Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

Today's Thursday Thrashing letter is a little different.

It's a letter to a Republican US Senator.

But it's not thrashing.

In fact, this was written before I decided to embark on my mission to write to each and every Republican Senator for a good tongue lashing. This was penned in the very early days of the Precedent Shitgibbon administration.

My concern was hardly unwarranted. Look how far we have sunk since then.

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2.2.17

Senator John McCain

218 Russell Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator McCain,

Integrity.

I don’t need to tell you how important it is. And how it determines a man’s character. 

I may not have agreed with you on many policy issues, but I have always been an admirer because in addition to your military service you have always exhibited integrity.

Character. Honesty. And perseverance, are important to me as well. 

They're the kind of attributes I hope I've instilled in my two daughters, currently at the University of Washington and at the University of Colorado. But I’m going to be brutally honest with you, watching the transition of power at the Federal level over the course of the last two weeks has given me great concern. 

And considerable heartburn.

Because I know, and you know, and I’m betting many of your colleagues know, the man in the Oval Office is seriously lacking in integrity. 

And grace. 

And humility.

I don’t need to cite examples of his shameful indiscretions. I’d prefer to keep this missive to two pages, not twenty.

Am I overreacting? Possibly. There hasn’t been a day in the last fortnight when I haven’t awoken in the morning, turned on the news and thought, “Holy shit what has he done now?”

I suspect millions of Americans, in blue states and red states, are waking up the same way.

Today, for instance, I saw a quote from Steve Bannon, our proxy president, stating that in a few years we will be at war with China. 

That is not very comforting.

I lived through the Watergate era. And I witnessed the amazing checks and balances built into our system of government by the wise forefathers. And unlike Mr. Trump, I can even name some of those forefathers. 

That’s where you come in because I am clinging to the faint hope that Congress and the judicial branch will hold the administration’s feet to the fire.

The viability and very future of this nation is in YOUR hands. You sir, have integrity. And it’s never been more necessary than at this very moment.

Thank you,

Rich Siegel

siegelrich@mac.com

Culver City, CA 90232