The USA targeted and killed 175 girls in its opening salvo against Iran. The US people are now deeply demoralised at home and the US government and corporations are desperately hated abroad for their death dealing and grotesque warmongering. Mehr News Agency

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My second letter to Trump was written in the warning tone of a poet and a prophet, a Daniel

by Dustin Pickering

A publisher based in Kolkata read an interview with Usha in World Literature Today and contacted me on Facebook. After we found some commonalities, Kiriti Sengupta of Hawakal Publishers invited me to submit a manuscript of poetry. I asked him what subject he wanted me to write about. He answered: “I want you to bring the God of the Bible out.” After this exchange we had many discussions about humanistic ethics and their roots in Christian teaching. After years of being an atheist, I was approaching Christianity from the viewpoint of secularism. The poetry collection I wrote as a result was Salt and Sorrow it was released on June 1st, 2016; a tiny book of Rumi-esque meditations rooted in scripture. I sent it to Coleman Barks.

January 20, 2017 and what I feared would happen came true. Donald Trump was elected president. I had never voted previously, but when he began his campaign I felt the impending danger. In late 2018, there was the federal government shutdown over Trump’s demand for a border wall. That was considered to be the longest shutdown in American history . . . until his second administration broke that record. News stories reveal how government employees suffered as a result.

I decided to send a copy of my new book with a short note to President Trump and I asked him to end the shutdown. In my letter, I discussed the hurt and frustration felt by federal employees and wished his administration the best.

I mailed this package to the White House directly from a local postal annex. Coincidentally, a few days later, the shutdown was ended. I fantasised that my gift had had an effect. I did not tell anyone I sent the book. But, on April 1st that same year a arrived in an envelope from the White House written on a formal White House card and signed by the president Donald Trump.

Perhaps he had misunderstood that my book was a secular approach to Christianity, not a Christian approach. Trump wrote (or the person writing the note wrote) that he was glad we lived in a country where the Word of God was openly spoken. I proudly framed this letter and posted on social media how I had interacted successfully with the administration, fondly imagining that I had helped prompt him to end the shutdown.

Little children were separated from their mothers and fathers and put in cages with no cleaning facilities

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But not too long after this, the policy of separating families began. Little children were separated from their mothers and fathers and kept in cages. In a horrible echo from history, these children were caged without sanitary items and not allowed to contact their families.

I felt compelled to act. What could I do to obtain the sanitary items? I couldn’t afford to buy them myself. Perhaps I was naïve, but I found the Unilever email and emailed them to ask if they could donate items or funds to help these caged children.

Initially their response was that they were not able to help. But, to my delight, a few days later I had another response from someone higher up in management. The note said they had reviewed my email and had decided that children in such situations required their help. They reached out to the Department of Home Secusity and aasked their employees for donations. Notice, intially they did not offer any money themselves.

Their second response came in June 27th, 2019:

Dear Dustin,

Thank you again for your recent email. We’d like to provide you some further information regarding your note.

Neglect or mistreatment of the most vulnerable and innocent of people—children—is unacceptable and at Unilever, we believe we cannot just stand by and watch. We spoke with a leading aid organization for migrant children, and contacted the Department of Homeland Security and Customs & Border Protection to ask how we can help, inquiring about donating personal care products and diapers. Legal restrictions prevent government agencies from accepting such donations, so instead we are extending our financial support to two organizations that are on the front lines in the Rio Grande Valley advocating for the care and dignity of migrant children: the Young Center, and the Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Service (LIRS). We have also notified our employees of organizations where they can make individual contributions.

Unilever worked with the Young Center last year when we learned that migrant families were being separated at the border. They have since expanded their policy work to support more migrant children and families. We hope our additional support will lead to similar outcomes this year.

Again, thank you for reaching out to us to share your concerns. If we can be of any further assistance, please feel free to reach out again.

Sincerely,

Dove Consumer Services

Consumer Engagement Center | 800 Sylvan Avenue, Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

I also typed a letter to President Trump again. The letter was polite. I told him how leadership styles affect American history. My advice came from my readings of Richard Hoftstader. The letter was mailed to the White House.

My second letter is written in the warning tone of a poet and a prophet, a Daniel.

Dear President Trump

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Dustin Pickering

Houston

Email: desireofdogs@gmail.com

July 13, 2019

Dear President Trump:

In January, I wrote to you concerning the shutdown. I sent my poetry collection Salt and Sorrow as a gift. Shortly after, you wrote back to me to thank me for the gift. I write to you to acknowledge receipt of this note, express my gratitude, and to address something I consider of dire importance facing this nation.

This issue with detention centers at the border is upsetting. In American history, we have seen similar crises. However, I am unhappy with the way the White House chooses to address this matter. Our country is divided and is in need of a leader who can bring the polar extremes together. We see this with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aligning with Sen. Cruz. I hope to see this type of leadership from you, your officials, Vice President Pence, and others associated with your administration. There is too much blame and it confuses things immensely.

I have personally spoken with Rep. Brian Babin’s office to learn that there is a bill on the floor to allow private donations to the detention centers where illegal immigrants and refugees are being held. However, I also hear that Rep. Lindsey Graham will not let a bill through the House. I do not know what to believe. Both the left and the right are blaming one another. I find this to be confusing and not helpful. It doesn’t tell me what is happening, what is being done, or what I can do as a citizen.

I would like to send this quote from Albert Speer’s book Inside the Third Reich for its powerful insight on people in positions of power: “His favor is so desirable to his subordinates that they will sue for it by every means possible. Servility becomes endemic among his entourage, who compete among themselves in their show of devotion. This in turn exercises a sway upon the ruler, who becomes corrupted in turn.” Speer goes on to write: “The special conditions of his style of rule led Hitler…into increasing isolation.” I do not wish to stoop to Nazi analogies in your leadership, but I believe the lessons in history purport to show leaders have a great impact on the future of a country. The United States of America has offered profoundly powerful leadership to the world but I understand we are not appreciated for the good we do, reviled for the bad, and have put ourselves at financial risk in assisting others. I have read you are making a sincere effort to limit these risks by encouraging other countries to provide their own defense. I do not believe you are a bad person. The partisan media confuses things and sometimes your own behavior (for instance, on Twitter) leads me to wonder what the truth is. I cannot tell as a person with limited resources in acquiring information. I do believe you are a brilliant man and I hope to appeal to your good nature in my correspondence.

I do not want to see this country divided by violence, steering on the brink of utter chaos as we continue to hear bipartisan views on matters of dire importance such as these detention centers. This is a frightening situation for many of us. If the Democratic leadership is failing, please work to call them to task. If the problem is your own party or leadership, I imagine you are sincerely working to overcome that.

It is simply unfair to those of us who want to believe you intend well for the country to be in continuous confusion about the most important matters of this century. The heated rhetoric is simply too much. I do not want to see a Pyrrhic victory for one party or person. I want to see this country in togetherness as it has been in other periods of crisis.

I hope my book has pleased you and the First Lady. I am immensely pleased to have heard back from you and hope to continue writing and being heard by our President.

Thank you,

Dustin Pickering

Houston, Texas

The second term’s delinquency, began! We have been led to a political standstill filled by a demagogue. My fears were borne out: we have bipartisanship and violently diverging opinions in America, and the USA is now deeply demoralised at home and desperately hated abroad for its death dealing and grotesque warmongering. At home children are caged, and raped by the Epstein class. Abroad they are murdered with US weapons in Gaza and Iran.

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DUSTIN PICKERING is founder of Transcendent Zero Press. He has contributed writing to Huffington Post, Los Angeles Review, The Statesman (India), Journal of Liberty and International Affairs, The Colorado Review, World Literature Today, Asymptote Journal, and others. He is the author of numerous poetry collections and books including Salt and Sorrow. He placed in the top 100 for the Erbacce prize in 2021 and 2023, and was a finalist in Adelaide Literary Journal’s first short fiction contest. He was longlisted for the Rahim Karim World Prize in 2022 and given the honour of Knight of World Peace by the World Institute for Peace that same year. He hosts the popular interview series World Inkers Network on YouTube, and co-founded World Inkers Printing and Publishing.