Mr. President,
Last night, you asked “ What the hell do you have to lose?” by voting Trump. After a night of quiet revolt, my answer: I have everything to lose. Here’s why.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1156033183697080320
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for losing the respect of women. I’ve worked my entire life towards building a more complete picture of what equality looks like in this world, despite knowing that I can never truly live the reality of someone else’s existence. This is particularly true for women. In my own life, I’ve had the opportunity to work with extremely talented women; women who have taught me important lessons on how to lead, how to think and how to act. I’ve worked with women & witnessed firsthand how well-meaning men talk over women, ignore women, steamroll them — even in idle chit chat. It’s invisible and pervasive.
I’ve seen my sisters grow into incredibly strong human beings who I’m proud to call my best friends. They work, they have families and I’m confident they quietly carry more weight in their lives than most men. By virtue of your words — many times over — and your actions — you disrespect them. You objectify them. You’re the guy who tells, yells and grabs them because you instinctively feel a right to do so. You have no place near my family, let alone governing them.
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for losing the progress Americans have made in closing the equality divide with African Americans. Racism is evil. Racism not only rests on the warped belief that one group of people is inherently created better than another, but it elevates that belief into action. It dehumanizes the very best part of being human: to be different from each other. Whether it’s banning citizens from other countries, equivocating race violence or using polarizing and offensive language to divide — you are setting us back decades in achieving a nation where people are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. And we can’t afford you wasting our time by dialing up racial tensions simply because you’re a throwback from the darkest era in American history.
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for losing the respect of fellow LGBTQ+members. Love: that magic scramble that binds us into connection and animates our world.There is perhaps no greater calling in life than to love fully. People find love in different places: maybe you love your spouse, maybe you find love in your children. Maybe in friendship, or even in the collegiate spirit of work with longtime co-workers. In my life, I’ve loved men and I’ve loved women. I’ve never been more proud of my capacity to see beauty, connection and love in all kinds of people. You do not get to tell my heart what is right and what is wrong. You do not get to make my world smaller.
A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for losing myself. My parents raised me to work hard. To be a self-starter and hold myself accountable for my own life. I was taught to live an examined life. I was taught to treat people equally; to start from a place of humility. If life were a playground, cooperation and problem-solving went hand-in-hand as the point. You do not stand for any of these values — either in yourself or others.
Perhaps most personally, a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for losing the future for my niece, Samantha. She is a beautiful 2 year old with abundant love for the moment she lives in. You will rob Samantha of the respect she deserves as a woman. You will rob Samantha of a future safeguarded against the perils of pollution and the resulting effects of climate change. You will rob Samantha of a world where she can travel freely, free of terror and resentment. You will rob her of a future where everyone is created equally; and in so doing, you rob Samantha of being created equal.
A vote for Donald Trump isn’t about having nothing to lose at all. Instead, a vote for you is a vote for suspicion and fear. For corrosive thinking. For lying and for working hard to lie — mostly to those that support you. For living into the worst versions of ourselves; you are no Lion, no Warrior. You’re just a con man.
We can’t put our hands on our government; we can’t see democracy with our own eyes. They are instituions created and maintained only by ideas. These ideas — government for & by the people, equality through democracy — are just that: ideas. We decide to breathe life into them with our words and our actions. In just the same way, words and actions can destroy these institutions. We can lose them.
Evil doesn’t show up and introduce itself: “Hey, it’s me…Evil. I’m here! Let’s get to work.” Evil shows up and says, “I can fix your problems for you.” The rest is ornaments to the end. Before you know it, your government has resumed the death penalty, empowered itself to arrest and detain citizens without cause, cut ties with other nations and started talking divisively about race, a lot. Ideas get lost slowly at first.
But then again, you know all about losing, don’t you Mr. President. You’ve lost two marriages. You’ve lost businesses to bankruptcy six times. You lost the popular vote in this country. And in this way I am encouraged: losing is on your side.
No Mr. Trump, I have everything to lose.