REVENGE

30 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

It seems to me increasingly clear that Trump is driven by two obsessions, neither one of which is the benefit of the people of America, let alone those who elected him. The first is self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment—the latter including, of course, his family. The second is vengeance: I firmly believe, now, that the man was so deeply humiliated, his ego so threatened by President Obama’s gentle put-down him at that White House Press even, years ago, that until this day he remains obsessed with getting even.

On the first issue, there is abundant evidence, among which: his refusal to release any meaningful information about his business affairs and to place those interests in blind trust; his transfer of his financial affairs to his sons; his daughter, Ivanka’s transparent use of her position to enhance her “brand” and the sales of her products; The blatant exploitation of his Washington hotel, his golf courses and his Mar-A-Lago estate to court foreign business and conduct affairs of state. Any one of these, in the tenure of a Democratic President, would attract ruthless Republican condemnation and endless congressional investigations.

As for the vengeance, I believe it to be motivated in good part, as suggested above, by the president’s* overly sensitive ego. A truly great man should be able to absorb such blows with a sense of perspective and a sense of humor. It appears that Trump has neither. Though I hesitate to mention it—and given a documented history of it in his previous life as a real estate tycoon—I do frankly wonder if there’s not some admixture of racism involved. Not a pleasant thought, I’ll admit, but could it be that humiliation at the hands of a black man proved all the more traumatic?

In any event, in view of the president’s* possible abandonment of the Paris Accord, his merciless attack on Obamacare, his threatened invalidation of his predecessor’s negotiation of a new relationship with Cuba, along with the current review of new national parks, not to mention countless other examples, it does seem that the man is obsessed with undoing everything, large and small, that Obama managed to accomplish.

I wish that you personally, Congressman, would explain—and possibly reconsider—your permissive silence in these matters.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

THE PARIS ACCORD

29 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: My fear

Why in the name of this good Earth did Trump refuse to join the other nations’ leaders in signing the ratification of the Paris Accord on climate change? I see no other reason than pure arrogance. He felt belittled in the company of those other leaders and needed, childishly, to assert himself in some way. This was the way he chose to do it. Pure spite.

He accompanied his absurd gesture with the promise to make a decision this week. What does he expect to learn in the next few days and hours that he didn’t know at the end of last week?

My fear is that now, on his return to the United States and an ocean of troubles on the home front, he’ll use this issue to compound the gesture made in Taormina last week and poke his finger in the eye of all humanity by deciding to refuse, with his customary petulance, to sign the accord. For no better reason than that he felt unloved and diminished on his European tour.

He was unloved and diminished for good reason. He is, as the Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling wrote in a Tweet, “a tiny, tiny, tiny man.” He has no standing amongst men of gravitas and serious purpose. My fear is that, like most truly “tiny” men, he will seek some way to prove his importance. And that might be at the cost of the rest of us human beings in the world.

And that’s some fear. Stand up, Congressman. Please. Before it’s too late.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

IS THIS "AMERICAN"?

26 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Your new colleague

I see you have a new colleague in the US House of Representatives, Greg Gianforte of Montana. Despite his display of unprovoked violence the night before the election, the people of his state re-elected him to this high office.

I’m left wondering if the result would have been the same had the incident occurred a day earlier? What do you think? Would the Montana Republican electorate have been swayed by their candidate’s physical attack on a journalist who was doing no more than his job, in asking questions? Have we become so inured to the public display of this kind of belligerence that we shrug it off as unimportant, even acceptable? It was a frequent—and apparently popular—part of your president’s* 2016 campaign, and one that was explicitly encouraged by the candidate, who now struts the world stage, his bullying on global display.

What is the world to think of us? Fair or not, there was always the impression, as I was growing up in Europe, that Americans were too big for their boots; that these New Worlders, these conquerors, lacked the courtesy, the manners and cultural sophistication of the countries they swept through in the Second World War. That impression now risks being confirmed by the image Trump projects: the rude, self-important, opinionated boor who cares for nothing other than himself, his money, and his power.

I am sad for America. I am sad for myself, as a relatively new American, who chose this country for all the wonderful qualities now obscured by this president* with his relatively small band of supporters and his Republican enablers. America, it has often been said, is better than this. Or should be.

Regretfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

ABOUT THAT CBO SCORE...

25 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: CBO score of the American Health Care Act

So… weeks after that distasteful scene on the White House grounds, when House Republicans celebrated the “victory” of the AHCA with the president*, the CBO score of the bill was made public yesterday. The bill was passed, of course, by a narrow margin, without the benefit of that CBO report, so those who voted for it, including yourself, had really no idea what they were voting for. Most admitted that had not even read it. And yet… you celebrated, gleefully.

Now, even to a layman like myself, the report makes clear what a disaster this purported “health care” bill would be—depriving 14 million Americans of their insurance within the next year, and 23 million in the next 10 years, and providing less coverage for higher premiums. According to the report on the CBO score in the New York Times, losers would include poorer and older people—the usual target—and the winners, the young, the healthy, and those with higher incomes. Oh, and let’s not forget those huge tax cuts for the very wealthy.

In short, this bill makes a mockery of the whole idea of the universal health care that Trump promised in the course of his campaign. The familiar complaint about Obamacare that we hear from Republicans—that it is “collapsing under its own weight”—is in good part the result of consistent efforts to sabotage the ACA ever since it became law. The op-ed article in today’s NYT by Abbe R. Gluck in both instructive and persuasive in its detailed history and analysis. I wonder if you read it?

One of these days, when you hold a Town Hall meeting—we should be so lucky!—I’d like to hear from you just exactly how the Republican agenda seeks to benefit the American middle- and working class. Unless I sorely misunderstand its premises, the only ones it seeks to benefit are the very rich. And, for what it’s worth, before you even raise it, I don’t buy the “trickle-down” theory you have been promoting now for decades, despite all evidence that it doesn’t work. It has all been “trickle-up.” And not such a trickle, at that. More like a torrent.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

TRUMP INTERNATIONAL

24 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: The president*

I have to write to you again about your president*. A man so desperate for approval should not be out there representing the United States. He is too easily manipulated.

Item: In Saudi Arabia, the king, the medal, the sword dance, the brilliant deal to sell more than $100 billion of American weapons, the promise to get the Saudis (the Saudis!) a good deal. Should he not be worry more about a good deal for the people he’s supposed to represent? Oh, and then there was that bow—for which he excoriated Obama, remember? And the (added) odd little curtsey to the king. Was this not all rather pathetic?

Item: In Israel, a press conference during which he assured everyone that during that infamous Oval Office meeting with the Russians he had not, had NOT mentioned the word Israel—confirming his near-treachery in blurting out secrets to our not-friend, Russia, whose origin (Israeli intelligence) had already been revealed. This, with Netanyahu standing by with the indulgent grin of a daddy forgiving his wayward son.

Talk about humiliating! This is making America great again? We look, daily, more foolish in the eyes of the world.

As I understand it, your job is to represent US, your constituents, not the weak, prevaricating man in the Oval Office. As I’ve said before, it’s time for a strong Republican to stand up. Could that strong man, Congressman, be you?

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

AND NOW YOU'RE FEATURED IN THE LA TIMES...!

22 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: LA Times article

More coverage! Congratulations! This one, though, suggests that Democratic forces are growing stronger and more active—not only in your district but in the entire Southern California area. There is a lot of anger brewing amongst us lefties and, well, moderates, too, who are pretty much outraged by the sitting president* and his Republican enablers.

We are outraged, too, by an agenda that assails the rights and priorities of the vast majority of ordinary Americans, particularly women. Did you catch the NYT op-ed article by Nicholas Kristof about the world-wide repercussions of Trump’s health care “initiatives” on women’s health? Women everywhere—including in the United States—are literally dying due to the Republican assault on their right to determine matters affecting their own bodies. In your attack on Obamacare, you claim to be asserting the right to make one’s own health care choices—yet you deny half the world’s population this same right when it comes to contraception and abortion. Shame on you!

Be assured, Congressman, that the LA Times article is right: we’re coming for you in the next election, in the nicest possible way. With our votes.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

YOU'RE FEATURED IN THE NYT!

20 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: NYT Article

I noted the article in yesterday’s New York Times that featured you—presumably in consequence of the airing of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s comment that you, along with Trump, were in Putin’s pay.

I do take that particular remark with a pinch of salt, but the article reminds us of your enthusiasm for Russia and your vocal opposition to the sanctions imposed following the Ukraine invasion. It also reports on a confidential 2012 meeting in which intelligence officials felt it necessary to warn you of Russian attempts to recruit you as an “agent of influence.” They must have concluded that you were receptive.

The article also quoted you as saying, in response to a NYT question: “I can’t imagine someone in a position of power in the United States government not fully appreciating the fact that whoever he’s dealing with who’s a foreigner that he doesn’t know he’s trying to influence him.” Does this rather convoluted response not overlook the very recent history of your president’s widely publicized meeting with the Russian foreign minister and the Russian ambassador in the Oval Office? A meeting in which he disgraced himself by sharing classified information and boasted of his firing of the FBI Director to relieve himself of the pressure of investigation?

And you continue to support this man? As a resident in your district, I was pleased to read in the same article that you are “already facing what is shaping up to be the most difficult campaign” of your “28-year career in Congress.” It is, reportedly, “a race some of [your] colleagues would rather not see [you] run, given how much money the party may have to spend” on your behalf. Given your continuing unquestioning support not only of Trump but also of a Republican agenda that spells disaster for the American middle- and working classes, I have to say that I will be actively working so support a Democratic contender for your seat in the House of Representatives.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

NOT ONE REPUBLICAN?

18 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Thank Trump?

Should we thank Trump for being the only obstacle that stands between us and the implementation of the Republican “agenda”?

Correct me if I’m wrong—and I realize that I oversimplify—but that agenda seems to be the following: cut taxes for the rich, strangle the federal government, and eliminate all socially responsible programs.

I continue to be deeply distressed that Republicans prove themselves incapable of independent thought. Why is it that you guys always vote in lockstep? Is it forbidden by the Party to think for yourselves?

Surely there must be one or two Republicans who refuse to defend your president* no matter what he says or does? The oath of office, as I understand it, is to protect and defend the Constitution, not the president.

Respectfully,

THANK TRUMP?

Paul Krugman writes in his column this morning: "In a perverse way, we should count ourselves lucky that Trump is as terrible as he is." I couldn't agree more. It's only Trump's incompetence and venality that stands between us and the implementation of the Republican "agenda"--tax cuts for the rich and the elimination of all social programs. 

SAY IT AIN'T SO

18 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Say it ain’t so

I refer you to the article that appeared in the May 17 issue of the Washington Post, with quotations from the transcript of a recorded conversation between House Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. In discussing Russia and Ukraine McCarthy said, and I quote, “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump… Swear to God.” To which Ryan responded: “This is an off the record… NO LEAKS… alright,” punctuated by laughter. And added: “This is how we know we’re all family here.”

What a family, Congressman! What a mess we’re all in! To hear the two leaders of your party lump you together with Trump and speculate that you’re both paid by Putin is distressing, to say the least, to this constituent. Most distressing, perhaps, because the conversation, cynical as it is, has the ring of truth. The New York Times describes you as Putin’s “most vigorous defender in Congress.”

I read further in the New York Times that you took McCarthy’s remark in good part, recognizing it as not untypical of the House Leader’s sense of humor. The thing is, a joke is only funny for the grain of truth it contains. I do not imagine that you are actually receiving checks signed by Russia’s President, but your support for his actions remains a mystery. Does he not represent everything that you, as a Republican, oppose?

And what about Trump? More serious, and sadder, is the possibility that McCarthy is right about Putin’s man in the White House. We have yet to “follow the money” and find out exactly what his financial ties were, but enough has already been revealed to more than justify the appointment of that special counsel.

What say you to all this? Are you finally ready to support action to preserve our Constitution?

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

A MAN-CHILD IN THE OVAL OFFICE

16 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Enough is enough

I know I keep harping on about this, but… how often does your president* have to show his incompetence to the world before Republicans admit to themselves that he should not be in the White House? Yesterday’s episode was but the latest—and surely the worst—in an ever-escalating stream of blunders. To invite Russian officials into the Oval Office and share with them information that compromises an ally and jeopardizes our country’s entire security system is an act of foolishness that overshadows every one of the man’s other acts of foolishness to date.

As the New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks points out in his op-ed article today, the president* is a child who is incapable of self-control or rational assessment of the people or the world around him. His primary—if not his only—driving force is an insatiable need is for love and admiration. His childish innocence, when given free rein in a world of adult responsibility, becomes dangerous ignorance. In a world filled with potential pitfalls and real danger, it is nuclear matter waiting to explode.

We have been witnessing a progressive decline. Trump is not growing into the office, as some claim; he is decompensating. Each blunder takes us deeper into the morass he is creating—and takes him deeper into the fantasy his mind creates about himself. He is incapable of understanding, let alone acknowledging his own mistakes, and believes so firmly in the infallibility of his personal wisdom that he rejects the advice of anyone who dares to question it. He is petulant and vengeful, a toddler whose tantrums are as unpredictable as they are uncontrollable.

Are you, Congressman, content to stand by and let this dangerous man-child imperil your country? Or are you ready, finally, to speak out?

Respectfully,

STAND UP, CONGRESSMAN!

12 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Just imagine… if Rep. Dana Rohrabacher were to have the courage to be the very first Republican to stand up and tell the truth! To acknowledge that the president* is not only out of his depth—as manifested by the growing history of incompetence and blunders—but also fundamentally dishonest and untrustworthy. That he is putting our country and its Constitution at risk and making it, not “great again,” but laughably inconsequential in the eyes of the world. That he is dangerously insecure if not, quite possibly, certifiably deranged…

What if Rep. Dana Rohrabacher were to be the first to stand up and acknowledge the truth that is becoming more and more evident in the eyes of everyone but the most extreme of Trump supporters and the president’s* congressional enablers—who surely no longer believe, if they ever did, that the man in the Oval Office is fit to serve as this country’s top executive and commander in chief?

If that were the case, were the Congressman to stand up, would he not be roundly applauded for his courage and wisdom? Would he not go down in history as the first Republican in Congress to show that courage? Would he not be showing the kind of vision and leadership so sorely lacking in his colleagues?

Stand up, Congressman! We’d all be proud of you!

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

THE COMEY FIRING: WHERE DO YOU STAND?

11 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

I have searched online and have been unable to find any statement from you regarding the president’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. What are your thoughts on this matter? Do you defend the president’s action?Do you support the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to pursue the investigation into the possible collusion between Trump campaign staff and the Russian government? 

Your constituents deserve to know your position in this matter. I, for one, would appreciate a public statement that would clarify where you stand. The American people deserve to know that their representatives recognize a duty to serve their constituents and their country first, not their party or their president.

Respectfully,

WOMEN'S HEALTH

10 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

I realize that the Senate is not your bailiwick, but my thoughts on the issue of women’s rights are equally applicable to the House of Representatives. They were prompted in part by Senator Mitch McConnell’s selection of a panel of 13 men—and only men—to review your American Health Care Act. How could the man be so tone-deaf to deafening cries from women? Was he unaware of the massive Women’s Marches, the day after inauguration? Does he not feel the scorch of their justified anger? It seems not.

Sadly, however, it’s not just McConnell but his fellow Republicans who dismiss the needs and opinions of American women. In the AHCA, the almost vindictive disregard for the medical needs of half the population is a glaring admission of mindless, casual misogyny. The defunding of Planned Parenthood is but the most obvious example; under the guise of opposition to abortion, it undermines every other need specific to women’s health. Are your Republican colleagues not aware that there are differences between the male and female bodies? Or are they so obsessed with their own genitalia that they simply don’t care? Viagra’s fine; forget the morning-after pill.

On a broader, world-wide scale, American male hostility to contraception and abortion is the cause of widespread misery, poverty and, by all accounts, an unconscionable amount of needless sickness and death. Meanwhile, the world population grows exponentially, beyond the planet’s capacity to accommodate the expansion. Women everywhere are endangered by routine, unwanted pregnancies, and forced into a kind of slavery to the men who impregnate them and the children that result. And the US Congress wags its collective finger and votes to cut off even the minimal funds that were once allocated to alleviate the problem.

Like racism, misogyny is most frequently stealthy and unacknowledged. Your president* is a prime example of its dire effects, claiming that no one respects women more than he even as he mindlessly tramples their rights and ignores their needs. McConnell is quite simply witlessly stuck in the patriarchal nineteenth century. So where do you stand, Congressman? Are you “woke” to the growing impatience of women in the 21^st century?

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

10 May, 2017

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: James Comey. Off with his head!

You’ll recognize, I’m sure, the reference to the Queen of Hearts—the crazed monarch in Alice in Wonderland who is swift to mete out a death sentence on anyone who offends her. It’s a parody of the kind absolute power that your Tr*mp seems now to be assuming for himself. He sees himself as emperor of America, not it’s president*. His peremptory orders and actions, his “The Apprentice”-like dismissals, suggest a man-child intoxicated with some fantasy version of the power with which he has been entrusted, and lacking any sense of how it should be used.

It’s up to you now. It’s up to you and your Republican colleagues to finally acknowledge the huge mistake that was made in enabling this madman’s coronation; and, to be truthful, we all share in responsibility for that huge mistake, the entire country. The man we “elected” has shown himself from his first day in office to be unworthy of our trust; a liar, a conniver, a would-be despot, and quite possibly a traitor or at the least an enabler and beneficiary of treachery. I do not say this lightly. To deny it is to close one’s eyes to what is by this point plainly obvious. The man in the Oval Office is not fit to be there.

So it’s up to you and your colleagues in the House and Senate. You now control both houses, and Democrats have neither the ways nor the means to enforce the needed investigations and actions, absent your willingness to work together. This is no time for the kind of blind loyalty that has hamstrung government for years. It’s time to face irrefutable facts, acknowledge the truth, and save this country from the disaster that awaits unless you take appropriate and timely action.

Respectfully,

HR 305, TAX TRANSPARENCY

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: HR 305

I write today to ask you to take a stand on HR 305, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act.

There are numerous reasons for you to support this bill and none, so far as I can tell, to oppose it. President* Trump has put forward a proposal to reform and simplify current tax policy. Given an already dubious potential for conflicts, the country this man was elected to serve deserves to know his interests: how will this proposal benefit not only the president* himself but also his immediate family and his fellow billionaires?

Having already greeted with enthusiasm a health care bill whose main feature is to reward the wealthy with nearly $1 trillion in tax cuts, Trump now promises to promote a tax reform plan that further richly benefits them. He refused to release his tax returns before the election, and continues to reject every demand to release them. If he has nothing to conceal from the American public, he would surely have made them public before now.

The suggestion, clearly, is that his tax returns will reveal information that he does not wish to have known, perhaps to do with the nature of business dealings with Russia or other countries that could prove compromising. They may prove him to have been the liar he has shown himself to be in so many other areas. They may reveal personal conflicts of interest that are damaging to this country. Or they could be merely embarrassing, revealing that the actual philanthropy of a man who claims to be multi-billionaire belies his bloated claims.

It is disheartening to see Republicans rush to protect this president*.  Those who claim the moral high ground for American values and to put the interests of America first should find the courage to demand simple honesty in matters that affect us all.

As your constituent, I ask you to support HR 305 and require transparency.

Respectfully,