Cathy Renna: Dear President Trump

By Metro Weekly Contributor on January 20, 2017

Dear President Trump,

To be honest, even using that title made me queasy, but on January 20 it will indeed be part of American history and our reality. I believe you have done nothing to earn it and have only increasingly demonstrated a dangerous and un-American set of principles, values and intentions.

I am not a gambler, but I imagine I am feeling what someone in one of your failed casinos felt when rolling the dice or watching the roulette wheel spin — uncertainty, fear, bracing for loss because in your gut you believe the house always wins.

Cathy Renna — File photo

Since the election you and your surrogates have continued to demonstrate that a vote for you was not dissimilar to a hate crime. My relatives on my father’s side in Italy were stunned and fearful when the results came in. “Should have learned from our mistake electing Berlusconi,” they joked. But there is another Italian leader you are much more similar to, and we should heed the history lesson of their past. My father grew up in Italy when Mussolini was in power. As we know, he ruled the country constitutionally as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1925, then dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Now, I wouldn’t compare you to Hitler. Yet. So if the shoe fits, it would be a Dolce and Gabbana. Because when people talk about a potential constitutional crisis, this is what I believe they are alluding to.

But this is something you will never achieve. Because I believe in the core values of America and our constitution and we, as a nation, would never let this happen. Like Congressman John Lewis, the civil rights hero and icon you dismissively berated when he called your presidency illegitimate, we will march. We will resist. We will stand up and say no, not in our America.

My daughter is about the same age as Barron. What kind of world will she grow up in? Will it be one that considers her “less than” your child? Not if I can help it.

In his second inaugural speech, Barack Obama said, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths, that all of us are created equal, is the star that guides us still, just as it guided our forbearers to Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall.” I am not alone in being guided by that star that our great President of the last eight years alluded to, a star that will get us through this next period of American history like no other, one that will test us but also one we will face undaunted.

Cathy Renna

LGBTQ Activist
Principal, Target Cue
@cathyrenna

Read more Letters to Trump:

A. Cornelius Baker, Citizen
Aisha C. Moodie-Mills, Gay & Lesbian Victory Institute
Alexa Rodriguez, The Trans-Latina Coalition DMV
Alicia Garza, Co-creator of the Black Lives Matter network
André Hereford, Writer
Ba’Naka, Duchess of Protocol
Bernie Delia, Capital Pride Alliance, Inc.
Chris Allen, DC Log Cabin Republicans
Clarence J. Fluker, Former Obama Appointee
Dana Beyer, M.D., Gender Rights Maryland
Danielle Moodie-Mills, Advocate, Writer and Strategist
David Mariner, The DC Center
David von Storch, President, UA Companies
Emil de Cou, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Eric Schaeffer, Signature Theatre
Gil Steinlauf, Adas Israel Congregation
Holly Goldmann, Capital Trans Pride
Jeff Manabat, The Kinsey Sicks
John Guggenmos, Small Business Owner
Jose Carrasquillo, Freelance Theatre Director and Educator
June Crenshaw, The Wanda Alston Foundation
Kate Kendell, National Center for Lesbian Rights
Mark Pocan, U.S. Representative, Wisconsin
Mike Daisey, Author and Working Artist
Mitchell Gold, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Home Furnishings
Nicholas F. Benton, The Falls Church News Press
Rayceen Pendarvis, Emcee, Entertainer, Activist
Rea Carey, National LGBTQ Task Force
Schuyler Bailar, First Men’s NCAA D1 Transgender Athlete
Serge Seiden, Theater Maker
Sterling Washington, Consultant, Musician

The opinions expressed in these letters are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations and this magazine, its staff and contributors.