Open Letter to the Very Fine People

WASHINGTON / April 27, 2026 / BPALiveWire

Dear Very Fine People,

We write today to the very fine people who know better, say so in private and fall silent in public.

You tell us quietly that President Trump has been right about more than the commentariat will admit. You know America’s allies have too often treated the United States like an endless ATM. You know illegal immigration has been badly mishandled for years. You are excited that finally someone is pushing back against the transgender agenda. You know Iran has been allowed to push too far for too long. Some of you even concede that yes, a White House ballroom is necessary and hardly the collapse of the republic.

Yet when the lights come on and the audience appears, you disappear.

Why? Because you know the rules of your social tribe. Praise Trump for anything, even reluctantly and you risk excommunication. A raised eyebrow from the wrong person can cost invitations, friendships and status. So you choose the safer path, silence.

But silence is not neutrality. Silence is consent.

When you refuse to challenge the hysteria around you, you help sustain it. You allow people to keep saying Trump is a threat to democracy. You allow them to smear tens of millions of voters as fascists or Nazis. You let grotesque caricatures stand because correcting them might be uncomfortable.

And words do not stay words forever.

If people are taught day after day that a man is Hitler, that his supporters are enemies of the state and that the nation stands one election away from ruin, then some unstable people will eventually conclude that extraordinary action is justified. History has never lacked volunteers eager to “save democracy” by destroying it.

C.S. Lewis made a timeless point.  In Mere Christianity, he wrote, “Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death…. Surely the reason we do not execute witches is that we do not believe there are such things. If we did…surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did?” 

If someone honestly believes witches are burning villages, they will not host a panel discussion. They will reach for the rope.

That is what reckless rhetoric does. It creates moral permission for madness.

This letter is not to the mainstream media, which profits from panic. It is not to influencers who confuse clicks with courage. It is not to politicians who fundraise off fear while pretending to defend unity.

This letter is for you, the respectable very fine people at dinner parties, in faculty lounges, boardrooms and suburban cul-de-sacs. The ones who whisper, “Honestly, I agree with some of what he’s doing,” then say nothing while others compare neighbors to Nazis.

Your silence launders lies.

And to be clear, this obligation runs both ways. As conservatives, we must condemn attacks on Democrats, reject dehumanizing rhetoric and acknowledge good ideas when they come from the other side. Principle that applies only to opponents is not principle at all.  

The country does not need more selective outrage and tribal slogans. It needs adults willing to tell their own side when it has lost the plot.

The future may depend less on loud extremists than on whether very fine people finally find their voices.

Sincerely,

 Dee Dee Bass Wilbon

 Deana Bass Williams

Co-Founders BPALiveWire