And Congress did...

For context, I sent a variation of this letter to both my senators and my representative this month, sometime after Renee Good, but before Alex Pretti. If you'd also like to write to your Congresscritters, find out who they are here. Feel free to use the basic points brought up in this letter -- but please use your own words. I believe that's always going to be more effective than passing on someone else's thoughts.

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Dear Senator,

You happen to be one of my Senators, for whom I voted to represent me in Congress. So let's chat for a bit, shall we, about a small fraction of the things President Donald Trump has done and what Congress has done in response, in the last year alone.

Trump sent Elon Musk and his band of DOGE hackers to "clean up" the "waste, fraud and abuse" in government, rather than doing it the way all sane administrations have done in the past, by conducting a government audit. They broke dozens of useful organizations in the process, including USAID. I've lost count of how many people around the world have starved to death because we summarily yanked food aid to them with no warning. And Congress did nothing.

Trump famously loves "the poorly educated," and to that end he is dismantling the Department of Education and threatening to yank the funding of our world-class research universities unless they bend the knee to him. And Congress did nothing.

Because he presumably couldn't get the military to act against its own people, Trump spun up ICE under the Department of Homeland Security as a band of masked thugs who seem to answer only to him. They have been given a budget exceeding the total military budgets of most other nations. They've done fun things like assaulting and deporting non-citizens without due process, refusing to identify themselves, hassling and assaulting citizens, firing on peaceful protesters, and now murdering an unarmed woman by shooting her directly in the face. And Congress did nothing.

Starting in April, Trump has yanked tariffs around like they're his own personal hot and cold taps, claiming the fig leaf of "national security" to raise the price of everything on every American and make every working day in the United States absolutely unpredictable. His unhinged on-again, off-again tariffs have ruined the American economy, damaged a generation of American farmers, and ground the engines of industry down to an anemic trickle -- and then he has the chutzpah to lie to our faces about how the price of our gas and groceries is getting better, as though his saying so somehow MAKES it so despite the evidence of our own eyes and our wrung-dry bank accounts. And Congress did nothing.

Tariff monies haven't been enough to satisfy Trump, so he has turned the White House into a revolving door of grift, Hatch Act be damned. All anyone, from any organization or government, need do is waltz in and offer Trump a shiny golden cookie of some kind to get a favor done. And because he always wants more cash and cookies and fawning praise, he is constantly whinging about being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize he will never deserve or receive, offering to level Gaza so it can be turned into a seaside playground for the rich, threatening and bullying some of our nation's most trusted allies, including Canada and Denmark, trying to get them to cede territory to him solely because he demands it. And Congress did nothing.

He has ditched our allies in Europe as Putin leers hungrily at Ukraine, forsaken Taiwan as China sharpens its bayonets, winked at Netanyahu as Israel commits genocide, and otherwise made America smaller, less powerful, more insular and more focused on grabbing other people's territory in its own hemisphere. And Congress did nothing.

He threatened, cajoled and otherwise bullied everyone in Congress into passing the Big Ugly Bill, which has looted the pockets of the poor and middle class in order to further enrich the wealthy (including himself, of course). And Congress? CHEERED.

He shut down the government for weeks rather than even talk to the Democrats in Congress, cynically pulling food aid to the poorest Americans and financially starving members of the Armed Forces, who went unpaid during the shutdown. And Congress, instead of fighting him, rolled over and capitulated.

He has, through inaction and the vague promise of "concepts of a plan," allowed subsidies for the Affordable Care Act to expire, causing health insurance costs to absolutely skyrocket for the average American. He's allowed Robert F. "Brainworm" Kennedy, Jr. to destroy our public health measures. He's taken the right to choose away from American women and is actively stoking the fires of bigotry against trans people. And you know what Congress did about it? Nothing.

Trump is manifestly one of the unhealthiest presidents in modern history. I don't care what his prevaricating staff and lackey doctors say; anyone with a brain and a pair of eyes can tell he's seriously unwell, both physically and (increasingly) mentally. He is incapable of sticking to the point in a speech, he is incapable of staying awake in Cabinet meetings, and he is increasingly incapable of making sane or logical decisions -- throwing tantrums (and, if rumor is to be believed, ketchup bottles) rather than attempting to reason or think his way out of a crisis. He should be removed from office for his utter incapacity to lead. But you guessed it, Congress. Did. Nothing.

He has been so afraid of the presumably vile stuff in the Epstein files being made public that he's fired back at his most loyal voters, played hide-the-whoremonger with Ghislaine Maxwell, dribbled out highly-redacted sections of the files rather than fully complying with the law, has attempted to smear people he dislikes, torn down the East Wing of the White House, shut down the government, and literally tried to provoke war with Iran and Venezuela -- without getting permission from or even informing Congress of the decision. And guess what Congress did?

Trump undermines the rule of law every day. He does whatever he can to run the country by executive fiat. He has snatched the power of the purse and the ability to declare war away from Congress. He makes friends of our enemies and enemies of our friends. He is making all of us poorer, sicker, less educated and more afraid, each hour he remains in office. He is a mentally unstable stochastic terrorist; far from holding the highest office in the land, he should by rights be serving time in prison for numerous felony convictions. You are a member of a co-equal branch of government, meant to enact the checks and balances that keep despots like Donald Trump from doing many of the things he has already done. Yet every day, as one of our designated representatives in government, you come to work, collect a hefty paycheck and sumptuous benefits, and -- YOU. DO. NOTHING.

What kind of calamity will it take to shift you? Another pandemic? A nationwide general strike? More Americans being summarily executed in the street? Perhaps a major American city being leveled with nuclear weapons by one of our erstwhile allies?

At risk of sounding disrespectful to a duly-elected official: GET OFF YOUR ASS AND DO YOUR JOB. NOW. Before Trump decides he should just run everything from the Oval Office and doesn’t need a Congress any more.

Furiously,

Soozcat