#56) Small World

March 31, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

I've intentionally avoided writing to you about the environment because it is an issue that I care very strongly about whereas you are on record as saying, "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive."  Given these polar opposite beliefs, I didn't think there was any common ground to be found between us.  But now that you have begun to dismantle key environmental initiatives and protective standards, the time has come for us to face the elephant in the room – the environment.

There are two reasons why a businessman such as your self should care about the environment:  1) You LIVE here (you idiot), and so do your children and grandchildren and all those other people that you care about, and 2) Climate change and extreme weather are EXPENSIVE and you hate to let go of your money.

Not to overstate the obvious, but we've only got the one planet and we should keep it healthy because it's where we live.  Humans cannot live without water, air, and soil, so we must protect those valuable natural resources and keep them clean in order to keep ourselves alive and well.  Any portion of the environment that humans enter becomes transformed, changed, or polluted (in the literal sense of the word.)  It is no longer pristine.  And guess what…humans now cover the entire planet!  Not all changes wrought by humans are dangerous, obviously, but some are and have far-reaching, long-term consequences.  PCBs for example, once released become persistent in nature and can get it into our food chain very easily.  It is estimated that 1.3 million pounds of PCBs were dumped into the Hudson River by General Electric from 1946-1977 when they were banned.  Here are just some of the dangers caused by PCBs to humans:

Melanoma, liver cancer, gall bladder cancer, biliary tract cancer, GI tract cancer, brain cancer, breast cancer.  Pregnant women exposed to PCBs give birth to babies with low birth weight, small head size, low IQ, psychomotor and behavioral problems.  PCBs disrupt hormone function leading to short menstrual cycles for women, reduced sperm counts for men, altered sex organs, premature puberty and diminished immune systems making the person exposed more susceptible to disease.

Doesn't this list just make you sick?  When we poison our planet we poison ourselves.  As my grandfather used to say, "Don't s**t where you eat."  Duh.

And now for the pocket book issue – global warming and extreme weather are expensive.  Did you know that Hurricane Katrina cost the Federal government about $108 billion (that's according to FEMA who wrote most of the checks).  It was the costliest hurricane in US history.  FEMA aid for Hurricane Sandy is around $16.9 billion PLUS the National Flood Insurance Program (a federal program) has paid $4 billion in claims to it's policy holders.  These numbers don't even account for the cost of preventative measures being implemented all over the coasts.  Disaster relief is expensive, and we simply can't afford it.  Remember that nice budget you proposed a few weeks ago…well I didn't see a big line item for disaster relief.  What are you going to do when the next Katrina or Sandy hits?  You won't be able to blame it on the media.

Your stupid, short-sighted environmental policies (or lack of policies I should say) are going to hurt EVERYONE.  Like seriously, EVERYONE.  Not just the people in our country, but people all over the world and for many, many years to come.  It's a small world, after all.  We need to take care of it so it can take care of us.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

P.S. Better kiss Mar-a-Lago goodbye because that sea level is rising pretty quickly.

#55) Coal

March 29, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

I hate to tell you this, but coal is a dying industry. Not because of Obama-era conservation measures, but because the entire world has recognized it as inefficient and dangerous (both to mine and to burn).  And since there are alternatives that are cheap and NOT dangerous, why not use them.  Duh.  Even energy hungry China has banned new mines and has limited the number of new coal plants it is building. Did you know that Scotland shut down its last coal-fired plant this year?  Yup.  You can see it all over the world; coal is on its way out.

So pat yourself on the back if you must that you lifted environmental regulations on the coal industry, but I think you would have done better to re-train those coal miners for clean energy jobs.  The United States could be a world leader in clean energy resources rather than trying to re-live the industrial revolution.  If you really want to create manufacturing jobs, let's get making some solar panels!! 

Stop looking back - it's time to look ahead.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

P.S.  If you think our budget is out of control now,just wait until you have to pay for the effects of climate change and extreme weather.  We can't afford it!!

 

#54) Strategies

March 28, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

I think I finally understand your strategy.  Rather than 'If you can't beat them, join them' you are going with, 'If you can't beat them, confuse the hell out of them, tell a few lies, and hope for the best.'  And the corollary, 'When the going gets tough, the tough get Jared Kushner to do it.'

Very clever.

Sincerely,

Amy "The People" Beaton

#53) The Truth Hurts

March 27, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

This habit of lying that you have is getting completely out of control.  The other day I watched the Senate hearings on Russian election hacks.  I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears and I understood everything that was said.  Then the next day I saw this tweet from you:

            "The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process."

Which is TOTALLY FALSE.  That is the complete opposite of what FBI Director Comey said.  I honestly don't know if you didn't understand what was being said at the hearing, or if you just thought it would be OK to lie because the American public is too stupid and apathetic to know the difference (and I'm not sure which option scares me the most).  Either you are a total idiot or have completely lost touch with reality and have decided to shape your own (reality that is).

Of course all of the major news outlets picked up on your tweet and called it out as false.  But the best article I read about it came from Slate.  Here's what they said:

            "Both he and his White House have made a conscious decision to

            destabilize public discourse, to fracture and undermine common

            understanding.  President Trump isn't just lying to the American

            people; he's saying, almost openly, that the truth just doesn't

            matter either way."

That quote chills me to the bone.  To think that we have as President of the largest and most powerful country in the world, a man who is actively undermining common understanding for his own ends.

I don't know where this will all end, hopefully with impeachment and sooner rather than later. You are beginning to lose Republican support just as you have lost the support of the majority of the voting public.  All polls list you below 40% in approval ratings (some as low as 35% which is historic). So I will keep writing and watching and listening and calling you out for the liar and sneak that you are.  And wait for things to change.

In Truth,

Amy Beaton

#52) Here's The Problem

March 26, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

I have been both shocked and disgusted with the level of cronyism in your administration.  Here are a few of my favorites…and by favorites I mean total head-scratchers.  As in, WTF was he thinking??

Betsy DeVos – absolutely no experience to be Secretary of Education but has donated millions of dollars to the Republican Party, a clear case of quid pro quo.

David Friedman – your former bankruptcy lawyer, now Ambassador to Israel.  Kind of a big jump, don't you think?

Omarosa Manigault – reality TV personality from the Apprentice, famous for lying on her resume, now assistant to the President Of the United States.  Seems like being able to lie convincingly is the only prerequisite for this job.

Keith Schiller – former Trump family bodyguard, best known for hitting a protester at a rally, now Director of Oval Office Operations. 

Steve Bannon – former executive chairman of Breitbart News (famous for such headlines as "Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy") now Chief Strategist, member of the Presidential Leadership Team AND permanent member of the National Security Council. This one actually makes me nauseous.

Jason Greenblatt – your long time lawyer, now in charge of negotiating peace in the Mideast.  Diplomatic training/education:  NONE.

Danny Tiso – this guy graduated from high school in 2015 and is now the special assistant to the Secretary of the Dept. of Labor.  He was a rally organizer for you in New Hampshire.  Good news though, his LinkedIn page says he made the honor roll in 2010, when he was in 6^th grade!

Jared Kushner - I'm not sure how being a former real estate developer and married to your daughter qualifies him to be a senior White House advisor, member of the National Security Council, manager of our disputes with Mexico AND broker of peace in the Mideast.  But I guess this guy is Superman or something.

Rick Perry – publicly called for the elimination of the Energy Dept. (more than once), couldn't remember the department's name (more than once), has absolutely no experience with nuclear weapons or nuclear waste.  In fact, he is the first non-expert to ever run the Energy Dept.  He is now the Secretary of Energy, in charge of a $30 million budget for maintaining, refurbishing, and keeping safe the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.

Ben Carson – former neurosurgeon, thinks Joseph (the biblical Joseph!) built the pyramids in Egypt to store grain, has no experience AT ALL with housing issues of any kind, now Secretary for Housing and Urban Development.  Only possible relevant qualification; has lived in a house (this is the qualification that he has cited himself!).

Ivanka Trump – this week she was officially made an unofficial advisor to the president.  Hmmmm.  Nobody even knew that was possible.  Apparently her primary (and only) qualification for this is that she's your daughter and is wealthy enough that she doesn't need a salary.  She seems to be morphing into some kind of first lady/spy type of role.  It's all very strange.

If you are losing sleep at night wondering why your administration is so unable to actually administer, take a look at your staff.  You have appointed a bunch of unskilled, inexperienced jagaloons who are unable to get anything done.  In your effort to reward loyalists, you have compromised the safe and effective running of the government. I'm sure history will remember this well.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#51) The Art of the Fail

March 25, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

Well, you have given me a good laugh this morning.  While the media world is blowing up about the colossal failure of your health care reform bill – the bill you said would be "unbelievable", "beautiful", "terrific", "less expensive and much better", and "insurance for everybody" – this is what my daily email from the White House said:

"Today President Trump signed the NASA Authorization Act of 2017 authorizing the development and execution of a long-range plan for deep space exploration."

I kid you not I had to read it three times before I believed it.  Every headline in every major newspaper, TV show and on-line news outlet is about your failed health care bill but your personal headline to the world is about NASA funding.  You failed to deliver on your biggest campaign promise (something legislators have had 7 years to craft) undermining your self-created image as a master deal maker, foiled by your own party I should add, not by Democrats, and your daily briefing to the world only mentions a feel-good bill to fund NASA?!  Of course there were a few more sentences about how the NASA bill passed Congress unanimously and how everyone worked together on it, blah, blah, blah.  But that was it. Nothing else.  Absolutely nothing.  Talk about avoiding the elephant in the room - WOW!

Of course, I'm not disappointed that the ACA will continue.  That's good news for me.  The bill you proposed cuts taxes for the wealthy and finances it by eliminating coverage for the needy….so it's not much of a loss as far as I'm concerned.  But what this whole debacle really highlights is your incompetence and inability to lead.  I mean, if you can't work with a Republican held Congress, who can you work with?  I read a NY Times article this morning that said, "He's an effective politician who's utterly incompetent at governing."  And there's really not much more to be said than that.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

P.S.  I used to hate being on all of your mailing lists but now I kind of like it.

P.P.S.  I can't wait to see what you yahoos do for tax reform!!

#50) Leadership

March 24, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

You've got a big day ahead of you Mr. Trump, so think on this:  management is doing things right, but leadership is doing the right things.   The media, the Congress, the entire judiciary AND the American people are looking for a little more leadership right now.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

P.S.  I'm on the edge of my seat about this health care vote.

#49) True Lies

March 23, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

There hasn't been much news coverage of your speech in Louisville Monday night.  Mostly because it was a privately funded speech and you barred many news outlets from attending (so much for a free and open society).  But the good folks at ABC News were there and boy do they have a bone to pick with you.

You said, "Many of our best and brightest are leaving the medical profession entirely because of Obamacare."  And they spotted it for the lie that it is and did some fact checking and produced a nice little article called "Trump's claim of fleeing doctors rings false."  Here are the actual facts:

-The number of doctors grew from 799,501 in 2010 (when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law) to 860,939 in 2015.  Source: Assoc. of American Medical Colleges

-Enrollment of new doctors has increased every year since 2012. Source:  American College of Physicians

-Family Practice Physicians have grown from 94,620 to 124,900 since 2008.  Source:  American Academy of Family Physicians

-"There is no evidence of a declining interest in medicine since the ACA took effect."  Dr. Atul Grover, executive vice president of the Assoc. of American Medical Colleges

So why does it matter if the president lies?  Well, mostly because people will believe you.  Most people don't have the time, energy, or even inclination to research every thing you say.  They want to trust that what you say is true because you are the President (a job usually held by a trustworthy and honest individual).  But keeping the American public ignorant of uncomfortable or inconvenient truths is in your best interest.  You lie in order to buoy up your own agenda as soon as you see that your agenda is losing support.  You lie to get what you want.  Right now you want your health care plan to pass and you want to repeal Obamacare.  So you tell lies to discredit Obamacare (and you even lie to promote your own plan but we'll save that for another letter).

The Pulitizer Prize winning website Politifact estimates that 66% of the statements that you have made as POTUS are false.  And a further 14% are only half-truths.  That is simply staggering.  I shudder to think what state our country and society will be in by the end of your 4 years as president because your dishonesty and lack of integrity brings us all down by diminishing the role of the presidency.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#48a) Judge Chuang

I really liked what Maryland Judge Chuang had to say about Trump's proposed travel ban.  He speaks in plain English, not legalese so I decided to add this quote.

 "While the travel ban bears no resemblance to a national security risk in recent history, it bears  a     clear resemblance to the precise action that President Trump described as effectuating his Muslim ban.  Thus, it is more likely that the primary purpose of the travel ban was grounded in religion, and even if the Second Executive Order has a national security purpose, it is likely that it's primary purpose remains the effectuation of the proposed Muslim ban."

Have a great day!

#48) Yer Out!

March 22, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

In your haste to make good on your campaign promise of a "complete and total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" you whipped up a half-assed executive order banning travel from 7 countries to which millions of Americans said, 'Hey, that sounds illegal.'  So it went before Seattle Judge James Robart.  And he said, 'Yup, that's illegal.  You can't do that.' At which point you launched a pretty inappropriate and nasty personal attack against poor Judge Robart.  But you persevered…you appealed the decision and took your case to the 9^th circuit court in San Francisco.  Too bad for you though, because all three of those judges said, 'Judge Robart is correct.  Your travel ban is illegal.'  Millions of Americans cheered!  So you tweaked the original executive order ever so slightly, you tried to whip up popular support with more nasty tweets and over-the-top comments about the impending doom presented by emigrating Muslims and tried again.  This time it was a federal court judge in Hawaii who said, 'Nope.  You can't do that.  It's illegal.' (Have you noticed a theme here?)  But did that deter you?  NO!  You are The Donald and you don't take NO for an answer.  So you set your sights on Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland.  And for two days the news was filled with your surrogates promising that because Judge Chuang was a former deputy general counsel for the Dept. of Homeland Security HE would understand the tremendous THREAT facing the US from these crazy-pants immigrants.  Only too bad for you again, because he said 'No' too - despite his experiences at the Dept. of Homeland Security.  He even said, "Security concerns can not be used as a cover for religious discrimination."  Ouch, that must have hurt. He was your ace in the hole…your "inside" guy.

Three strikes and you're out is a generally understood and accepted idea in American pop-culture.  You are now on your fourth strike with this travel ban-thing.  Just how far are you going to go with this, because people are losing interest and your legal bills are mounting.  And while you have a very committed core group of supporters who will stand by you no matter what, the size of that group appears to be shrinking.  I recommend you let this one go and move on.  Maybe it's time to focus on all those manufacturing jobs you were going to bring back to the Rust Belt, hmm?

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#47) Short But Sweet

March 21, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

Here's my favorite quote from your time with Angela Merkel.  It's from the German paper Bild and it captures you so perfectly.

"He has predictable political interests.  What he doesn't have is a predictable way to pursue them."

Truth, sarcasm and diplomacy neatly wrapped up in a pretty little two-sentence package.  Sweet!

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

P.S. I'm intentionally keeping the letter short today because I am still wading through all of the information from both the Maryland judge who stopped your travel ban AND 5 hours of testimony from FBI Director Comey about your possible collusion with Russia.  You have been a busy boy. Tsk tsk.

#46) Rhymes With Chump

March 20, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

Yeah so, we need to process your date with Angela Merkel.  First off, she is a total badass. Without doing anything more than just being her usual, professional, self-possessed self, she made you look like a total chump.  Germany is the most powerful political force in the European Union (EU), she has been Chancellor of Germany for 12 years, and you wouldn't shake her hand for the camera?  What's up with that?!  I know you generally don't approve of the diplomatic niceties, but come on, shake the woman's hand!

Now for business:  we have military bases in Germany because they benefit us.  We use those bases for ease of operations in Eastern Europe and the Middle East (both political hotbeds at the moment).  A quick launching off point, if you will.  Our primary purpose in being there is not to "protect" Germany as your tweets imply.  You could pull the 30,000 American troops stationed there out, but why would you?  It makes no strategic sense, especially while relations with Russia and Ukraine continue to be so complicated.  You talk as if we are doing Germany some special favor.  I just don't want you to forget that we are getting something out of this relationship too.  It is a fact proven over and over again throughout history that America usually does things that benefit America.  I have no idea what president established our military bases there.  But I'm sure it wasn't a selfless act of kindness because he thought the German people would really, really, really like us to be there.

Another point of clarification:  you tweeted that Germany owes us, "vast sums of money" and that the US, "must be paid for the powerful and very expensive defense it provides Germany!"  I've got 3 issues with this. 

1)    You don't invoice a foreign nation through Twitter.

2)    That gratuitous exclamation mark makes you look like a 6^th grade girl (Like, OMG!!!!)

3)    Germany doesn't actually owe us any money.

NATO members must spend 2% of their GDP on their own national defense.  Germany hasn't met that goal, so they kind of owe themselves some money, but not us.  Any dues or resources owed to NATO get paid to NATO (not Washington) and are managed domestically by NATO (not Washington).  So you don't have to worry about Germany's checkbook.  In fact, Ms. Merkel would probably be very happy if you would get your tiny hands and mind off of hers.

The US ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said, "Trump's comments misrepresent the way NATO functions."  That's a really polite way of saying you don't know what the hell you're talking about (he must have aced diplomacy school to be able to say it so nicely).

So overall, kind of a bumpy first date.  But as the German newspaper Bild wrote, "It could have been a lot worse."  I guess I agree with that.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Amy Beaton

#45) More Budget Blues

March 19, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

So, here's my long-awaited-don't-cut-social-programs-letter.  I've drafted this letter to you at least 3 or 4 times but every version ends up in the trash because basically I care about social programs for social and ethical reasons, but you don't.  So my primary arguments won't work on you.  You and I have different moral philosophies (obvi).  While I have a soul and care about the well being of my fellow humans, you are basically morally bankrupt and care about nothing except furthering your own interests.  But you are a businessman.  So let's just look at this from a purely business, dollars and cents perspective.

Your proposed cuts are about $3 billion.  You need $51 billion for your defense initiatives.  That means you are about 94% short of what you need.  In other words, the social programs you aim to cut are just a drop in the bucket (almost literally).  Eliminating them doesn't even come close to getting you what you want.

And here's a people-centered way to think about it:  eliminating these social programs disproportionately affects the middle and lower classes, the very people whose backs you rose to power on. You know…your constituents.  Remember them?  They're the people you need to stay in office.  The people you need to get re-elected in four years. These social programs go a long way toward helping the people who need it the most.  Politics is a circle you see; you help the people, then the people vote for you.  And round and round it goes.

When you use words like "non-defensive discretionary funds" it's easy to forget what those funds actually do.  They feed people.  They house people.  They educate people.  These are the moral imperatives of a democratic government.  And this is what you are in charge of.

Sincerely,

Amy "The People" Beaton

#44) Sneaky Business

March 18, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

Because I write you a letter everyday and send it via email to the White House, I am now on your electronic mailing list.  I don't actually like being on your mailing list, but I put up with it.  So I get the weekly email showing all of your highlights and I see that you are speaking at an event in Louisville, Kentucky.  I'm about to click off the page when something catches my eye.  It's the tag line at the bottom of the screen.  It says, "Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President, Inc."  And I think that's kind of weird because the election is over and it's WAY too early for you to be campaigning for the next election cycle.  I mean you've only been in office for 57 days!  And I begin to wonder why a campaign would pay for the speaking engagement of the President of the United States.  And here's what I find out:  if the campaign pays for it then the "campaign" (any staff at the event) can control who is allowed to enter.  In other words, this event is not open to the public.  Also, you can say almost anything you want because technically you are not speaking as the POTUS.  It's kind of like when you said during the election, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody" and not "lose any voters."  You got away with that as candidate Trump but you wouldn't as President Trump.  So by having Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. pay for your visit to Louisville you can say whatever you want and not have to listen to any form of dissent because you can kick anyone out for any reason. 

You're supposed to SERVE the American people you sneaky, slimy little coward!

Finding a loophole to exclude the people who disagree with you doesn't make you smart. Freedom of speech is a fundamental right of all Americans you stupid git.  An American president who doesn't uphold the values of American democracy probably won't be president for very long.  Or at least he shouldn't be!

#43) Budget Blues

March 17,  2017

Dear Mr. President,

So you submitted your first official budget as POTUS, congratulations on that.  There are two main problems with it however; one is that it cuts critical social programs, and the other is that it cuts programs that promote economic growth.  These two things are way too big to address in one letter so for today I'm just going to tackle the limit setting of economic growth.  Let's save the social programs for tomorrow (gives you something to look forward to :)

Basically, this budget will not help to "make America great again" because it cuts proven programs that directly promote economic prosperity and growth.  Here are just a few:

            *National Institutes of Health – a center for world class medical research

*Community Development Block Grants - one of the longest running and most successful programs of HUD, funds community and infrastructure development, economic development and job creation activities (I could write a book about all the amazing things that have been done with CDBG funds over the past 43 years.)

*Advanced Research Projects Agency – this is the group that helped develop the Internet.  You're budget would completely eliminate it.

*Appalachian Regional Commission – serves 420 counties in 13 states boosting income, education, health care, and transportation in areas that traditionally lag behind the rest of the country (they have a nice website too).

*Dept. of Energy – this budget would slice their research and computing budget in half.  This program controls the exascale computing efforts for the entire federal government.  Basically exascale computing is a billion billion calculations per second.  You should really Google this.  This is very important.

*Environmental Protection Agency – this agency is everyone's favorite punching bag because it protects endangered owls.  But guess what else it does…it keeps our air, water and soil clean!  If you don't think this is important science than you should meet with anyone who has been poisoned by DDT, lead, or mercury.  Go visit Beijing on a hot summer day and feel the effects of pollution and fog so thick that it blocks sunlight and sickens people on contact.  Go spend some time with the families of Flint, Michigan.  It would be good for you.

You have promised over and over (and over and over) again to create jobs, create economic growth, and make America great again.  But when you cut funding to the very basic scientific research and development that MADE America great, you undermine everything that you seem to stand for!  Right now America is a global innovation leader but your short sighted cuts would end that. 

"America's lead in science and technology was built on the fact that in the 1960s, the US government alone invested more in research and development than the rest of the world combined, business and government.  The Trump budget throws this great legacy away."

                                                                  -Robert Atkinson, pres. Information Technology and

                    Innovation Foundation

If you want to make good on your campaign promises and really do some good for the American people, don't cut the programs that have been proven to promote economic growth.  It's just common sense, isn't it?

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#42) People, Not Profits

March 16, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

Thanks to the folks at Proud Democrat, here's a list of countries all over the world that offer universal health care.  You'll notice that we are not on the list.  Also, this is not a complete list. This is just major countries.

Australia         1975                            Italy                 1978

Austria            1967                            Japan                1938

Bahrain           1957                            Kuwait             1950   

Belgium          1945                            Luxembourg    1973

Brunei             1958                            Netherlands     1966

Canada            1966                            New Zealand   1938

Cyprus             1980                            Norway           1912

Denmark         1973                            Portugal           1979

Finland            1972                            Singapore        1993

France             1974                            Slovenia           1972

Germany         1941                            South Korea    1988

Greece             1983                            Spain               1986

Hong Kong      1993                            Sweden           1955

Iceland             1990                            Switzerland     1994

Ireland             1977                            U.A.E.             1971

Israel               1995                            United Kingdom 1948

How much longer are we going to allow for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical companies to make their profits off of the sick and elderly?

I'm for people, not profits.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#41) I'm Watching You

March 15, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

During the campaign you said - well you promised actually - that you wouldn't cut Social Security.  But fast forward a few months to today and you have appointed as head Michael Corby, a former lobbyist who has spent most of his professional career fighting to cut and privatize Social Security!!  I'm noticing that while the media is clogged up with the "big" issues of your administration (like immigration, wire tapping, health care, and the border wall) a lot of "little" stuff is sneaking by under the radar.  There's been very little investigation or media attention into smaller appointments such as Michael Corby's.  And that is very scary because that man is poised to do a LOT of damage to a LOT of innocent and unsuspecting people.

When you said, "drain the swamp" that seemed pretty self-explanatory to me and I thought I understood it…but I guess I really didn't.  Because how is appointing Michael Corby considered draining the swamp?  I'm just so baffled by the disconnect between what you say and what you do.  Perhaps you think this is a business strategy…a keep-them-guessing kind of thing? But really it just makes you look like A) a liar, and B) like you're in over your head and not really sure what you're doing.  Although I have to admit it's pretty crafty of you make what should be a highly controversial appointment at a time when no one is paying any attention.  Very clever Mr. Trump. 

But how are all of those low income, un or under employed people who voted for you going to feel when they see what you are doing to their beloved Social Security?  Millions of hard working people are dependent on Social Security.  For hundreds of thousands of people Social Security is their only plan for the retirement years.  They have no personal savings, 401Ks, IRAs, or investiments to rely on. For the most part "the people" haven't noticed what you are doing.  But they will eventually.  And what will happen when they catch on? 

My favorite idea to change the Social Security system comes from Bernie Sanders.  And I know that I've sent this to you before, but I'm sending it again because it is just so perfectly perfect.  So here goes:

"Today, a CEO making $50 million a year pays the same amount into Social Security as someone earning $117,000.  If we lifted the cap and applied the Social Security payroll tax on incomes above $250,000 we could extend the solvency of Social Security for another 47 years. And that's exactly what my legislation does."

It's perfect, right?  I'm going to send a letter to Michael Corby just so he knows.

Sincerely,

Amy "The People" Beaton

P.S.  Don't forget…I'm watching.