in your disdain toward them kneeling, claiming that they were “disrespecting” us in doing so. I always appreciate civilians standing up for us.

Oh, but then that was until you, as the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, doesn’t even have enough of that same “respect” to visit our troops overseas. You said you were “busy,” which is truly no excuse. As a leader, you are to show that you will not ask those who work for you to do what you are not willing to do yourself. As a businessman, that is basic. You haven’t even served in the military, which is one thing, but to say that you are “too busy” to at least let the troops see that you care enough to visit them as they are in harm’s way says a lot.

Not to mention that before the mid-term elections this year, you decided to send troops to the U.S. – Mexico border, as you instilled fear in the country that we were going to be “invaded.” To the surprise of very few people who actually have sense, soldiers were pulled back after the elections were over, proving that it was all a political stunt. Except now a great number of troops lost Thanksgiving with their families.

Thank you.

Lastly, several friends and family members support you as well. Of course, that is their right, but they don’t seem to have much to say about what I mentioned above. So before you came along, I had no idea that they would support such behavior. Now I see that they sadly will.

Thank you.

I could go on. But the truth is, this country is a hot mess, with much of what’s going on reminiscent of the past in terms of how people of color and women are treated. Along with veterans not being as respected as you claim to respect them.

Then again, your motto is to “Make America Great Again.”

Which begs the question…at what “great” point in American history are you looking for us to return to?

Because right now, we all have our answer. And for those of us who thought that those days were behind us…where women were nothing but sex objects and people of color were inferior…you have helped to show us that not only are they NOT behind us, but that is exactly what you mean when you say that you want to “Make America Great Again.” Because that’s exactly what you and your cultist supporters want to go back to.

So for me and those of us who might have lost our minds in thinking that we were truly making progress as a nation, you have shown us that we are not only failing to make progress, but we are taking gross and dangerous steps backward.

And it is by and large, because of you.

Thank you.