Self explanatory letter to Senator Rob Portman delivered via email.

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August 13, 2017

Dear Senator Portman,

Do you and your Republican colleagues in the Congress not know that President Trump’s incompetent, hateful, and aggressive behavior on the world stage and here at home is endangering all Americans? If you do know and care why are you unwilling to step up and say enough is enough?

The President is locked in an insane and dangerous rhetorical exchange with an unpredictable mad-man dictator of a country with nuclear weapons. And President Trump takes pride in himself being unpredictable! That is a recipe for disaster! I fear that one of them will miscalculate and we will stumble into yet another unnecessary war, whether nuclear or conventional. Doesn’t that worry you and other Republican Senators enough to take a public position against the President’s recklessness? And what is this idiotic Trump remark about a military option in Venezuela?

The President’s hateful rhetoric over the past two years has also encouraged the white supremacists’ movement to emerge from the shadows. They descend on Charlottesville and the UVA campus, publicly endorsing President Trump and openly terrorizing, intimidating, and even killing one of those who oppose their anti-Jew and anti-black ideology. And the best the President can do is condemn hatred and bigotry on “many sides”?? Senator Portman, they are KKK and Nazi sympathizers. There aren’t many sides. They are hate mongers specifically trying to incite fear and violence. And so far with the President’s acquiescence they have succeeded!

Americans need you and other Republican Congressional leader to stand up publicly and act in our nation’s best interests in spite of party affiliation! Yours is the party in control of government. YOU, the Congress, must exercise all your legitimate powers to assure the safety, security, and equal protection of our citizens regardless of race or ethnicity. You also must exercise your Constitutional responsibility to decide whether or not we go to war, and under what circumstances.

In light of the lack of knowledge and discipline the President exhibits in both foreign affairs and domestic governance, Congress is our last best hope to protect our democracy from a President who seems to have little respect for our liberal democratic values or the Constitutional separation of powers. At the same time he shows lack of real interest in supporting or strengthening the international institutions, treaties, and alliances that have for the most part maintained world peace and prosperity for the past 70 years. And finally most disconcerting, he seems to have more of an affinity with those world leaders who are or would be dictators than those who head liberal democracies!

We desperately need Congressional leadership as never before in my lifetime!

Sincerely,

L. Mark Mathys