A Mother's Letter ...

 A Mother’s Letter to a Daughter Who Supports Trump

Honey, I can be in the same conversation with you and your sisters and not be able to get one word in. So I just sit and listen. How many times have my daughters told me ‘You’re probably right mom, but I’m doing it anyway’.

You said you had called to just say I love you. Have I ever doubted that you do? Have I ever made politics a condition of my love for my family? I’m old, I have a few years left to enjoy my children and theirs. Does anyone actually believe I care so deeply for issues for my own sake only? 

It’s not just abortion. It’s health care, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, Education, Safety regulations, Climate concerns, human rights, and every single other service the citizens of this country depend on - programs for the poor, for aiding and assisting women with children, for a woman’s right to get paid the same as her male counterparts, for the homeless and for the veterans of wars our soldiers should never have had to fight, and on and on. You will watch corporations and CEOs grab up billions of dollars as programs collapse for lack of funding and federal and state support.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: “And on day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing Critical Race Theory, and I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.”

Without vaccines, as his proposed pick for the health department head does not 'believe' in vaccines, this country will open up to death on a greater scale than any other pandemic or plague that's come before.

How I feel about Trump is fully justified after inhabiting the same planet with him for 76 years. He was raised by a crook, and has always been a crook. He has catered to his own pleasures and passions with no regard for the needs of anyone else. He uses and tosses away women with a wave of his hand. He is and always has been, evil personified.

What about the people the man holds up as good examples of leadership? Putin, Kim Jong Un, Netanyahu… It’s not just a myth that birds of a feather tend to flock together.

Have I ever said that about any other President? Not even Nixon. At least Nixon was somewhat acquiescent and resigned. 

Have I ever said we are headed for disaster before? Have I forsaken my country before because of its leadership that I didn’t agree with?

You girls adored my mother. She was everything we admire and hope to be. She spoke with authority because of her years of service to others. She nursed our soldiers in England during WWII. She wasn’t a nurse to make money, she genuinely loved making people well, to help them recover from disease and illness. When she retired after 45 years of nursing, she volunteered in the community and at the hospital. She donated to worthy causes. She inspired in you the call to service to your Country. I bet if she was telling my family the truths about the Trump men she knew of, they would be listening.

For 33 years, my ex-husband made it clear to me that my thoughts and ideas were worth a pinch of salt in a sewer.

No, I’m not educated, but I am not without an understanding of human nature. I see the man you believe could not call someone you respect ‘losers and suckers’ as the worst possible human being to lead this Country. He is bent on spewing lies; he will disparage and ruin the reputations and livelihoods of those who oppose him. He will try to free his corrupt cronies from prison, and work to free the men and women who attacked the US Capitol at his request on Jan 6, 2021. He will divide and conquer.  

But the people have spoken. This is what they want. What they celebrate as a victory is to me defeat.

I no longer have a Country, nor can I rest my hand over my heart and pledge my allegiance to a flag under which that man stands promoting division between its citizenry. I do not and will never honor that man with the title of president, and I will go to my grave trusting my instinct on this.

The Country I have always loved opened its arms to the poor and to those who had no hope! Lady Liberty needs to be torn down as she no longer holds the hearts and dreams of those seeking freedom and refuge from tyranny. Send away the French, Irish, Italians, Germans, British, Arabs, Jews, Blacks, Asians, Mexicans, Spanish, Catholics, and scores of others who have become her loyal and devoted citizens.

I will no longer be a threat to those who call me a libtard and moron for the votes I’ve cast for human rights for all, for all citizens to be seen as equals in this Country because I will not vote again. 

I will mourn over the graves of those who fought with their service and lives to spare us from the likes of Hitler wannabes and beg for their forgiveness for us coming full circle to everything they fought against.

I will pray for my loved ones, as they are now all I have left in this world.

You refuse to capitulate to doom and gloom. Up until November 5th, 2024, I had hope. 

It's in your and your children’s generation's hands now; whatever good comes will be your crowns, whatever bad, you will have to fix.

But never, ever, believe that I would say any of this without hearing me first say that I fear for my family's future as much as did your grandparents when they joined the Allies to fight Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese empire in WWII.

And, although I believe you do not recognize the weight of the consequences of the election outcome, I do understand that you did not grow up in the post-war emphasis on reconstruction of our country and others who had been threatened with their whole infrastructures being destroyed. The United States of America rebuilt Germany, and Japan, and gave aid to every country destroyed in the war. Democracy was the single goal and intent, to the end that dictators would never get a foothold in the door again. We were taught, even as your grandparents struggled to keep mind, body, and soul together, to love one another, to feed the poor, to shelter the homeless, to spread hope and cheer to all, regardless of any, and all differences we may have. And they did. They gave their resources, time, energy, and whatever they could get by without, to ensure the safety of our borders from forces from inside and out that weren't hungry for food and shelter, but were madmen seeking our destruction.

We made an advance in being altruistic; we had come to realize that sticking our heads in the sand, not shouldering the responsibilities of fighting evil for others the same as we would for ourselves, would lead to the ruination of our own Country’s freedoms. We never, ever believed that our country was in danger of being overtaken to be ruled by dictators.

But Pearl Harbor put an end to that fantasy. And changed how we viewed our country, no longer just an island alone, an indestructible fortress, but a member of a global world.

Trump and his party of right-wing fascists want none of what I was raised on. You won't give much heed to it as it wafts insidiously through the cracks engulfing first the poor and the hungry, because propaganda will turn your head. I hope when the elderly in your life start to tell you of the increase in their troubles, that you'll see some of it, but most in this country will shout hoorah and good riddance to what we once held dear.

All I can end with is that I love you and my family more than life itself. That I could carelessly mislead you or any of them is not in my character, let alone my want. I just want to be left be to live out my remaining years in peace, and I see little of that on the horizon.

Published with permission of the author!