Dear Assailant-in-Chief, Letter #1

Dear Assailant-in-Chief,

In the week after the election, I was texting back and forth with a friend. He is a Gulf War veteran, was wounded and has PTSD. He is also, like over a million people in the US, HIV+

He is absolutely, utterly, completely terrified that the Ryan Smith funding that keeps people like him alive is going to be cut...if not immediately, then soon. Paul Ryan has said he wants to cut it. Mike Pence has said he wants to cut it. Even if you don’t personally, your callous attitude about the consequences of some of your other policy items suggests that you won’t protect it. You may see it as a bargaining chip, something to trade for something you do care about. You may trade my friend’s life away for a stupid wall that should never be built, or something equally pointless. Equally dead.

You need to understand that he views every vote for you as a vote to murder him. He views it as a personal betrayal by the country he risked his life for. You are, in your choice of running-mate, responsible for that.
Unfair? Maybe. Did you think that being President was going to be fair? You should ask the guy who is still sitting in the office you are about to step into. He will no doubt be gracious, because that is who he is. He may not even mention the words “birth certificate.”

Being President means being responsible. For all of it. Everything that you do or don’t do, every consequence of every choice you or your staff or your administration makes, intended or unintended. Every. Single. One.

I hope you find that terrifying. Not because I am cruel, but because it would show that you at long last comprehend what you’ve done. I am certainly terrified, along with many other people, along with my friend.
I haven’t heard from him in a couple of days. I hope he’s ok. I’ll keep asking.

Citizen of these United States,

Sara Amis

From Dorine Jennette: PLEASE JOIN ME IN WRITING THE ASSAILANT-IN-CHIEF Please join me in bombarding the Assailant-in-Chief with letters: https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact. I will write to him every day through his first 100 days in office, maybe longer if momentum holds. I am asking others to write just ONE letter. Let's not just vent our grief to each other--let's speak truth to power together. Please WRITE and please SHARE this plan with your friends. Pass it on! You do not need to be a woman or an assault survivor to address the Assailant-in-Chief as such. If you are a man who has a daughter, a sister, a wife, a woman colleague or friend you respect, or a mother (hint: that last one is all of you!), then you have something to say to the Assailant-in-Chief. Your letter might be a brief one-liner. That's great! Please send it! Women need our allies now. Here's the link to DJT's contact page--this might take you one minute or less! https://www.donaldjtrump.com/contact Or, maybe you will start a related project addressing any one of the many groups Trump has already harmed . . . As we talk with each other, let's break the bubble and also send our complaints straight to the source. He won't read them and won't care if he does, so probably this is a placeholder action while we figure out what we're really going to do . . . but it's something.