If you’d like to listen to this letter to President Trump rather than read it, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the “Audio” link. We are posting this in written form so it can be shared as wished. Enjoy!
My Letter to President Trump
“Mr. President:
Today is a sad day in American history: partially because you signed into law a bill that will increase the budget deficit one more trillion dollars in your first 2 years as President, (that’s a total so far of $2 Trillion) partially because of broken promises to Americans by GOP members of Congress during their 2016 campaigns, and partially because in doing so, the American government has confirmed long-held suspicions of many Americans. For quite some time most in the U.S. have felt that Congress does NOT represent the will of the People, but rather represents their own personal selfish ambitions fulfillment.
The Senate under Mitch McConnell scoffed at following through on the terminating of Obamacare as each GOP candidate campaigning in 2016 promised. (You too promised the “repeal and replace” of Obamacare) Most promised to stop Planned Parenthood funding. On your watch, promises were made to take legal steps to stop Sanctuary Cities’ prevention of federal prosecution of illegals. Your #1 campaign promise (and message to Congress since your inauguration) has been “do not bring me any spending bill that does not include full funding for the border wall.”
Each of these promises was either forgotten or ignored today.
Mr. President, blame can certainly be laid at the feet of GOP members of Congress. But you as a CEO of multiple international companies have known and have practiced “the” fundamental principle of corporate management: responsibility for bad choices, bad policies, and bad outcomes lies solely at the feet of who allowed these things to occur. Americans have only one place at which to aim their blame for today’s legislative financial boondoggle: the White House. You, Sir, are America’s CEO, America’s consummate deal-maker, by your own words a great negotiator. Today you failed in all those.
The World watched as you struggled to get through today’s press conference in which you announced signing the Omnibus bill into law. You valiantly tried to explain the reasons for its implementation. But those explanations rang hollow to most Americans. Mr. Trump, most of us who live between the west and east coasts in 2015 and 2016 heard your campaign promises, believed your commitment to their fulfillment, and gleefully watched in the early months of your presidency as you pushed through on many. You stood strong in the face of Democrat leaders Schumer and Pelosi. You hit home runs in the games of foreign policy, massive job creation in the U.S., bringing billions of dollars in corporate profits from offshore back to the U.S., slashing crippling regulations, getting Neil Gorsuch a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, and putting ISIS on the run. In less than a year in office, you had given long missing hope back to Americans that under your guidance and leadership we could together really “Make America Great Again.” Today’s Omnibus law dashed that hope in most all of us.
I have long distrusted Congress and the White House inhabitants of the last few Administrations. Everything in government had been structured to guarantee that all federal actions were for the benefit of those in government at the cost of Americans NOT in government. Very little legislatively made business sense. As an entrepreneur and creator of a company that is 26 years old, I recognized the gleam in your eye when you first made your declaration to run. After all, you know how it feels to struggle to make payroll, to calm an angry client or customer, to meet deadlines, to lose high level corporate managers and need to replace them, how to balance a budget, and how unfair the American tax system has been to individuals and small businesses. You know how to work a room, negotiate a deal, and to close a massive real estate purchase or sale. In my mind and heart, you were certainly “The Guy.” I believed that so much that in August of 2015 — just 60 days after your formal announcement of your White House run — I wrote and posted a story declaring that you would win the White House in November 2016. And I was laughed at for that prediction.
Mr. President, today I am no longer certain that the trust and confidence I put in you was not misplaced. I could easily jump on my high-horse and say something stupid like, “I’d never do that…I’d never go back on my word…” No one knows exactly what circumstances led to your decision today. I hurt for you as you tried to explain your reasons for signing the bill into law. I’ve seen similar anguish many times in my company — never in good situations. This is a bad one. And it might be a fatal one.
I am not sure you will be able to recover politically for what tens of millions of Americans feel was your betrayal of their confidence and support — their belief in you and your promises. I have watched, listened, and read all day as Americans from every walk in life (including some from Congress) expressed their shock, horror, and disbelief that you would turn away from most of those things for which you received their support.
I cannot, just like no one else can, say you will be unable to recover from this. I can just speak for myself:
As a lifelong Christian who prays daily, I have each day of your presidency prayed for you personally. I will continue that practice. I have steadfastly supported you in the face of massive criticism for my support. I have continued that support in the face of some things you have said, tweeted and done that have been personally offensive to me. I certainly care about my President’s past, but only as that pertains to his leadership today. And after all, who among us hasn’t made mistakes?
Sir, I will continue my prayers, support, and hope for your success. However, your success that I hope for is NOT for you personally, but for you as our nation’s leader and the leader of the Free World.
In the balance of your service and residence in the White House, I pray you will find and implement demonstrative measures to right the wrongs that were levied on Americans with this law today. We need hope for the future you promised to bring to the United States.
May God bless You, and May God Bless the United States of America.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
