Dear President-Elect Trump,
Congratulations on being elected as the 45th President of the United States of America.
As an Australian and therefore obviously a non American, I would like to contribute in some way to the pathway forward for you and your Presidency.
First up please stop the Twitter politics. Discussing international relationships, conflicts with US Intelligence agencies and future Trump Presidential policy directions on the same forum that you have a dummy spit with Meryl Streep and any journalist who disagrees with you, significantly lowers anything credible that you may want to Tweet out. Twitter is a great form of communication in one sense and an incredibly poor form of communication to run the largest economy in the world.
Secondly, stop getting involved in the playground type spats that you are having constantly with celebrities. So some don’t like you. ‘Haters are gonna hate’ to quote the philosopher Taylor Swift. Getting into heated and ugly twitter conversations with celebrities belittles the Office of the President.
And whilst I am on the topic of belittling the Office of the President, may I implore you to behave in the level of stature that befits the Office. This means you can’t do things like call journalists stupid nor can you make unsubstantiated and spectacular claims about media companies, or anything along those lines.
You were certainly voted in as part of an anti establishment vote and I personally think it’s great that you are not a career politician and have a heart to mess with the system. In my opinion that’s what the system needs. I also like the fact that you have not been bullied into silence by the Politically Correct Orwellian Thought Police. However, you are the President of the United States of America, what you say, your decisions and policies affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people, not only in your country but around the world. So as you bring in new ways of doing things, there also needs to be a sense in your communication and policies that you understand the gravity of the Office into which you have now been installed by the voters of one of the greatest democracies on the planet.
Speaking of greatness you said you want to ‘Make America Great Again’. As an outsider, may I suggest a few areas of your nation that if you bought significant and positive change to, it would go a long way to making America great again.
Homelessness: 610,000 people experience homelessness on any given night across America. Totally unacceptable and needs to be addressed.
Poverty and the Wealth Gap: America has the 4th largest wealth gap in the world, and the 3rd worst poverty rate among the developed world. I have spent a day on Skid Row in LA. I suggest you do the same. Hear the stories. Hear the pain. Yes you may be wealthy but that is not the experience for a lot of the people in your nation.
Related to the Poverty issue. Stop wasting America’s food. 31% of the food America produces is dumped. For the record that is 60 billion kilos…. Now think of those images you see on TV of starving kids or beggars on the streets of San Francisco. Sorry I meant to say 60 thousand million kilos of food thrown away?
School Shootings: There are more school shootings in America than any other country in the world. But the whole issue of Gun control needs to be dealt with. Have the political courage to take on what has traditionally been a no go zone for every other President.
Incarceration Rates. America has the highest percentage of its population in prison of any other country in the world?
Abortion: Like Gun control this traditionally has been the untouchable issue for Presidents. You have said you are pro life, then do something to address this issue.
Medical: You have said you will repeal Obamacare and to be honest I don’t know enough about Obamacare to comment. But I do know this. Medical bills across your country are so huge that 62% of all personal bankruptcies are caused by those medical invoices. This is outrageous. I personally know of a family who to be able to afford their daughter’s cancer treatments, both the mother and father were working two jobs and when the daughter died, they felt incredibly guilty for having not been able to spend the last months of their daughter’s life with her due to them having to work. They have since declared bankruptcy.
Pornography. America is the biggest producer of pornography in the world with a significant amount of this being child porn.
Police Shootings. Over the last five years 2,500 US citizens have been shot and killed by Police Officers. For the record this compares to 35 in UK and 5 per year in Germany: In fact the German police force used 85 bullets in that entire time: which incidentally is a little more than the bullets used to kill one mentally ill homeless person in Michigan.
The Divided States of America. The name of America is the United States but it seems that it’s anything but united. Racial tensions, Religious tensions, Democrat vs Republican, Tensions over wealth/poverty….You want to make America great again, then unite the nation.
Let’s talk for a moment about the American National Debt. Currently it is $20 trillion dollars. In 2015, the Federal Reserve spent $223 billion of revenue on servicing the debt. This debt situation is well known to be unsustainable. Here is the problem President-elect Trump: I know from doing a little research that you have no appetite to fix the economy. When asked in an interview in January 2015 what you would do to repair the US economy – you commented that it’s a task you would rather skip. Well it can’t be skipped. It needs to be front and centre of your policy agenda. Your dismissing of this issue is greatly concerning seeing the US is a consumer driven economy that is to a large degree the engine room of the world economy. You must address the spending of the Government and again do what previous Presidents have failed to do: tame the debt explosion. A bankrupt America benefits no one but the enemies of your nation.
As I wrap up this letter, let me just say a couple more things.
The American public have obviously given you grace for some behavioural issues in your past. Please make sure you now walk with great integrity as you hold office. As part of that and may I suggest even to attempt to make amends for some of the sins of the past, become a vocal and passionate advocate for women and the issues they face around the world. Show them great respect and fight against the mistreatment of women in various international arenas.
May I also suggest you make peace with Russia. Only three months ago there was chatter about the war footing that both America and Russia were on. Now I know there has been tension with Russia over the election interference and at the same time some concerns that you are too close to Putin….whatever the real story is, the world will benefit by not entering another cold war and clearly will be a better place by avoiding WW3.
I think you can make a positive start by ensuring the team that you appoint are men and women of wisdom, stature and experience. To appoint due to nepotism would not only be a bad look but a squandered opportunity.
I will compliment you however, on the Christian advisors you have surrounding you at the moment. No doubt they are speaking godly wisdom into your leadership and are praying for you.
I too will be praying for you.
God Bless you and God Bless the United States of America.
Peter
If this Blog has been helpful, informative, or inspirational to you, please feel free to share it on Facebook or Twitter. Email Subscriptions to my blog are welcome or you can contact me through Facebook (facebook.com/peter.pilt5), Twitter (@PeterPilt) or Insta (@PeterPilt). Have a great day.
You may be interested in reading other Open Letter Blogs that I have written:
Ps Peter Pilt’s Open Letter to Cardinal George Pell.
An Open Letter to Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
An Open Letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott
An Open Letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Categories: Current Affairs, Open Letters
peterpilt 
Peter, I am ‘gobsmacked’ by your open letter to President Trump and have some questions for you.
1. Who are you that Trump would take advice from you? Your letter smacks of self righteous arrogance, with a touch of smart alec thrown in. I don’t see the loving humility of a Christian pastor here.
2. Trump has not served one day in office yet you rant at him like some left wing nutter (in my opinion)
3. If you believe God has appointed Mr. Trump (as do I) then why don’t you just encourage rather than castigate him? (although he will never read this)
Peter, there are too many negative naysayers out there. Please don’t be just another one of them. As a pastor, pray and offer Godly counsel, as befits your office.
Best wishes, Alan
Alan I don’t think for a moment that Trump will read this nor that it will in anyway impact US policy. The format is merely one way that I have used to blog my opinion and thoughts about issues in the US. I have used this format before. Thanks for the accusation of arrogance, self righteousness and smart arseness.
I have also never been accused of being a left wing nutter. Thanks for that. That’s a new one.
Trump may not be in office yet but does that not mean that I can’t have an opinion on his twitter rants, his intelligence agency wars and his Celebrity squabbles. Or do you expect that if we think God has put him there he is above people having an opinion.
Peter thank you for your response. I thought you may have deleted my comment as it wasn’t too flattering. Re. arrogance: people who are opinionated, as am I, according to Gail, often come across in this light – that goes for self righteousness as well. If you check my comment, I didn’t call you a smart ‘arse’ but a smart alec. There is a subtle difference.
I would suspect you are not a left winger so I didn’t use the term in a metaphorical sense but as a simile – ‘like’. I said this because there is such a deluge of anti – Trump rhetoric at present and all of it is from the left wing nutocracy..Your comments in part were similar.
In my opinion, your letter to Trump would have been more suitable had it been written 12 to 24 months down the track, had he not acted on his promises. Therefore I think you are being somewhat presumptuous.
Peter, to me, the media has been having a field day against Trump for the past two years, while ignoring the ‘problems’ associated with the opposition. I would like to see a more even-handed approach.
God did put Trump there and I agree that he is not perfect but neither are you, me or anyone else for that matter.
Sometimes I like to ‘stir the pot’. I am not opposed to the ‘clergy’ having strong opinions about issues as I am one myself, but will often challenge fellow ministers or others, on their opinions.I may not always be right – but in my mind I am usually. lol God bless.
Wow Alan you obviously are reading this through a different lense to me. I thought this was a great letter & actually your letter smacks of the same thing you accused Peter of.
Thank you Gail
Alan, I invite you to engage with me around the ideas presented in this blog instead of just name calling and trying to stuff me into some box your think Pastors should be kept in.
Couldn’t find an equivalent to Obama in 2013. A comparison of the two may have helped Alan.
There are links to open letters to the Pope and Aussie Politicians at the bottom of this blog
I thought this was a great letter Peter. Anyone following his twitter rants, as I do, wouldmhave to question the man, his emotional maturity, and his fitness for holding office. He is without doubt narcissistic to the extreme as a personality type which is of concern. Whether the weight of the office can transform him & mellow & mould him into a better human being remains to be seen, or will the power only increase his narcissistic tendencies?? Interesting times ahead.
Wise words of encouragement ! I hope and pray too that the US will become a country with Christian values! I live in Canada and it is with great concern, how I see our beautiful country ,being mismanaged by the Liberal party!
I would like to ask you if you could sent a letter to our Prime Minister, who is too inexperienced for his office and in the one year he is in office,created a huge deficit !
Our people are losing.their jobs,small businesses are suffering ,because of electricity prices,(not his doing), and the implementation of this carbon tax! Family life is discouraged , gender neutral is a new bylaw, and christians are homophobic! Abortions are permitted,to fully formed babies!
The liberals form the majority in the government till 2019, so little can be done!
Thank you for reading my letter!
I actually know very little about the Canadian situation. I will do some research
Behavioural issues in your ‘past’ not ‘passed’…..
Oh I thought I had corrected this. Thanks. Will try again.
I actually thought this letter was well written and found it really informative and was surprised by Alan’s comment. It continues to frustrate me on a daily basis that people assume just because you have the word “pastor” attached to your name that this somehow leaves you a perfect, meek, opinion less, individual that is expected to be completely tolerant to all the worlds situations and circumstances. Wake up world.
Thanks for your comments Rebecca. I really hate the pigeon hole that adding Pastor to your name, stuffs you in. I am constantly stuffed in that hole. And constantly don’t fit in any way shape or form.
I am also sad that Alan just name called and insulted me but didn’t actually engage with me around the content of the letter. If people disagree with me, that is totally ok and totally expected. But don’t insult me. Engage with me. Lets have a discussion about the topic and robustly debate it out. For him as a Christian to act like he did is disappointing.
Thank you for this blog post, Peter. I find the “open letter” format a helpful way to start discussions about topics and may use it myself in future.
I was surprised and encouraged by some of things you raised in this post, not because I have a view of Trump and a lot of your points happened to agree with those, though. Rather, I was encouraged that you raised these points when, from my reading of your other posts and comments you make in your Morning News Wrap, I get the impression that your US political stance would be more on the side of Trump’s party than the other side. (That’s my impression, as I said, rather than a fact).
Why do I find that encouraging? It encourages me because I think it’s helpful if we can all assess the things that we support that are, outside of the Biblical absolutions and imperatives, things that are often very much a matter of personal preference and opinion. For the record, I think Trump is a bad choice for US president, but that doesn’t mean that I assume that everything he does will be bad or wrong for the US and the rest of the world. Nor does it mean that I think that Hillary Clinton would have been the best choice for president.
I grew up in a home where our dad had a political view and there was no debating it. For him the party he supported could do no wrong and everything that the other side did was ALWAYS wrong. A politician from dad’s favoured party might be found to be corrupt, or worse, and dad’s response would be to list all of the things that people on the other side had done wrong and say that they were much worse. Trying to be more balanced, or at least to consider facts before opining, is an area in which I’ve tried to start a new family tradition. Tried, at least.
Imagine if Trump read your letter, or something like it, and did change some of his ways for good. That would make him an even better president than his supporters think he could ever be, wouldn’t it? I see that as a chance for Trump’s champions in your blogging/Facebook community to thank you for your letter, rather than come straight out and deride you as being like “some left wing nutter”.
There are a couple of points in your letter that I hadn’t considered about Trump as president, and now they have me thinking. Thank you for helping me to think!
Doug
Thanks Doug. I remember when Gillard and Rudd were in and I kind of rode them pretty hard in terms of my opinion and I was chastised for being so right wing and was challenged “when the coalition gets in will you be just as hard on them”. I would suggest I am actually even harder on Turnbull than I ever was on Rudd and Gillard, but no one comes back and says “Oh so you are balanced, thanks”.
lol oh well.
I think the danger with Trump comes from people like Alan Jones, who commented first up on the blog, saying that God has put Trump in. Now we know that according to the bible all leadership is appointed by God. But I don’t think that there is necessarily a special dispensation for Trump that makes him untouchable to Christians or to scrutiny. To think that is supremely dangerous.
Amen to your last paragraph. The whole Isaiah 45/Cyrus “prophecy” regarding Trump is beyond me (Google that if you’re not across it).
After the third pre-election debate a pastor friend in Minnesota, who used to be my youth leader back here in Sydney, made an absolute statement about the election being rigged in favour of the Democrats. I commented and asked him what was his basis for saying that, and asked if his statement came out of his political bias. I didn’t question his political leanings, I asked how he could make such an absolute statement. Part of the vitriolic response (yeah, I know, I give as good as I get) included saying that he couldn’t believe people like me who would sanction ripping a baby from the mother’s privates as it was being born. ??? I didn’t know asking a question could make me such a horrible human!
Perhaps Doug you would have got a less emotional response if you hadn’t provided what seems to be your own answer to the question: political bias.
And of course it depends on what is covered by “rigged”. There was talk of voting machines being calibrated to favour the Democrats; of stuffing votes in ballot boxes; and of incorrectly reporting the number of votes and these would, I think, be classified as rigging.
But what about states refusing to insist on voter ID knowing that this would prevent illegal immigrants illegally voting and these tend to vote Democrat? Or what about the media (even in my local paper) whose reports on Hillary were positive and those on Trump negative? Or what about reported poll reports which, given the final result, can’t have been so in favour of Hillary? Or what about Hillary being given the questions that were going to be asked in the debates before hand? Are these included in “rigging”?
As to the last part of the response did something you say made you sound like a Hillary supporter given her support for late term abortion, and her confessed admiration of Margaret Sanger, founder of the murderous Planned Parenthood who said “we want to exterminate the Negro population” (and the media says Trump is racist and Obama told the African Americans to vote for Hillary???).
Anyway the voting’s over and Trump won.
The Democrats who told Trump that he must accept the election results when he suggested they might be rigged against him don’t want to accept the results.
I haven’t heard of anyone who said they’d leave the US if Trump won leaving yet; liars one and all I guess.
But as the writer of Proverbs says “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD”. 🙂
God bless,
…adg
Its a shame he most likely won’t read this because going by his limited vocabulary, he is probably illiterate, dyslexic or both… But great effort in trying!
OK, I’ll bite Steve, 🙂
I read that to imply that having a limited vocabulary because you are illiterate and/or dyslexic is in some way a disadvantage.
Given then what Trump has achieved with these disadvantages, what have you achieved without them?
Love the fact Gods men are having a voice in the public arena..Well said , and very thankful and touched as you finished with well wishes and prayers for Donald Trump..I am thankful he has Godly men around him as he steps into the role..Our hope is not in man but in Almighty God and may God be with this man and they say he has a humble heart to listen , I hope and pray he does…Thank you man of God , I am encouraged to hear my Leaders voices….
While I agree with the general premise that it is appropriate to live up to the office to which you are elected as a President, and while I understand this open letter format is how you like to engage people in debate, I can’t help feeling that it was beholden on you to include a reference to Obama’s irreverent and often bordering-on-abusive use of social media as well.
I am not particularly a Trump fan. However while he is overly frank, I have yet to see a post that has been used to ridicule others and the often almost abusive texts in Obama’s use of social media. While it doesn’t excuse Trump from following in a like manner, he has every right to use social media to express his viewpoints. It’s the manner in which it is done that matters.
Furthermore, your statement that “…you can’t do things like call journalists stupid nor can you make unsubstantiated and spectacular claims about media companies, or anything along those lines.” is incorrect. Many national leaders have made their feelings about particular people or entities clear, and some in much stronger terms than that. Trump didn’t start it and certainly hasn’t changed the protocol in any sense. Your article seems to infer that he a pioneer in this, which is far from the truth.
Secondly, there is nothing unsubstantiated about him calling CNN fake news. What’s would you call this from CNN’s Twitter feed, “extremist MILO Yiannopoulos, who’s Berkeley event sparked protests, takes on the college establishments and rallies white supremacists,” ?! As much as I would hardly align myself with someone like Milo Yiannopoulos, it’s more than a stretch to call him an extremist, but saying he was “rallying white supremacists” is just downright fanciful. If CNN posts such tripe through it’s official twitter feed, why shouldn’t Trump (and others) call it fake news? Because this is precisely what fake news is – unsubstantiated articles which have no basis in real journalism… ergo, much of CNN’s writings. The Washington post did an article on which were the mainstream media outlets to spruik the most “fake news” (ie. unsubstantiated and highly biased news ) and CNN came out on top. It was even guilty in multiple instances of re-publishing news from click-bait sites that wrote entirely false news. So labelling Trump’s claim about this media company as unsubstantiated and spectacular claims is simply false.
I’m not going to weigh into whether a Christian minister should be spending serious time and thought advising Presidents and other public figures on how they ought behave, or whether that time would be better spent more directly promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ (maybe you see it as such), but if you continue to do so, then surely it would be wise to at least get the facts straight.
I appreciate that you have been fair minded in your approach, as obviously you agree with much of what he professes to stand for, but I would have thought an article about encouraging people to pray for Trump and his administration that they would hear and follow the God’s leading, and conversely warning Christians to abstain from turning Trump into an all conquering hero who is their champion who will save the US and the world. His flipflop to conservative if it lasts could bring about a real reprieve from the evils that have befallen the US over the last 6 or so years. While Trump seems to be living up to the widespread hope that he was the better choice given that he is actually honouring his stated policy promises and has surrounded himself with some wise councellors, he is a seriously smart man of previously poor character who has more than a touch of meglomania who has always only acted in his own self-interest. As such what becomes of the US under his presidency is far from a sure thing.
So of all the facts presented the two that you argued about and told me that I need to do more research on was about the media and fake news.
Wow. Ok.
There is so many deeply disturbing facts in the letter that are well researched. Let’s focus on them.
The number of lies espoused by Trump is growing day by day.
So what about the positives of Trump?
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/ A taste of some.
I thought it was pretty fair comment across the board. A lot of America’s ailments you listed are I think symptomatic of the fact that so many in power are not there by faith or to represent the faith, but are there by the appointment of higher powers of the dark and satanic variety. We can see this in a Breitbart story about Sally Quinn, the surviving widow of Ben Bradlee, the Washington Post’s powerful executive editor from 1968 to 1991, who then served as the paper’s vice president until his death in 2014. Ms Quinn, like Hillary Clinton, had been for years a practising occultist who put hexes on people that allegedly led to their deaths:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/09/12/gatekeeper-of-dc-society-sally-quinn-comes-out-as-occultist-used-hex-to-kill-people/
All of this underlines your concerns for Trump and thank you Peter for pledging to pray for the president. He needs it as all of them do.
If Obama had said these – Trump words. “He is not a war hero” (John McCain ” I like people who weren’t captured”) “I have a very good brain” “Sorry you losers and haters my IQ is one of the highest and you all know it” “Why do I have to repent and ask for forgiveness when I am not making mistakes” ” I got to know Putin very well because we were both on ^60 minutes” ” I don’t know who Putin is”. Frederick Douglas has been doing an amazing job and getting recognized more and more” Opps he died: 20 February 1895, “I moved on her like a bitch. I just start kissing them I don’t even wait” There is more. Many Trump supporters just accuse Hilary Clinton of being an enabler with her husband. What we have now, Stormy Daniels. Her Lawyer said three other women have come forward with claims they were forced on NDAs with Trump. There is even talk about Trump paying one woman indirectly for an abortion.That evidence will eventually come out,
Imagine how Melania must feel now that she learns her husband may have been unfaithful to her after their son’s birth. Comey said character matters truth telling matters. I wonder when the history of this time is told in years to come the real heroes will be recognized. Lets hope the trade wars don’ bring on the depression that some economists have warned us about which was actually happening in the late 1920s. Evangelical Christians are going to lose all credibility. Will it continue? Eighty percent of the churches in America are not growing, and eight churches a day close in the United States and Canada. The most recent Annual Church Profiles for Southern Baptist churches in the state of Florida reflect mostly declines, while some fourteen percent did not report any numbers at all. According to the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, the Southern Baptist Convention reported 16,160,088 members for a decline of nearly half a percent (.42%).” and only a third of the 16 million turn up Sundays. You all better pray for him. If I ever see some transformation of Trump I will be able to say “maybe prayer does work” I am not holding my breath.
Hi Noel. Seeing you like to comment on my blogs, which I like, I would like to know a little more about you than just your name. I engage with a Noel on Facebook and I don’t know if that is you or not. So I am inviting you to tell me a little more about you and what you do or have done in life. It will help me engage more with you and your thoughts on my blog.
Well most of all married to Helen. 4 daughters five grandsons and one granddaughter. I worked in Education Queensland for more than 30 years in Information management. I was raised in the Lutheran church attend Concordia College in Toowoomba. Family had some difficult times. Mother was in mental hospital for almost 18 years before coming to a rest home in Bowen Hills. Dad died in a fire on our farm in 1953. My sister and older brother took care of us, myself and an older brother boarded at school.
At the end of my teens I joined the Mormon church and was a member through 20s and early thirties. It was there I met Helen and we married. I started doing some research on Mormon origins and eventually left. That story of my journey would be long. I might write it out one day. I wonder if I should write something about my family as it is both tragic and amazing. I thought of doing an ebook on the Mormon stuff as I have some good online contacts, material in books and an excellent database on DVD. FB friends send me papers etc.
I started doing a BA at Charles Sturt Uni and stopped and may go back to it. The hardest subject I did was applied ethics in philosophy and major assignment was on abortion. I loved psychology.
I mentioned Nancy Murphy and she has written on the issue of the soul/body teaching and seems to come down on side of physicalism not dualism (spirit body)
I love research but find it hard to put something in writing. I have heard some writers say that writing a book took some time and almost painful.
For the moment I give you some idea. I have had a couple of chats with Pastor Haak from the Beenleigh Lutheran church. This is his first church since graduation. He told me the Lutheran church was having a debate on women in ministry and it may cause a split.It interesting that the Lutheran church is good at schools but not much good at church growth. However it seems the Africans are making some growth. The Little Church That Grew on Compass ABC a church in Shepperton Victoria grew after an influx of African refugees.
That might been one has to give up singing or hearing S Bach’s chorales”sigh”
Well hope gives you some idea
Regards
Noel
Great Thanks Noel. That’s awesome. Really appreciate the fact that you shared. Makes me more likely to engage as I really don’t like talking to anonymous people. I took my 14 year old daughter recently to see the Book of Morman. Have you seen it.
Would you have a coffee with me? Actually I don’t like coffee. But I love a good conversation. So let’s do this in person rather that on line. I am keen to hear how you view the world. My shout.
No I have not seen the BOM musical yet. I have seen some excerpts online. The LDS believe that God was once a man and became God. They also believe good living LDS can also progress to Godhood. They often mine early church fathers writings for information to support their doctrine. The Orthodox churches have a type of deification but nothing like the Mormon view. See “Theosis, or deification, is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God, as taught by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches. … According to Eastern Christian teaching, theosis is very much the purpose of human life.”
I see the Mormon missionaries in the Beenleigh library on Wednesday the day their Mission President allots for them to go online and write home. They are getting more active in Brisbane CBD. . When I was working in CBD I would walk out in the mall and there were Chinese speaking missionaries out there trying to engage Chinese students and locals on conversation.They are not very conversant with the more controversial aspects of some of their history and doctrine.The Chinese girls looked flattered that white Americans could speak their language.