The following letter was written to your mother while on a flight to Savannah, Georgia, to speak at a children’s book festival.

November 9, 2016

Dear H_,

I will try not to speak much more of this, but I do want you to know where I stand on the president elect. This man is a virus, and his poison will spread.

I will not allow our daughters to be told that this thrice married, serial adulterer is a “good person” with “good family values.” They do not deserve to be deceived by adults who blindly support him. Our girls are being raised to be self-assured and compassionate, and will likely contribute in ways small and large to the betterment of society. As they grow older they will understand the truth about this man. History will not be kind to him, that is assured. But if we remain silent, we default our position to the wrong side of this embarrassment, as those in fervent support, we know, will continue to speak loud and often in his favor.

This man is delusional and dangerously ignorant, a gross narcissist, the type of person I loathe, and the antithesis of the person I wish our daughters to be as adults. We must teach our girls to verify information, to identify and dismiss those with questionable morals, to recognize hate speech, to expose untruths. In short, I want our daughters to stand up against those who disregard human decency, who berate, oppress and bully others. If our girls were older, I would hope that they would be appalled that an individual of such appallingly amoral character can become the President of the United States. God willing, the younger generation will never allow something as disgraceful as this to happen again. 

Remember that this is a man whose supporters’ chant, “Lock her up!” at his provocation, and “Make America Great Again!” The latter taken, by the way, from Ronald Reagan’s campaign slogan, “Let’s Make American Great Again.” Is America not great already? How many of these people who rally around this slogan, I wonder, have ever traveled outside the United States? And even those that have, how many have traveled in the third world? Was our country not great after we elected our first black president? Have we already forgotten that the Obama administration helped prevent a second Great Depression? Unemployment is currently at 4.2%, the stock market, after falling by more than 50% under George W. Bush, is at record highs. Retail and real estate markets are booming. Overseas conflicts have been deescalated. The U.S. economy, our freedom, our opportunities are the envy of the world. I understand that there are still millions who suffer, who feel neglected and unheard, but it is unfortunate that those who chant “Make America great again” do not appreciate just how much better our country is after eight years of the Obama presidency. 

Though a false narrative, Make America Great Again has become the rally cry for an almost exclusively white base of economically frustrated, disenfranchised and disillusioned, anti-Hillary and anti-Democrat men and women, but more frighteningly, it is being trumpeted by racists and white supremacists. Dangerous people have been empowered by this man’s election. They now feel vindicated after eight years of a black president, but their anger will not be subdued by the president elect, it will only be stoked. “This is serious, folks,” wrote a friend following the election. “T_ gets elected. T_ gets impeached. T_ calls on his heavily armed supporters to resist…America has a big problem.”

Whether we get through the next four years safely or descend into civil unrest, today begins a sad and tragic period in our nation’s history. My fear is that at the end of this we will no longer be great. Our country has elected a racist, chauvinist, megalomaniac; a man who faces dozens of allegations of sexual harassment and assault; a man who has been involved in over 4,000 law suits; a man who says climate change is a “Chinese hoax” and has campaigned on burning more fossil fuels, spewing even more pollutants into the air we breathe and the water we drink, exacerbating health problems in our children and accelerating the changes we are witnessing in the earth’s climate; a man who has made a career of insulting others, has virtually no knowledge of foreign policy, and even less ability to take on the roll of a diplomat. How could this possibly end well? The entire world will suffer from this election, and sadly, the negative effects of his presidency, of his cruel and vengeful ways, will be felt well into the future. 

Do not ignore the angry and obnoxious comments he has made about women, Mexicans, Muslims, veterans, war heroes, the handicap, and war. Read the stories told by the women who have accused him of sexual assault, including his first wife. Look at the photographs of he and his third wife in their grotesquely gilded Manhattan penthouse. As a businessman, developer, husband and father, the man is a disgrace. As president, he is absolutely horrifying.

To those who say he will put the best people in place, I have doubts. I cannot see this man surrounding himself with intelligent people the way previous presidents have done. Appointing intelligent people into his cabinet would only spotlight his inadequacy. A man of his conceited nature could not tolerate such a demoralizing blow to his ego. Remember, this is a man who does not read. His words: “I don’t have time to read…I have a good brain…I go with my gut.” He gets the majority of his information from his own propaganda machine, and communicates with juvenile Tweets. 

As parents we must begin with our children. The solution lies in the education and moral development of America’s youth. We will stand for what is good, for what is right. We will lead by example. Everyday, we will be the antithesis of our nation’s president.

Please forgive my rant. I am extremely frustrated.

All my love, A.R.V.