SCOUT'S HONOR

April 16, 2018

 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,
101 Main Street #380
Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Scout’s honor

Regarding the James Comey brouhaha: it’s pretty simple, really, isn’t it? Who are you going to believe, the man who’s proves himself almost daily to be a compulsive, serial liar… or the Eagle Scout?

I agree that Comey can be a pretty annoying witness. The self-righteous, punctilious sense of duty that compelled him to make that spurious statement, days before the 2016 election, that surely contributed to Hillary Clinton’s loss is on display again as he talks about his book and the moral transgressions of Donald Trump. There is a point at which a pious sense of honor overcomes common sense.

But can you seriously doubt that Trump is a liar? Can you condone the attitude toward women expressed not only in the infamous “pussy” tape but in a variety of other circumstances, too? Can you excuse the conflicts of interest that allow him to enrich himself, as well as his family and friends? Can you explain his continuing deference to more than one murderous dictator—though most especially Russia’s Putin? Comey comes across, in his latest ABC interview as elsewhere, as earnest, frank, and scrupulously honest. That a President of the United States would stoop to the kind of petty invective of Trump’s tweets is beyond comprehension. Aside from anything else, it validates everything that Comey has to say about him.

I ask you to join those few Republican voices of conscience that have begun to speak out about the president’s turpitude. Unless you do, you are complicit in his lies and his infantile behavior. 

Respectfully,


Peter Clothier, Ph.D,

YOUR TWEET

April 11, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Your Tweet

Just when I complain about your not tweeting (amongst other communications) you go ahead prove me wrong by tweeting yesterday. A nice coincidence.

But I have to say your tweet made little sense to me. You seemed to be commending your Trump for “standing up to dictators with strength” and asserting that his fooling around with tariffs has resulted in China backing down. I don’t see it that way. In the current skirmish that may, or may not precede a trade war with China, I see little sign of an overall, well-thought strategy for American business; and I’m sure that Xi Jinping plays better chess that does our impulsive president. (Sorry, I still can’t bring myself to give him a capital “P”!)

As for strength, I see none of it in Trump. Strength comes in part from a sense of inner security, in part from a clear vision and persistence in the pursuit of it. In Trump I see foolhardiness in the place of fearlessness, which is weakness posing as strength. Strength also recognizes and acknowledges vulnerability; it reaches out for and embraces assistance and advice. It does not make loud proclamations about itself, but rather stands back, modestly, and operates with quiet efficiency.

When it comes to the need for real strength, we see Trump backing down on every issue. We see him cowering before dictators rather than standing up to them, as you claim. What he projects is empty bellicosity, not power—and I’m afraid the whole world knows it. I’m surprised that you would argue otherwise.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

COMMUNICATIONS

April 10, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Communications

There’s a reason I write to you so much about Trump and your fellow Republicans rather than about your own congressional activities: it’s hard to find any real information about what you actually do.

My main (but not exclusive) media sources are the New York Times, The Guardian, The Hill, and social media outlets which I treat with appropriate suspicion. But mostly I run searches for you online: your Twitter feed, your press releases, your articles and opinion pieces—though these are few. Your website, I have to say, is a real anachronism—poorly designed, with very little information, most of which is well past its sell-by date. There’s no updating. You link to your blog, in which I see no entries since February 26, 2016! And so on. Am I missing something? Is there some place I can follow what you’re doing for your constituents in Washington on a day-to-day basis? Where I can find your opinions on issues of current importance?

I say this because I think it is one of the important duties of a Congressperson, to be actively involved in the issues of the day and to communicate on a consistent basis with the people he or she represents. I search, but I find no real effort on your part to keep us abreast of your activities. You must, I presume, have at least one media consultant on your staff—who is, to be honest, not doing a good job, unless it be to obfuscate and dissemble.

Particularly at this moment, with the November election looming, we constituents need to be informed about your representation of our interests. If I’m missing something, I’d appreciate it if you’d point me in the right direction. (I mean, of course, right as in right-hand, left-hand…) This is, by the way, the 255^th letter I’ve written to you. Still no response. Another communications lapse?

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

HEADLINE!

April 9, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Headline!

I see that you grabbed the headline yesterday in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times California section. The story… not quite what you might have wished. Your Republican challenger, Scott Baugh, an old friend, was a former partner-in-crime (with your wife, it seems, not exactly yourself)—to recruit a “decoy candidate to split the Democratic vote” in order to help Baugh get elected to the State Assembly. Now he’s looking to unseat you.

At the very least, Baugh will purloin a significant number of votes from Republicans who are disenchanted for a variety of reasons by your long occupation of your congressional seat. I can hardly blame them for seeing you as no more than a “dues-paying incumbent.” From the Democratic point of view, I worry that the number of candidates on our side will split the vote and leave you two Republicans to fight it out in November. I have been adding my voice to those attempting to narrow the Democratic field.

There’s one point in the LA Times story that I can personally relate to: you were described as being “frequently unresponsive” to colleagues reaching out for help on policy. To which I can only say that I’m glad I’m not the only one. As I wrote the other day, I have received not one single response to the now more than 250 letters I have mailed to your Huntington Beach office. Admittedly, I’m a Democrat; but I’m also a concerned constitutent.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

THE SWAMP

April 6, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: The swamp

So much for draining the swamp, I guess. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt may still enjoy (as of this writing) the confidence of his boss, but the stench around him continues to rise. It can’t be too long, surely, before Trump turns on this one too, as he has so many before.

Are you not bothered by the corruption, Congressman? Does it not disturb you that a sitting president of the United States continues to reject transparency around his business interests? That he appoint his daughter and son-in-law to high government positions and allows them to use those positions to further their financial interests? That so many members of his cabinet have been forced to resign or have been fired as a result of their feeding at the government trough and abusing the privilege of their office?

If you are not bothered by such things, I need to ask: Why not? Is it not incumbent on you to honor the trust placed in you by those who elected you? If you are not involved in corruption yourself—and I sincerely hope, for your own sake, that you are not!—are you not even so complicit in corruption if you condone that of others?

On the other hand, if you are indeed bothered by the growing evidence of corruption in high places, do you not owe it to yourself and your constituents to speak out forthrightly against it? Alas, I have not heard a whisper.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

IDLE CHATTER

April 4, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Idle chatter

I read (on The Hill) that you were on Fox News yesterday speculating idly about that shooting at the You Tube campus. Presumably for no better reason than that there was a crime involved, you took the opportunity to lay blame on “sanctuary cities” and speculate that the shooter “could be” an illegal immigrant.

Could be, I suppose. Could be a Russian oligarch. Could be from the planet Mars. Such idle speculation as yours is intended to ingratiate you, I’m sure, with various rabid constituencies—among them the gun enthusiasts and anti-immigration fanatics. In speaking casually in this way, however, you ignore the harm your thoughtless words inflict on many of your own constituents by inspiring further hostility and hatred. You achieve nothing other than to add to the toxicity of dialogue in today’s political world.

I, for one, expect greater circumspection and respect for people of all kinds from my representative in Congress.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.

THE "LEADER"

April 2, 2018

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher,

101 Main Street #380

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Dear Congressman,

Re: Tweet

I read your tweet about your reason for supporting Trump. You say: “He’s a leader that will protect us rather than let criminals and illegal aliens go to maraud around our neighborhoods.”

Like that Parkland teenager, I call bullshit. First of all, I don’t need this man’s protection, thank you very much. Besides, the image of criminals and (particularly) illegal aliens going around marauding neighborhoods it so wacky as to be beyond comment. The appeal to fear is one of Trump’s tried and tested tools to manipulate his base, but most of America does not buy into it. That’s simply not our experience of this country. And most illegal aliens are honest, hard-working people who do no one any harm and instead provide great benefit to our economy.

As for Trump “the leader…” Hogwash! The man can’t lead his own tail. He has squandered American leadership in the world. His leadership of his own party (yours!) has led it into serious discredit and disarray. His leadership of our country has succeeded only in deepening division and fostering hatred.

So please don’t try to tell me he’s a leader. I know that you persist in following him, but that is sadly to your own discredit. You can’t, surely, be you blind to his moral obtuseness and his turpitude? His administrative ineptitude? His contempt for everyone, excluding perhaps his family, but including those who follow him, as you do? He turns on all of them, eventually.

I say beware, Congressman. This man’s leadership is nothing to admire. It’s the leadership of a bully and a boor.

Respectfully,

Peter Clothier, Ph.D.