An Open Letter To President Donald Trump

Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on your becoming the 45th President of the United States. You have vanquished all competition for this office and that was no small feat.

Barack Obama, his administration and your presidential opponents are now in the past with their legacy yet to be determined by history while yours is yet to be to be initiated.

No criticism nor personal bashing of your past opponents will enhance your performance as POTUS.

Barack Obama has established his presidential legacy and you should work on establishing yours. You will be measured after your tenure as to what you do rather than what you say.

When Barack Obama took the oath of office, the United States was on the brink of a great depression. On the night of his inauguration fifteen members of your party met in the Caucus room restaurant here in the nation's capitol and pledged to thwart his every proposal or initiative to insure he was a one-term president. However in spite of these viscous roadblocks and attacks on his political acumen, he managed to accomplish many things. Winning a second term in office spoke well of his governing prowess. The myriad of legislative accomplishments by Barack Obama in the face of constant and viscous opposition is nothing short of a miracle.

Your negative and offensive campaign rhetoric should be put aside and you should move on to govern all US citizens evenhandedly under the law. You are in charge now and the people of the world will be directly affected by your words and actions. The American voters who put you in office represent a fraction of the world's population who will be looking to you for leadership and will be affected by your presidency.

Some indisputable facts about your campaign and subsequent election.

• You ran the most negative, vulgar and divisive election campaign in the history of the nation.
• As president-elect, you took office with the lowest approval rating of all US presidents. Your inauguration had the lowest attendance of all US inaugurations.
• The Women's March on Washington attracted over 300,000 more participants than did your inauguration. Your Inauguration speech was rejected by the general public because it was too divisive.
• You make public statements that has no basis in fact. You claim 1.5 million attendees at your inauguration but facts suggest it was less than 250,000.
• You claim your face appeared on the front cover of Time magazine 13 times, more than any president in history. That was not true, it was Richard Nixon. You appeared on the cover 10 times.
• Your election is being questioned by people around the world witnessed by the protest marches on January 21, 2017.
• Your vindictive nature is driving you to destroy the legacy of the nation's black president, Barack Obama to placate your failure to de-legitimize him as a US citizen and an intellectual scholar. Barack Obama signed legislation for humane reasons such as health care, home buying assistance, protection for undocumented immigrants, climate control, and a host of others which you have pledged to reverse.
• As to Vladimir Putin, America's military might, NATO, and our various allies around the world are the only deterrent to Russia's world wide aggression. Russia's ultimate goal is to become the single most powerful nation on earth.

When you consider national security and US Armed Forces, you're not only talking about Americans of European descent, its about all American citizens, this reservoir of human warriors from every corner of the earth. America is home for all of us.

Your campaign rhetoric was like none other in US political history. Your campaign slogan was to make America “Great Again.”

I am an 82-year-old black man who has never seen America greater than it is today. “Great Again” depends on what “great” period you're returning to. I'm not sure I would like to see any period in my political or civic life recreated. “Again” implies returning to some past state.

You are now the president for all Americans and the leader of the free world. Listen to your critics, consider their concerns, put your personal pride and ego aside, face reality, learn from the mistakes of the past and make America better for all its citizens.

Sincerely,
Walter Smith, publisher
New York Beacon