#161) to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House

Paul Ryan

Office of the Speaker

H-232 The Capital

Washington, DC  20515

August 25, 2017

Dear Mr. Speaker,

I'm not sure if there's an official definition of the term crisis of government but I feel that what we are experiencing now under the leadership of Donald Trump must be pretty damn close.  Clearly Congress is unable to work with him (even though it is majority Republican) and doesn't trust his judgment or they wouldn't have nearly unanimously passed the Russian sanctions bill last month (98-2 in the Senate and 419-3 in the House) limiting his power and ability to deal directly with Russia.

Here are a few other people who didn't seem to be able to work with Mr. Trump:

Michael Flynn – National Security Advisor

Katie Walsh – Deputy White House Chief of Staff

Preet Bharara – US Attorney for the Southern District of NY

Derek Harvey – Top Middle East Advisor for National Security Council

James Comey – FBI Director

Reince Priebus – Chief of Staff

Michael Dubke – Communications Director

Walter Shaub – Office of Government Ethics Director

Anthony Scaramucci – Communications Director

Sean Spicer – Press Secretary

Michael Short – Press Aid

Steve Bannon – Chief Strategist

Sally Yates - Acting Attorney General

National Infrastructure Advisory Council – resigned as a group in a letter stating:  "Your actions have threatened the security of the homeland I took an oath to protect."  The Trump administration has not shown itself to be "adequately attentive to the pressing national security matters within the NIAC's purview or responsive to sound advice."

Daniel Kammen – science envoy for the Department of State

President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities – resigned as a group in a letter stating: "Your values are not American values."

American Manufacturing Jobs Council

Strategic and Policy Forum

Dina Powell – Senior counselor for economic initiatives

K.T. McFarland – Deputy National Security Advisor

George Sifakis – Director of the Office of Public Liaison

John Thompson – Director US Census Bureau

Patrick Kennedy – Under Secretary of State for Management

Sebastian Gorka – White House Counterterrorism Advisor

Rabbi Emeritus Haskel Lookstein – family friend, oversaw Ivanka's conversion to Judaism

Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS – 6 of 18 members resigned

Now to be fair, some of these people didn't deserve their positions in the first place (Steve Bannon leaps to mind) and some of them didn't really have "official" positions in Mr. Trump's administration (such as Rabbi Lookstein).  And not all of them quit, some were fired.  But I think this much turnover, regardless of the reason, in such a young administration should be seen as a bellwether of a very frightening trend:  nobody can work with Donald Trump.  And that, to me, is a crisis of government. 

It increasingly appears that senior and seasoned leaders from across a spectrum of professional fields (political, business, economic, scientific, spiritual, diplomatic, judicial) have no confidence in this administration or the leadership abilities of Donald Trump.  This sentiment is echoed in the general population as well.  According to a poll by Harris Insights and Analytics, 43% of Americans say Donald Trump should be impeached or otherwise removed from office, and with a population as large and diverse as the United States is, that's about as close as you're going to get to a general vote of no confidence.  These numbers should mean something to you. 

The time is now.  Please move quickly to enact impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump and remove him from office before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#160) to Sen. Mitch McConnell

Senator Mitch McConnell

317 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

August 24, 2017

Dear Senator McConnell,

It is illegal to falsely yell fire in a crowded theater for a reason.  As a society we have agreed that knowingly making false statements that may cause violence is wrong and dangerous...yet we have a president who makes false statements (heedless of the consequences) almost daily.  And unfortunately, because a certain segment of the population believes that what he says is true, he has created a harmful, dangerous, and violent situation for our entire country.  Believe me, those demonstrators who were tear-gassed outside the Phoenix rally were not protesting because Mr. Trump was inside speaking the truth.

Two days ago when Mr. Trump spoke at that campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona he ranted and raved for over an hour. His speech was disjointed, mostly monosyllabic, sometimes incoherent and with either rambling or incomplete sentences depending on his mood and feelings about the topic.  When speaking about the controversy surrounding his Charlottesville statements he "left out the full context that would have included his 'many sides' remark, he also falsely pointed out that CNN's ratings have gone down, that wages haven't gone up, that the media didn't show images of his crowds, that there's been a 'historic increase in defense spending', that border apprehensions are down 78-80% and on and on.  The Washington Post this week noted that Trump has now surpassed more than 1,000 falsehoods as president." (Domenico Montanaro, for NPR 8/23/17)  And the people in that room believed him.  So my question to you is this:  When does Congress say enough is enough?  When do you step in and stop the most powerful person in the country from spreading damaging, harmful lies?  How many innocent people have to be injured or killed before you stand up to Mr. Trump and say 'No More'?  When do you accept the Constitutional and moral authority granted to you as a Senator and stop this madness?

Donald Trump seems, at times, detached from reality.  You've seen this.  I've seen this.  Most of the world has seen this.  This is not a man who should be running our country.  He is unstable, unqualified, and dangerous.  I urge you to begin impeachment proceedings against him immediately.  Loyalty to the Constitution and the American people should be more important than any loyalty to your party.  It's time to do the right thing now.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#159) to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House

Paul Ryan

Office of the Speaker

H 232 The Capital

Washington, DC  20515

August 23, 2017

Dear Mr. Speaker,

Well, here's a bit of good news: former director of National Intelligence James Clapper also feels like Donald Trump is dangerously unfit for the office of President of the United States.  It seems that I am – increasingly -  not alone in this belief.  In an interview with CNN he said that Trump's speech in Phoenix last night was, "downright scary and disturbing" and when asked if he questioned Trump's fitness for office Mr. Clapper replied, "Yes I do.  I really question his ability, his fitness to be in this office and I also am beginning to wonder about his motivation for...maybe he is looking for a way out. "  If you haven't seen the full interview already you should watch it.  It's very sobering to see someone with the knowledge and experience of James Clapper publicly calling our president a "national security threat".

I watched Mr. Trump's speech in Phoenix last night too.  My take away from it is that he uses the word "lies" to mean statements of facts that he doesn't like.  He also presents journalism and the media as a personal campaign against himself.  Of course neither of these things are true, but for that diehard group of Trump supporters who don't have the critical thinking skills to see that these are untrue, tensions are mounting. These people want to trust that what Mr. Trump says is true because he is the President (a job usually held by a trustworthy and honest individual). But Mr. Trump is rallying a group of people that he neither understands nor can control and is willing to lie to buoy up his own agenda and ego.  So why does it matter if the President lies? Well, it mostly matters because there are people who will believe him.

Like James Clapper, I am very concerned for our nation and I believe that Donald Trump should be removed from office.  I believe in the principles and ideals of democracy and I also believe in accountability from our elected officials.  As Speaker of the House you have the power to begin impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.  There is no higher office in the land than president, but even presidents are responsible to the people and what the people are increasingly saying is remove him from office before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#158) Sen. Tim Scott

Senator Tim Scott

717 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

August 22, 2017

Dear Senator Scott,

For quite a while now (since January 20 to be precise) there has been a hashtag trending.  I know you've seen it.  It says, #notmypresident.  I'm writing today to let you know why Donald Trump is not my president and why he should be impeached and removed from office.  My concerns fall into two broad categories: 1) his lack of experience, and 2) his temperament.

Donald Trump is the only US president ever to have absolutely no political or military experience. He seems to be very proud of this fact but it honestly scares the heck out of me, especially when I hear him give a military speech like he did last night.  It was a common Republican war-cry that Barack Obama was too unseasoned for the White House (despite being a Senator for 12 years) but now they all seem very willing to rally behind Mr. Trump because being an "outsider" appeals to a large voter demographic group.  It feels like a marketing ploy that a whole segment of the population has fallen for.  And with the state that the world is in right now, tensions rising on the Korean peninsula, Russia meddling with the inner-workings of sovereign nations, and terrorism on the rise everywhere...I would feel much more comfortable with a president who knew that the hell he was doing.

Donald Trump's temperaments is best described as unstable and unpredictable.  Again, this is something that he is proud of. He seems to not only embrace his instability, but at times to actively cultivate it.  Perhaps he thinks he can use his reputation for unpredictability to unnerve and intimidate America's adversaries into making concessions that they would not otherwise make.  Richard Nixon tried something similar...it didn't work then and it probably won't work now. 

Back in June when Mr.Trump's Russian scandal moved to a new, higher  level of investigation I saw very clearly the impact of both his lack of experience and unstable temperament.   His fragile psyche and thin skin exacerbated what would have been a difficult situation for any president to navigate.  It was just 200x worse for him because of the way he handled it (including outrageous and provocative early morning tweets).  He is unable to navigate the complex world of government regulation/oversight because he doesn't understand how the government even works.  A better politician would have known how to vet his campaign staff, how and when to meet with foreign governments, and what is/isn't legal when it comes to opposition research.

Last week when Mr. Trump exacerbated racial tensions by NOT condemning white supremacists and neo-Nazis, the entire board of the Presidential Commission on Arts and Humanities resigned and they published a letter that perfectly summed up why Donald Trump is #notmypresident:

            "Supremacy, discrimination, and vitriol are not American values.  Your values are not 

             American values.  We must be better than this.  We are better than this.  If this is not clear 

             to you, then we call on you to resign your office too."

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#157) Sen. Mitch McConnell

Senator Mitch McConnell

317 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

August 20, 2017

Dear Senator McConnell,

Sometimes doing the right thing means not doing the popular thing.  But in the case of removing Donald Trump from office you have the chance to do BOTH what is right and what is popular.  According to all current polling data Donald Trump is the most disliked president in our nation's history.  Obviously you can't impeach someone for being unpopular.  I know that.  But what we can impeach him for is being incompetent and a growing number of Americans are coming to the conclusion that he is just that: too incompetent to remain in office.

Right now Mr. Trump has an approval rating somewhere between 33-36%, but that percentage of the population will always support him, no matter what, because 33-36% of the general population are racist, bigoted and/or ignorant enough to believe that his charlatanism is charisma.  We can't erase or ignore that small percentage.  They are entitled to their opinions (it is a free country after all) and will never go away.  But the problem as I see it is that Donald Trump can't just be the president of that

33-36%.  He has to be the president of everyone, and it doesn't seem that he is willing to do that.

Throughout the campaign he sought to exploit socio-economic divisions for his own political gain rather than trying to unify the country.  That's mostly how he won.  Now that he is the President, however, he continues to fall back into that campaign-pattern except now the ramifications of his exploitation and divisiveness strategy are huge; big enough to cause dramatic and dangerous social unrest, and big enough to get innocent people killed. 

Donald Trump must be removed from office before the rioting we witnessed in Charlottesville, Virginia spreads like a disease across our country.  Already he has planned a campaign rally in Phoenix, Arizona for next week.  Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Governor Doug Ducey have asked him not to but he ignored their request and is moving full steam ahead...consequences be damned.  Donald Trump is unable to put the needs and safety of the citizens of this country ahead of his own ego and need for attention.  This isn't just recklessness, it is incompetence, it's dangerous, and it is a sign that the time has come to impeach him.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#156) to Sen. Bob Corker

Senator Bob Corker

425 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

August 19, 2017

Dear Senator Corker,

I write to you today not as a Democrat or a Republican but simply as an American citizen because I believe the failures of Donald Trump are so universally damaging to our country that they transcend any party affiliation.  Wrong is wrong regardless of which party one identifies with.  Mr. Trump's recent confusion about how he should feel/respond to the Charlottesville riot is just the latest in a very long line of failures, missteps and misunderstandings.

Yesterday you said something that caught my ear.  You said,  "The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful."  I agree with you and also believe that it is time to remove Donald Trump from office before he does something to our country (or the world) that is irreparable.  As a Senator you have the power to call for his impeachment and I urge you to do so.

You have seen first hand his emotional instability and incompetence and how they limit his ability to function effectively in the office of President.  He is categorically unfit for the position and the American people deserve better.  Thank you for having the courage to speak up about Mr. Trump's shortcomings, but now is the time to actually do something about it.  You were elected by the people of Tennessee and swore an oath to uphold the principles of the Constitution – these two things obligate you to act to remove a President that is unsafe and unfit for office.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#155) to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House

Paul Ryan

Office of the Speaker

H-232 The Capital

Washington, DC  20515

August 18, 2017

Dear Mr. Speaker,

Republicans love to remind people that they are the Party of Lincoln for all of the greatness and gravitas that that evokes.  They said it so much at the 2016 national convention that it began to sound like a college drinking game.  But that's OK.  Abraham Lincoln was a brave and noble leader, someone to be proud of and worth striving to emulate.  But here's what the Republican Party is facing today... being known for the next 100 years as the Party of Trump.  Are you prepared for that and for all of the ego-maniacal ridiculousness that that evokes?

Donald Trump needs to be impeached and removed from office.  Now.  Today.  Not next month and not the next time he does or says something extreme or stupid (or extremely stupid).  But right now.  We the people of the United States of America deserve better than a president who can't tell fact from fiction, who's emotional instability is on public display daily, who doesn't understand the rules and responsibilities of the office (and who shows no desire to learn about them), who can't speak in complete or coherent sentences, who puts his very fragile ego ahead of the needs of the people, who is not willing to publicly disavow Nazi supporters, who lies and deceives and is in personal debt to foreign nations.  This is not OK with me and it is becoming increasingly not OK with the majority of Americans.

So how about it... are you ready to be remembered as a member of the Party of Trump?  Have you thought about your legacy as Speaker of the House and how it will feel to be known as the guy who didn't stop Donald Trump when he had the chance?  Well now is the time to start thinking about it.  Don't be the man who stood silently by and watched but refused to take a stand.  As Albert Einstein so famously said, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

As Speaker of the House you can act to remove Donald Trump from office now.  Before it is too late.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#154) to Sen. Mitch McConnell

Senator Mitch McConnell

United States Senate

317 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC  20510

August 17, 2017

Dear Senator,

There have been watershed moments in our country's history that have changed the course of our actions and rattled the bones of our beliefs.  They are so universally understood as watershed moments that we need now only refer to them by date or location:  Birmingham, Pearl Harbor, September 11^th, Watergate.  These moments do not need detailed explanation because their significance was felt around the entire country and understood by every American citizen in some way.  I believe that we can now add Charlottesville, Virginia to that list.

I would never have believed that American citizens could be run down and killed by a white supremacist or that our President would NOT denounce it as an unforgiveable act of violence.  That he did not immediately disavow the hateful criminality of the white supremacy movement sickens me.  And now here I am, watching Donald Trump - our President - on TV expressing confusion as to how he should feel about events in Charlottesville.  What is there to possibly be confused about?  And more importantly, where is the presidential and moral leadership that our country needs at this fragile time?

You, Senator McConnell, are in a position of leadership and have the power to help heal the damage caused by Donald Trump.  You could act to bring forth articles of impeachment against him.  You could choose to put loyalty to reason and common sense above your loyalty to party and begin the process of legally removing him from office.  I believe that you have a Constitutional as well as moral obligation to do so.

It is becoming increasingly clear (not only to me, but to the entire world) that Donald Trump is unfit to hold the position of President of the United States. It is your responsibility to protect the citizens of this nation by impeaching him and restoring normalcy and decency to the White House.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton

#153) to Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House

Paul Ryan

Office of the Speaker

H-232 The Capital

Washington, DC  20515

August 16, 2017

Dear Mr. Speaker,

I urge you to bring forth articles of impeachment against Donald Trump in the House of Representatives.  This past week (4 days ago we were on the brink of nuclear war with North Korea and today are faced with presidential support of Nazism) has shown the world just how unfit he is for the office.  I understand that you can't impeach someone for being an asshole.  I get that…I paid attention in civics class.  What I'm saying is that he is more than just an asshole.  He's a dangerous and unstable asshole.  He has neither the emotional stability nor the intellectual abilities to run our country safely or effectively.  Because of this it is time that Republican leaders such as yourself take a stand against him and begin the process of impeachment.

When I saw the events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia I was sickened.  I couldn't believe that innocent people could be run down, injured and killed by white supremacists and neo-Nazis here in my country.  To think that our President did not immediately disavow this for the hate crime that it is, or that he is in doubt as to which party was in the right makes me question his sanity.  If he truly cannot see the difference between racists and Nazis and the counter-demonstrators opposing them, then we have a huge problem - a problem that is your responsibility to fix. This is not a case of hatred and bigotry "on many sides".  There are only two sides here; one is right, one is wrong and it's not overly complicated.

If you were wondering when it would be the right moment to break ranks with the President and your party and speak up – this is it.  This is the game changer.  This is the time to honor your oath as a democratically elected official and protect the people who chose you to represent them.  The time to remove Donald Trump from office has come.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton 

P.S.  Sorry for the swear words.  Under the circumstances I hope that you understand.

#152) This Is The End

August 14, 2017

Dear Donald,

I have good news and bad news.  The good news is that I won't be writing to you on a daily basis anymore.  The bad news is the reason why I won't be writing to you; it's because I truly believe your actions as President have brought us to the point of a crisis of government and it's time for Republican legislators to step up and take a stand against you.  So that's who I will be writing to from now on, the members of Congress who have the power to remove you from office.

In a mere 205 days you have brought the greatest nation in the world to the point of being a global laughing stock.  My hope now is that you can be removed before something irreparable (or world changing) happens.  At this point you have just pissed a whole lot of people off and spent a truckload of money. But the world IS still spinning and the essential systems of government ARE still in place.  It no longer matters to me that a conservative, anti-choice judge is named to the Supreme Court or what bathrooms transgender students are allowed to use (although these are issues that I would have fought tirelessly for just a few months ago).  Given the irrationality of your time in office, I am just glad there still is a Supreme Court and there are still public schools. That's how much you have lowered the bar for me.

But a president who can't tell fact from fiction, who's emotional instability is on public display daily, who doesn't understand the rules and responsibilities of the office (and who shows no desire to learn about them), who can't speak in complete or coherent sentences, who puts his very fragile ego ahead of the needs of the people, who is not willing to publicly disavow Nazi supporters, who lies and deceives and is in personal debt to foreign nations simply can NOT be allowed to continue in office.  The joke is over Mr. Trump.  It's time for you to move on and for us to close this sad chapter of American history.

Just like the baseball sluggers Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds who live on in history books with an asterisk next to their names because of their infamy (achieved home run records but only through the illegal use of steroids) so too will you probably get an asterisk (and long side notes) about the exact process of your demise and departure.  Your infamy will live on in history books, Internet memes, and endless Youtube videos. But don't worry…it will all be good for the Trump brand and you will make even more money.   

Only once you are gone, however, will our country be able to get back to some level of normalcy and decency.  I look forward to that day.

Sincerely,

Amy Beaton