472 US Writers Sign Open Letter Against Donald Trump

Some 470 US writers — including big names like Dave Eggers, Stephen King, Phillip Lopate, Rebecca Solnit, Cheryl Strayed, Amy Tan, and Pulitzer Prize–winner Junot Díaz — have signed an online petition to oppose the candidacy of Donald Trump for president. Co-written by novelists Andrew Altschul and Mark Slouka and released on the website Lit Hub on Tuesday, the “open letter to the American people” has since gathered more than 15,000 additional signatures.

“The rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response,” the letter says.

Although it’s not clear what the end goal of a statement like this is, Altschul, author of the novel Deus Ex Machina, explained to BuzzFeed News what he hoped it might do: 

What we hope to accomplish, most of all, is to loudly express the voice of our community. The statement is an expression of what we see as uncontroversial American values — and so we hope those who read the statement will ask themselves whether Donald Trump is a suitable representative of those values. Maybe we’ll change some minds.

Some writers took to social media to gather support for the petition, tweeting with the hashtag #WritersOnTrump.

Stephen King did not, sticking with his self-imposed moratorium on tweets about Trump.

The open letter reads, in full:

Because, as writers, we are particularly aware of the many ways that language can be abused in the name of power;

Because we believe that any democracy worthy of the name rests on pluralism, welcomes principled disagreement, and achieves consensus through reasoned debate;

Because American history, despite periods of nativism and bigotry, has from the first been a grand experiment in bringing people of different backgrounds together, not pitting them against one another;

Because the history of dictatorship is the history of manipulation and division, demagoguery and lies;

Because the search for justice is predicated on a respect for the truth;

Because we believe that knowledge, experience, flexibility, and historical awareness are indispensable in a leader;

Because neither wealth nor celebrity qualifies anyone to speak for the United States, to lead its military, to maintain its alliances, or to represent its people;

Because the rise of a political candidate who deliberately appeals to the basest and most violent elements in society, who encourages aggression among his followers, shouts down opponents, intimidates dissenters, and denigrates women and minorities, demands, from each of us, an immediate and forceful response;

For all these reasons, we, the undersigned, as a matter of conscience, oppose, unequivocally, the candidacy of Donald J. Trump for the Presidency of the United States.

View or sign the public petition here.

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