John,

By now you’ve heard how our vicious president reacted to the news of impeachment last night by lashing out against a widow who’s about to spend her first Christmas alone. At a campaign rally in Michigan, just moments after his hot take on what “women tell [him]” about their dishwashers, Trump mocked Rep. Debbie Dingell (R-MI) and joked her husband is probably “looking up...” from Hell.

Of course, this was just days after claiming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “teeth are falling out.”

I know we’re all inured to how Trump talks at this point—we’re not surprised when he slanders credible accusers of sexual assault, or when he degrades a powerful woman journalist by saying she’s got “blood coming out of her wherever”—but do you ever stop and think what it would be like if the elected leader of our nation wasn’t also the guy caught on tape bragging that because he’s rich and famous, he gets to “grab women by the p**sy?”

I’m really tired of people making excuses for Trump’s endless stream of ignorant, sexist, and downright violent comments about women. I worry what having a guy like Trump in the White House is doing to make boys think it’s okay to talk about women and girls this way—or worse, what message it’s sending to girls about how they should expect to be treated. As far as I’m concerned, anyone who’s giving Trump a pass is guilty as an enabler.

I’m 32 years old. I’ve spent my career in and out of politics and business. I’ve dealt with and worked with many wonderful men, but admittedly, also a few men who are a bit closer to the president on the continuum of “respectful and trustworthy” to “full-blown Trump.” I’ve seen the amazing progress women have made even in the decade I’ve been working, but I also know how fragile that is. In the Trump era, I’m worried about the ways we’re backsliding—especially if he gets four more years.

When I decided to join Joe’s campaign, one big reason was that I’m frightened about what we’re normalizing within the Republican Party when it comes to women. I’m proud of the campaign we’ve built with women at the helm. I was proud yesterday when Joe tweeted out a message in support of former Fox News anchor-turned-advocate Gretchen Carlson. I’m proud every time I hear Joe express that we can’t sweep the pressing issues facing American women under the rug.

I want conservative policy ideas of limited government and individual responsibility to thrive, but *no* policy ideas will ever get a fair hearing until Republican politicians get back to a sprit of fundamental decency. Whatever you hope the outcome of the 2020 election will be, I hope you agree we desperately need that not just because it’s what’s good for the party itself, but because it’s what’s existentially important to the future of America.

Will you help us send a message to Trump and his enablers—the ones in Congress, the ones in his propaganda-fueled media outlets, and, let’s be honest, even some of the people in our own backyards, who are turning a blind eye? Waging this fight starts with getting this message out in our own communities, forcing Trump and his enablers to be held accountable this election cycle.

That means keeping the pressure on them to do the right thing and get their act together in every Republican primary, starting just a few weeks from now. Will you help us take them on? Let’s make it impossible for them to avoid this reckoning.

He gets away with it because they’re letting him get away with it, and it’s up to us to not let them get away with it.

—Lucy Caldwell
Campaign Manager