Dear Trump

I was already 8 years old when, only 30ish years ago, the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (the first federal protections meant to finally protect women from violence) became law. In that same year, a boy on the playground pulled me off a swing, dragged me to the ground, and pulled my hair. That’s when trusted adults started telling me, “Boys pick on girls they like.” That was my first lesson in how this country lies to women about what violence is and what we’re worth.

Years later, those lies that love hurts nearly killed me. I’ve felt splinters of broken furniture in my back as his hands wrapped around my throat. I’ve stood in a room so thick with tension I lit a match just to get the explosion over with while my babies slept safely in the next room. I’ve seen hands, still split and swollen from beating my body, brush my daughter’s hair the next morning.

That is what domestic violence looks like. Not a headline. Not a statistic. It is waking up every day, one bad night or misstep away from becoming a fucking homicide case. According to the World Health Organization, more than 3 million American women experience this terror, and at least 324,000 of them are pregnant. Homicide by an intimate partner is the leading cause of maternal death in this country.

And the president of the United States calls that a “little fight with the wife.” not a crime

Let’s be clear: the most dangerous person in a woman’s life is not an immigrant, not a drag queen or trans person wanting to fucking pee in a public bathroom. It’s not a homeless “drug user” or any other caricature of danger politicians want you to fear. The most dangerous person in a woman’s life is her partner.

I am not saying that the system is without faults, but this administration of CLOWNS has gutted funding for domestic violence organizations and critical social services that keep survivors alive, making it even clearer that protecting women has never been your priority.

When the president dismisses domestic violence, he tells every battered woman, every terrified mother, every child watching their mom beg for her life: You do not matter. Your death does not matter.

Domestic violence is not a “silly little thing.” It is the epidemic killing millions in this country. And the blood is on the hands of leaders who laugh it off, and anyone who continues to support them.

I also want to say, directly to survivors. There are so, so many organizations and individuals still fighting for you. We will never give up on your safety. I will never give up on doing what I can to make this world safer for you and your children.