The Letter
This is a letter I did not want to write. I had hoped that the angels of our better natures would win out, would convince people that loving and caring for the least of us is the right thing to do. Instead, our nation has elected a man who spits in the face of kindness, generosity, honor, and justice.
Donald Trump is now responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. He has ended the HIV aid program, stopped the development for life-saving vaccines, and ended cancer research. He has crippled the FAA and as a result, more planes have crashed. He has taken away support for farmers. He has stopped the attempts to halt bird flu, which killed 28 million chickens in Dec, 19 million in Jan, and is worse in Ohio than almost any other state, leading the nation in cases as egg prices soar.
He has deported people to concentration camps in Panama and plans to use Guantanamo Bay as a prison for migrants. He has referred to himself as king. He has made the following words to be BANNED: women, disability, bias, status, trauma, Black, Hispanic communities, as well as socioeconomic, ethnicity, feminism — this is censorship in the worst way, and he followed it up by cancelling MLK Day, Holocaust Day, Black History Month and Women’s History month.
He has ended support (USAID) to missions across the globe, including Christian missions that were feeding people — all of it gone. He endangers the FDA which keeps our food safe. He has endangered our environment. He has said there won’t need to be new elections. He has allowed Elon Musk and his tech bros access to all of our SSN and tax data, our records that were supposed to be secure. He has supported Elon when Elon claimed he was going to interrupt Medicare and Medicaid, and stop the social security payments for “some people” (and we don’t know who that refers to).
He has essentially shut down national parks. He has told our ally nations that they are no longer our friends. He has threatened to invade Canada. Trump claims to be against maternal mortality, and “signed a bill.” But due to his policies and the far reaching nature of his anti-abortion stance, maternal mortality rates have instead risen as treatments are paused for those in the midst of miscarriage. Babies have died, mothers have died. Trump has ended the treatment for transgender people by taking away their access to hormones — something I myself benefit from. He is planning, through RFK, to take away our access to antidepressants. I am a researcher, and I am not making this up — in fact, the statements above can be found in the news, here with links, and often in Trumps own words.
Donald Trump, who had been found guilty of fraud, rape, and assault, is a misogynist, a racist, a homophobe, a warmonger, a man who hates anyone who isn’t as rich as he is. He hates me. I am a gender-fluid woman with a PhD who writes in support of LGBTQ rights; he hates me and people like me. He wants us to die of preventable diseases. He wants to lock people up, to send them to camps, and to take away their freedoms.
He wants to start a war. It will endanger my niece and nephews along with all the other people (young and old) forced to fight; it will be the death of so many people. He wants to rule as a dictator. He is a FASCIST. He behaves like a Nazi — I know, because I just wrote a book about the rise of Nazis and what they did in the 30 years before the Holocaust. He is following their playbook.
There is a WWII-era saying still popular in Germany: “If there’s a Nazi at the table and ten other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with eleven Nazis.” If you do as they do, you are a Nazi. If you don’t, but neither do you bat an eye, you are a Nazi — if you continue to support them, you are a Nazi. If you countenance their horrible beliefs in ANY way, you are a Nazi.
If you voted for Trump, you are a Nazi.
I will not, from this day forward, break bread with Nazis. I cannot sit beneath the roof of a Nazi, nor at the same table. I have no respect for those who wish vulnerable people dead. I have no respect for those who don’t seem to mind their leaders want vulnerable people dead. I have already enacted this quietly. Now I am doing it publicly. Loudly.
If you voted for Trump, we cannot be friends, acquaintances, or family. I still care about you as a human being, which is more than I can say for Trump, who cares for no one. I hope with an earnest heart that you will see the error of your ways. That you will join us in the fight against Trump as you would against Nazis. But until that day, I must distance myself from you. You are drinking the poison, inhaling the fumes of fascism that will be the destruction of our country. I will not be part of it. I will hold you accountable.
I wish it had not come to this.
Sincerely,
Brandy Schillace
