Here is a letter I wrote to the editor of my hometown newspaper, The Gainesville Sun. 

I wrote this letter as an expat observing the infancy of the Trump Administration and overall explaining my feelings on America as it is in the global community.

This is my letter below (here is the link of the letter on the newspaper site):

I have had the amazing opportunity to live abroad in multiple countries including my current residence in Australia. If you talk to anybody who has lived outside of the US for a decent period of time, you will notice that person’s American identity has forever been warped and changed. Your viewpoint of the perceived “greatness” of America changes and a brutally honest perspective is formed.

Then again, America’s greatness has always been limited. Ask any minority group.

President Trump is a caricature of the societal norm of the ruthless and heartless Individualistic Capitalism parading as “American Exceptionalism”. If you really look at the history of the US, there are stories of soaring greatness in both achievements and atrocities. However, I am still a proud American and after seeing some of the World, I know America can be truly exceptional if we are willing to change our thinking as a nation.

Michael L. Byrd, Gainesville (Sydney)