9/12/2025

My Dear Friend & POTUS, DJT, 

I am staying in the house of the descendants of some brutal feudal lords who tortured “prisoners” by removing their eyes & fingernails. “Prisoner” is in quotes because the accused did not have a trial in a court, because “law” did not exist. The Lord made up the rules & changed them as needed. Everyone was on pins & needles worried that they’d be arrested for a transgression. 

The Lord made $$ off this because prisoners were contracted to row boats up & down the river while their salaries came back to the Lord. This twisted system led to false accusations & a reign of terror.  

I learned this history by visiting the castle at the top of the hill that looks over this verdant valley of grape vines & radicchio fields. Quite unsettling, but impressive that Italians are willing to confront their history of oppression. Doing so helps prevent it from rearing its ugly head again, don’t you think?  

You would like the Castlebrando. It now houses a hotel, a couple of restaurants & a bar. Our tour included a ballroom, a grand staircase, gardens, a museum of “suites of armor” & a prison including two cells & a torture chamber.  

I’m grateful that the White House does not have a torture chamber & that we don’t have a reign of terror in the USA. I hope you do everything in your power to prevent citizens from fearing their leaders.  

As John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, a British historian, Liberal politician wrote in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887, "power tends to corrupt, & absolute power corrupts absolutely." So, it would be best if you avoid trying to accumulate too much control. 

Please remember what your friend, Charlie Kirk said, “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, & they lose their humanity.” 

It’s my last day with my friends in this place so I need to get going to make the most of it. 

BYBS, 

RCA