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Dear Donald Trump, Hamilton Proves You’re Not Ready to Lead

Mr. Trump, did that really happen?

Did you, the President-Elect of this country, really Tweet 3 times in the span of two days, to complain that your Vice President was being “harassed” by the cast of a Broadway show? 

Did you, perhaps the biggest bully on the planet, actually have the nerve to express hurt feelings for the words of dissenters, to demand an apology for perceived rudeness, to scold a group of people of color on how to properly conduct themselves with those they disagree with?

I don’t think you quite understand the thickness of the irony at play here.

Sadly, the past few days have drawn important attention away from your incendiary cabinet appointments, your ditching of the American press, your inclusion of your daughter in closed-door meetings with Japan, and your massive settlement of the Trump University fraud case—and that is unfortunate.

However, what these days have done, is once again illustrate that you are not ready, qualified, or seemingly interested in leading the diverse complexion of this country in any meaningful way  For all your talk of making America great, it seems those dreams are for a highly selective few and with a very limited pigmentation.

You Tweeted yesterday that the theatre was supposed to be a “safe and special place” for all people. No, Mr. Trump, you’re thinking of America. America is supposed to be a safe and special place for all its citizens; those of color, those who are gay, those who claim the Muslim faith, those whose voices are often silenced by people in power—you know, people like the cast of Hamilton.

In fact, the American theatre has historically been one of the few places marginalized communities have been represented and had a voice and been openly celebrated. Your attempt to use equality and safety there as a weapon against these same folks, highlights your inability to show the slightest compassion toward those most maligned and most jeopardized by your campaign and victory. The very Americans most in need of you as their President-Elect to reassure them that you see and hear and respect them, are once again having confirmed for them by your very conduct—that you really don’t give a damn about them.

That Mike Pence would attend a musical about America’s discriminatory past, little more than a week following one of the most racially charged Presidential campaigns in history (largely at your own hand), shows at best a complete lack of self-awareness, and at worst a brazen disregard for the marginalized communities of this country.

And the fact of the matter is that he (and you by extension) were treated with far greater respect than either of you deserved by the cast of Hamilton, given your track records.

They did not refuse Mr. Pence admittance or ask him to leave or treat him as inferior. That would have been understandable, given that you advocate for similar treatment of Muslims, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.

They did not speak to you with the kind of vulgarity and violence that you yourself used with women and protesters and reporters and Hillary Clinton during this campaign.

The cast of Hamilton did not boo the Vice President-Elect. The audience (made up of American citizens) did. The cast issued you and Mike Pence a direct, gracious, and thoughtful challenge to care for all its people, and once again you proceeded to attack instead of listen, to shame instead of understand, to silence people you find it difficult to respond to.

I’m not sure you really wanted this job, and I know that you don’t understand it, so let me help you: You work for the American people now, not the other way around. You don’t get to bully and shut down discussion and bulldoze citizens expressing free speech. You get the distinct and undeserved privilege to listen to the disparate voices of all the American people, and to serve them all as best you can. You get to humble yourself and consent to their will, not your own.

You received only a small percentage of Americans’ votes, Mr. Trump. The boos are going to be here for four years, so my advice to you is to put on that thick skin and those big boy pants your supporters are always saying Liberal “snowflakes” so need. Get off of Twitter and crack open some books because you are woefully ill prepared for this task at hand. You can’t Tweet or sound bite your way to leadership, so do the work that needs doing.

And perhaps more than anything, stop lecturing and ranting and scolding those who have been so very hurt in this country and who are right to feel threatened and worried right now—and start listening to them and trying to be their President-Elect, instead of a fragile Twitter personality trolling for sympathy. If your mind and attention are on Broadway shows and Saturday night comedies and newspaper reporters, your mind and attention are not on the things a President’s mind and attention should be on, which is the biggest problem here. You shouldn’t have time for this stuff and it shouldn’t even be on your radar.

Ask Barack Obama, George Bush Senior or Junior, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter how to honor this position.

You’re charged with leading America and all its people. Start leading.

 

 

 

 

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