An open letter to Mitch McConnell from Christy Brown: Let’s be allies again to stop Trump. | Opinion
Dear Senator McConnell,
As I celebrate today the 56th anniversary of my marriage to my late husband Owsley Brown ll, I am reminded of the years of work we did together when you served as our Jefferson County judge, working to improve the lives of all Louisvillians. You may remember that Owsley and I hosted one of your first fundraisers in 1984, leading to your first successful run for the US Senate. You were passionately dedicated and highly intelligent, and we were desirous of continuing to partner with you.
Some agree politics is the “art of the possible,” while others say it’s the art of “choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.” Over time, you, Owsley and I, and other Louisvillians migrated to opposite wings of that spectrum. You rose to the greatest heights of power and influence, while we felt forced out of the party we so cared for.
Indeed, as Leader, you determined very many things to be merely unpalatable that we now consider truly disastrous.
After the mob smashed through the doors of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, you appeared to decide that former President Trump’s effect on the nation had turned disastrous. But since then, you have remained the Congressional leader of a party that tragically has forcefully opposed that opinion, at least in public.
Soon, you will step down from your leadership position, at which point you told the Chamber of Commerce you will be “free at last.” But free from what? Many of us firmly believe that if Trump is elected freedom is exactly what will be lost for us all, and you will have the blood of that historically tragic destruction on your hands, too.
You and I are no longer the slightly naïve young folks we were in 1980’s but in our different ways we are both still believers. I devoutly believe as you do in a two-party system and, I suspect that a second Trump Presidency will be disastrous for all Americans and our world, potentially enabling a new World War to break out in Europe, and quickly undoing your years of promoting democracy around the world.
You claim that you have “always been fighting” and now it is Kentucky and our entire country and world that desperately needs you to lead the fight against Trump’s second term.
When you come home after your term ends, I deeply hope that we will have many healthy discussions so that we can both with confidence have our tombstones reflect that we are both resting in peace because we found a renewed partnership in helping to stop Donald Trump, a vengeful malignant narcissist from destroying our country and our world.
Christina Lee Brown, proud mother of three and grandmother of nine, has lived in Louisville, Kentucky since 1968.