Dear Trump-Supporting Friends and Relatives,

Given the work I do and how explicitly I've already shared my thoughts, you already know where our family is regarding this Tuesday's election, but I need you to hear this from me.

Recently, our 11-year old said of the current president, "He hates us. Listen to the way he talks about us." She is internalizing the horrible partisan rally rants and the incessant, baseless, incendiary attacks on Liberals, Democrats, and the Left.

And you are collaborating with him.
Our children are not stupid. They are social media-savvy and politically informed. They see the videos. They read the news stories.

They see his rallies and his interviews and they watch what his supporters do and how they treat vulnerable people. They hear all his insults of women reporters and his childish nicknames and his abject lies.

They understand what kind of man Trump is, and the violence and lack of truth and cruelty that define him and his movement.
They are aware of the open racism of the MAGA base, the commandeering of the SCOTUS to take away healthcare and the rights of women, the denials of Science,

the weaponizing of Christianity, the recklessness of massive rallies in a time of quarantine, the staggering loss of life in this pandemic that he ignores, the efforts to silence the voices of people of color in this election—and on and on and on.

They watch Trump supporters spitting on store clerks and harassing people on the highway and even running Joe Biden's bus off the road—and they can't comprehend it all.

It makes them feel unsafe to have a president who inspires such ugliness. We do our best to encourage them, but the truth is, we feel unsafe, too.

And this is why I need you to understand that we see your vote for Trump as a ratifying of all these things, as a blessing of everything we fight against, as an affirmation of the worst of humanity, and most importantly as a direct act of violence against our family.

You are part of that movement with your vote.
You cannot differentiate yourself from it.
I don't say these things to bully or guilt you into changing your vote, as that wouldn't work anyway.

If you're still willing to affirm and support and partner with him at this point, there's likely nothing that can sway you.

Just know that this will be an irreparable wedge between us, a fracture that will be beyond ever fully healing, and it will be cause for me never to feel completely comfortable in your presence.

As a parent, I see this vote as antithetical to the America I want for my children and I see it as an attack on people I love.
I don't have time to list the ways and manners in which this is about far more than politics or preference, but just know that it is.

You matter to me and to my family, but voting for Trump again is something I can't and won't abide—and I wanted you to hear that one more time.

Thanks for listening.