Dear Congressman Joyce,

I understand the political blowback you would have face if you voted for the resolution rebuking Trump’s racist tweets. Nevertheless, I am saddened and deeply disappointed my representative didn’t stand up to the president’s racist approach to politics.

Before I wrote this email, I read the EEOC’s definition of racist comments. They clearly include statements like the president made that prompted the resolution to rebuke the president. I also read the entire resolution and Trump’s tweets (as many as I could stomach). I did this to verify for myself that there wasn’t anything wrong in the resolution that would cause someone who objected to racist politics from voting in support of the bill.

Trump is clearly using outrageous racist messages and actions to fire up his supporters. Stoking racial divisions was one of the ways the Russians helped Trump get elected. Trump is also trying to use racist attacks to get attention to help him brand all Democrats as socialists. They are not.

I’m not sure what’s most horrible.

  • That our president is a racist and is very willing, if not eager, to use racism to stir up his base.
  • That the president thinks his GOP supporters will respond positively to the racist messaging and actions.
  • That some part of his supporters (granted not all) are either white nationalists, outright racist or respond positively to racist messages.
  • That while not everyone who voted for Trump is a racist, everyone who is a racist, if they voted, voted for Trump because they identify him as a kindred racist.
  • That GOP members in Congress that had a chance to vote yes on the resolution must feel their NO vote represented their constituents’ approval of the President.
  • Or that my congressional representative and all but a handful of GOP members in the house were either unwilling or afraid to vote for a resolution rebuking racist attacks. Your NO vote for this resolution should indicate you didn’t find what the president said was objectionable and racist. I hope this is not the case. But that means you were unwilling or afraid to object to racist political tactics.

As I have learned from talking to Holocaust survivors and their families, reading and learning about the rise of the Nazi’s, Trump’s demonization and dehumanization of minorities and “the others” is not that dissimilar to how Hitler started out when he was popular early one with most Germans. In fact like Trump, Hitler only had a base of supporters of about 30-40% of Germans who voted for him when he first came to power as Chancellor. With Germany’s multi-party system, a plurality not a majority was needed for Hitler to win.

Because not enough Germans and especially Germans who were in positions to do so, didn’t work to stop Hitler before it was too late, it became too late and fairly quickly. It became too late before the worst horrors started to happen.

I recently talked with a physician at the Cleveland Clinic and I learned his father was a holocaust/concentration camp survivor. He grew up, as I did, learning about the rise of the Nazis. This doctor told me he is horrified and terrified about what Trump is doing and how he is acting. As am, I. As are many people, even among my conservative friends.

Today migrants and asylum seekers to the USA are being treated in over crowed, unsanitary and dehumanizing conditions; children are being torn from their parents. And in some cases without enough record-keeping, or thought of how to reunite them with their parents. This is akin to what the Nazis did even before the “final solution”. Trump seems to find new lows all the time. At what point will he stop or be stopped? How low does he have to go before his party say’s enough.

With the appointment of AG Barr and how he has viewed his role, there is no check on the immoral, unethical, un-American, illegal, corrupt, cruel and distasteful actions of Trump except for Congress. But, AG Barr has advised the President and administration not to comply with Congress’s calls for information and subpoenas. Congress (your role) can’t even expect the DOJ to enforce subpoenas from Congress. Trump has appointed an US Attorney General that will be his personal Roy Cohn. Who will protect the president even when the President is wrong. Even when the AG’s actions neuter Congress’s ability to provide oversight as the constitution appoints the Congress to do.

Since the day President Obama was sworn in, Mitch McConnell has taken extraordinary steps to sabotage the workings of our country relative to having a functional and working 2 party system. Nothing perhaps shows this more than him not allowing the consideration of Obama’s last nomination for the Supreme Court. Even if Trump is impeached for obvious and flagrant high crimes and misdemeanors, Who thinks Mitch McConnel will even allow the senate to take it up for a vote? Not me. Not based on McConnell’s past actions.

So, I am disappointed and despondent that as my congressman, you and all but a few of your fellow Republicans in Congress, by not objecting to clearly objectionable and unacceptable conduct by the President of the US are enabling him. In fact perhaps encouraging him by letting him get away with things no other president, elected or appointed official, or employee of the US government could.

At what point will the GOP say enough is enough? Will Trump have to shoot someone on 5th Avenue? He clearly thinks he can. He already bragged that he could.

Respectfully,

A very disappointed constituent