Dear Editor,

I recently received an unsolicited request to send President Trump a birthday card. The request reads, “I assumed that because you won a landslide victory in November, most of your agenda would get carried out. But suddenly federal judges, radicals in Congress, the Obama-Biden Deep State and others are throwing roadblock after roadblock in your way.  Please don’t let them get away with it.” 

I take exception to the statement that Trump’s win was a landslide. Of the total number of votes cast, Trump earned 77,303,568, Harris 75,019,230, and 3rd party candidates 2,878,359. Trump held 49.81% of the popular vote, while Harris gained 48.34. 

A study from the Council on Foreign relations states, “Early election coverage described Trump’s victory as a landslide. But whether you go by the Electoral College vote or the popular vote, it was anything but. The 312 Electoral College votes that Trump won are just six more than Joe Biden won in 2020, 20 less than Barack Obama won in 2012, and 53 less than Obama won in 2008…

"In terms of the popular vote, more people voted for someone not named Trump for president than voted for Trump in 2024, and his margin of victory over Harris was 1.5 percentage points. That is the fifth smallest margin of victory in the 32 presidential races held since 1900.” 

As for Federal judges, according to NPR, well over 90 % of the lawsuits challenging Trump’s many executive orders have been upheld. Why? Because they are upholding the rule of law and the Constitution. Trump has forgotten his oath to uphold the Constitution.

He made a speech at the West Point graduation over Memorial Day in which he referred to those “who spent the last four years trying to destroy the country through warped radical left minds,” as “scum.” He claims the media is the “enemy.”

He can’t stand anyone challenging him. He calls any opposition voices Marxist, radical leftists and lunatics. This is the man who weenied out of Viet Nam with a “trumped up” excuse of bone spurs, now pretending to be a hyper patriot, all while gutting Veterans Affairs.

Trump has never tried to govern for all Americans. He has proclaimed that this “landslide” has given him an unquestioned mandate to shrink the federal government, fire or squeeze out thousands of federal workers in the EPA, IRS, CFPB, VA, National Institute of Health, FDA, NOAH, IRA, Social Security, etc. Who among us believes these actions make America safer or healthier? 

He fired Inspectors Generals, eliminated diversity programs, rolled back environmental regulations (a quid pro quo for fossil fuel executives who gave Trump one billion dollars for his campaign), took the US out of the Paris Accords (again) while the earth is warming steadily and deadlier, decimated USAID causing food to rot in warehouses while millions are starving, destroyed trust in our allies who have stood beside us in Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, placed random tariffs on allies, made many favorable decisions for Putin in his aggression against the sovereign nation of Ukraine… and the list goes on and on. 

He is a convicted felon and silver-tongued liar. How do I then send best wishes to the man who is single-handedly destroying the democracy that so many fought for? 

Maybe I am “woke” for believing that America is better than this. I prefer to call it “awakened” but woke will suffice. If woke means having compassion for your fellow man, caring that people are starving in far off lands, working to keep a livable earth for our grandchildren, caring that millions will lose their health insurance, caring that food banks are getting cut, or that essential research into many diseases is eliminated, fighting against wars and aggression, acknowledging that diversity, (and we are a diverse nation with many contributions from all), equity (equal access, a fair shake), and inclusion, (meaning we attempt to piece this nation back together and include all)… then call me woke.

This is the model of society that I am hoping for, one that embodies freedom and equity, and works toward that “more perfect union” that our Founders envisioned.  “We the people.”

There were thousands of peaceful “No Kings” demonstrations in every state (red and blue) this past weekend, many extraordinarily huge. Millions marched. Judging from the sheer number of marchers, one could say that America woke up. 

Bill Thibedeau

Gilpin County