Dear Mr. President:
I am writing a letter you will never see or know of its existence. So, why the effort? It is because I think it needs to be said.
You won this election, no question about it. That makes you the president. My president. But you need to know that Joe Biden was also my president as were Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and all the others who have held that office (particularly Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan.) I am an American first. Whether I am liberal or conservative is secondary.
That doesn’t mean I agreed with everything they said or did and I don’t agree with a lot you have said or done. For one thing, I take exception to the notion that we need to Make America Great Again. America is great now. And it has been great for a long time by almost any measure. What you need to do is Make America Good Again. Or, said another way, how can we be a great nation if we aren’t populated by good people?
Dividing us does not make us great and it certainly does not make us good. The last I looked, you are the president of all Americans – Black and white, male and female, young and old, rich and poor – not just your noisy zealots who I refer to as RITNOs (Republicans in Trump’s Name Only.)
If it matters to you, much of what you are proposing to do in this term I support. But I don’t support how you are going about doing it. I cringed the other night when you spoke of the 67 people who died in the midair collision of the American Air Lines jet with the military helicopter near Reagan Airport and inferred the disaster was a result of Biden and Obama’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at the Federal Aviation Agency. This was not the time and place for that.
Now, about your dealings with the media. According to a recent Gallup Poll, Americans continue to have a record-low trust in mass media — newspapers, television and radio. For the third straight year, 36% of U.S. adults say they have no trust at all in the media, while another 33% of Americans express “not very much” confidence. That is a frightening statistic and the media need to do some serious soul-searching. Having dealt with the national media for much of my career, I can tell you the chances of that happening are slim to none.
With that being said, you and I both know they aren’t going to give you a fair shake so I would suggest you not let the media goad you. Instead, talk though them and to us. The media are not your audience. We are. They are just the conduit for you to speak to us. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says you have to answer a question the way it was asked. Answer it the way you want us to hear it.
And please develop a sense of humor. You are much too thin-skinned. Why should the Leader of the Free World give a whit what a late-night comedian says? Most of us are asleep when Jimmy Kimmel’s show is on and we have no idea what he said about you until you bring it up the next day and give him the free publicity he craves. There is an old saying: “Never wrestle with a pig. You’ll get dirty and the pig loves it.” Don’t take this stuff personally. In short, lighten up.
In closing, I was taught a valuable lesson early in my career: Don’t tell people how good you are. Show them by your actions. With some temerity, I share that thought with you, Mr. President. I would ask that you lower the rhetoric. Tone down the hyperbole. Stop the constant insults. You have made it clear you will punish those who have disagreed with you in the past. I’m not sure what that will accomplish, other than you have the power to do it. But what purpose does it serve? Instead, be the president of all the people. not just the few. You are our leader. Get us past the meanness and deep divisions and help us to find our better selves. It is time to Make America Good Again.
You can reach Dick Yarbrough at dick@dickyarbrough.com or at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia 31139
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