1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

 America is exhausted. We the people have whiplash. Are we a good people and forward-looking country governed by our Constitution and system of laws? Or are we a free-for-all collection of tribalistic states swayed by whoever has the best marketing power, the basest rhetoric, or the most money? Today, for this constituent, these are the two most succinct sentiments governing our country… “I know what the hell I’m doing!” Says the president who has single-handedly sent the world economy reeling. Our society into angst-filled dread. And is taking our constitutionally-based country to the brink of lawlessness. Says the president that filed the first of his six business bankruptcies for one of his casinos in Atlantic City. A bankrupt casino. How does that even happen? Says “The Apprentice” president who was so undisciplined, he sometimes “fired” the wrong contestant in the boardroom scene, leaving producers to sift through footage to revise the script and justify what he had done. This strategy is now SOP to WH staff reverse-engineering policies to match Trump’s false statements. A president whose “The Art of the Deal,” manufactured a vision of a fixer, a master negotiator, a consummate chess player that does not match any reality we’ve seen. A bully is the most simplistic facade of strength. Because a bully always backs down when challenged. And THAT we have seen. Over and over. “I hate government.” Says every Trump cabinet member confirmed by the GOP, every aide surrounding the president, every voter who put him in office, and every red state that comes begging to DC when they’re in trouble. Says every politician who hates government so much they will betray their every belief, betray the trust of the people who elected them, and betray principles the country has always fought for just to hang on to their jobs. And the power, from the government, that comes with them. In short, this is what rule by inexperience, incompetence wrapped in hubris, conspiracy-theory policy-making, vast hypocrisy and political cowardice has led us to. Think we can do better? I’m not so sure we can right now.