Donald Trump: Thanks For the Lessons You Taught Me

Dear Donald Trump,

Now that your time is up as the 45th President of the United States of America, I personally want to thank you for the last four years. What a ride! Some people are glad you are leaving the White House while you and your supporters still think you shouldn't have to go.

The purpose of this letter is not to itemize the political things you did wrong or even the things you did right. I am leaving that to the journalists, the media, the newspapers, and the history books. My goal is to let you know what I have learned from you while you were the leader of the country that goes far beyond politics.

Lesson Number 1

People remember when you came down that golden escalator in Trump Tower to announce your candidacy for President of the United States on June 16, 2015. Admittedly, it was a good optic that made a statement. That scene was actually prophetic and a foreshadowing of how your end would be. After four years, you ended up at the bottom.

You had absolutely no prior military, government service, or experience when you announced your desire to become the 45th President of the United States. Most politicians start at a much lower level and work themselves up to a higher one. Thanks for teaching me that a person can become President of the United States with no experience even though I personally don't think that's a good idea. It is like going to the dentist for a root canal from someone who has no dental experience. Ouch!

Lesson Number 2

Mr. Trump, you taught me words, phrases, expressions, and rhetoric I had never heard before you were in the White House. I admit that I will never use them myself, but they just slipped off your tongue during your speeches that caused people to raise their eyebrows in disbelief. However, your supporters clapped, screamed, shouted, and enjoyed what you were saying. I often wondered if I was missing something.

Some of those expressions included but are not limited to the following: fake news, witch hunt, and hoax. Because of you, words like whistleblower, fact-checking, impeachment, and packing the courts became familiar to me from your speeches and in your tweets.

Donald Trump Used This Word Over 250 Times In 2020

You had a nickname for many of your opponents. One newspaper had a full page of names you called people which included you saying: Crooked Hillary Clinton, Sleepy Joe Biden, Nasty Meghan Markle, and referring to Elizabeth Warren as Pocahontas. You used hundreds of other negative nicknames to criticize. Some people wondered how you could come up with those names. Since you are very good at it, I wonder what you will eventually call yourself and even me if you knew me.

Lesson Number 3

Mr. Trump, Americans learned that you are fond of superlatives and big numbers in almost everything you do. You often reported on big crowds at your rallies and other events. According to you, you always had the most and the best. When those issues didn't exist, you described them that way anyway and your supporters believed you.

Records show that you did nominate and install more Supreme Court Justices than other presidents. You will go down in the history books for having confirmed 234 Article III judges, three associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, 174 judges for the United States district courts, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade.

Those numbers far surpassed those of other presidents. In fact, Donald, you appointed more in four years than former President Barack Obama appointed in eight years.

While we are talking about numbers, you filed more cases for voter fraud and had more recounts than any other political candidate in the history of the country. Many of your activities did have high numbers, and some of them were unprecedented. For instance, you are the only president who was impeached twice.

Lesson Number 4

Mr. Trump, I saved the best lesson for the last because that one is very important to me. I must admit and others might join me when I say we all have learned more about civics and politics than we learned in high school. Because of you, we learned or were reminded more about swing states, the Constitution, and certain Amendments in four years of your presidency than we learned in four years of college, even with a major in political science. Americans learned more about voting rights, the election process, and the electoral college than during other administrations.

Mr. Trump, I have lived through the administration of 13 Presidents of the United States starting with Harry S. Truman in 1945. I must conclude that you were very different from any of them. I learned so much from you while you lived in the White House and worked in the Oval Office. That's because you kept me watching the news every single day to find out what you were going to do next whether it turned out to be good or bad.

Goodbye, Mr. Trump. Just as much as I have learned from you, hopefully, you have learned some things yourself. Now that you are no longer in the White House, take some time to reflect on the last four years before making any hasty decision for your next move.

Your presidency has given me much to think about and some things to be thankful for. I am writing this letter to you during the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. I am reminded that the civil rights leader said, “There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” That sums us my feelings.

May God bless you, Mr. Trump, as the outgoing president, Joe Biden as the incoming president, and these United States.