Yesterday it was a shock to find in my post office box a letter from Donald J. Trump. At one point in my life, I did think of myself as a Republican—but then I turned seventeen, and civil rights became a personal issue. That was almost sixty-three years ago, and I am not exaggerating when I say I have never looked back. I don’t think that in my entire life I have ever voted for a Republican candidate.
How did they get my name and address now?
As I was leaving the Langley Post Office, I told the man behind the counter, “I got a letter from Trump today.”
He said, “I noticed.”
That gave me pause. It’s an association that could ruin a woman’s reputation! I wondered briefly if I should sue Trump for defamation of character, but then I decided on another strategy. Today when I walked into the Post Office, I wore my “Childless Cat Lady for Kamala” T-shirt. Again, the man behind the counter noticed. He smiled and waved.
I must admit, however, that I was intrigued to open Trump’s letter and see what he had to say. Predictably, it was a diatribe against Democrats. In it, Trump claimed, “Joe Biden is America’s worst president ever.”
A little fact-check on this: recently, a group of 154 presidential historians connected with the American Political Science Association rated every US president, and President Biden, the current and 46th president, came out as the 14th best in history. It was Trump, the 45th president, whom they put into last place—naming him America’s worst president ever. So, Trump got part of that right; he just needed to apply it to himself.
Let me add that if Trump were to be re-elected, there are signs that he would be much worse the next time around. His election in 2016 came as a surprise, even to him; in 2024 he’s planning for it. He said in his letter that he will win this election “by a landslide.”
The main point Trump made in this letter—one he made three times in full before his final signature—is that, to save our great nation from Democrats, I should sign a Trump Pledge of Support and return it with “a contribution of $35, $50, $100, $175, $250, $500, $1000, $2500, $3300, or another amount today.”
Perhaps this means that he is spooked by groundswell of support for the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, who has to date raised $540 million in her brief campaign against him. It’s about $200 million more than Trump raised in that time.
Another thing Kamala Harris has done is to choose a stellar candidate for vice president, Tim Walz, who is Minnesota’s governor, a former high school teacher, a former assistant football coach, a former Army National Guardsman, and a man who has made no missteps in the campaign because he has a wide-open heart. Walz knows how to relate to people.
Trump’s pick for vice president, J.D. Vance, is a senator from Ohio who, in my opinion, has yet to do anything right. Just today he posted a clip of a verbal stumble made by a teenage pageant queen during the Miss Teen USA event in 2007. With this clip, Vance wrote, “BREAKING: I have gotten ahold of the full Kamala Harris CNN interview.” Even when he was told that the woman whose teenage remarks he was using in his send-up had contemplated suicide after people made fun of her answer seventeen years ago, Vance refused to apologize for, as he put it, “posting a joke.” He wished the woman well but said that it’s important to have fun and that politics has become “way too boring.”
A while ago, Vance lamented that America is being run “by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and want the rest of the country to be miserable, too.” It was a bracingly dismissive view of people who do not live as he does. There was a backlash when this came out, and, true to form, Vance declined to recast his remarks—although he did say that he has nothing against cats. He feels that people without children don’t have a real stake in the future of the country and shouldn’t have the same voting power as parents.
The thought of these two weird men being the president and vice president of this magnificent country is something that can make me miserable (though that’s not a word I would usually apply to my life).
I showed Trump’s letter to a friend, who said, “I wish I still had the checkbook for my old bank account. I’d send the Republicans a huge check they wouldn’t be able to cash—and maybe it would mess them up.”
It raises the question: what can an individual do?
Well, for one thing, I’ll keep wearing my “Childless Cat Lady for Kamala” T-shirt. I’ll meditate. I’ll pray. I’ll make campaign donations as I can. I’ll write postcards to other Democrats, urging them to vote. And, of course, I’ll vote myself. Because, in fact, even having no children, I do care about the future of my country.
Around here (BC Canada) they like to phone ya mid day. I like to play along. (cutting the caller off mid-spiel) “ Don’t say another word. Of course, absolutely! I LOVE your candidate. I’ll definitely be voting for them. But hey, no more calls, okay? I don’t like calls. Make sure your list says no calls, okay?”
There was a great BC band called Doug and the Slugs, in the 70’s, 80’s. They sang: “But there’s no better glory
when it all gets hairy
to be laughing in the midst of it all.”
That’s what I love about Kamala Devi. Finally, someone who knows how to laugh in the midst of it all. People love to laugh. That’s the magic! So what else can you do? Just Keep Laughing. JKL.
Good idea–laughter always helps.
Although I usually refrain from political discussion on the web as it only evokes a barrage of nasty backlash comments, I do have a suggestion for a new T-shirt.
“Childless cat ladies, their parents and all their friends for Kamala”
❤️
Please send postcards to North Carolina! We’re a swing state that’s swinging bluer since the Democratic Convention…and Trump’s subsequent meltdown.
Thanks for this inspiring entry, Margaret!
Childless cat ladies unite!!! <3