‘Parks And Rec’s Leslie Knope Pens Letter To America

The writers of NBC’s Parks and Rec have released a letter on the 2016 presidential election from Amy Poehler‘s character Leslie Knope.

In the show, Knope is a relentlessly positive person, who advocated for Hillary Clinton in the past. In the letter, she is heartbroken over her role model’s loss of the election.

The letter opens up in the show’s normal, humorous tone, “perhaps a few people would enjoy hearing my thoughts on this election. So I sat down at my computer, cleared my head, and opened a document. Then I started crying. So I had some hot chocolate, and my close friend (Ann) rubbed my back for a while, and I got myself together, and sat down. And started crying. Then more Ann comforting me, and more hot chocolate, and back and forth like that for about six hours or so.”

The letter turned to a more serious note. “I acknowledge that Donald Trump is the President,” Knope writes. “I understand, intellectually, that he won the election. But I do not accept that our country has descended into the hatred-swirled slop pile that he lives in. I reject out of hand the notion that we have thrown up our hands and succumbed to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and crypto-fascism. I do not accept that. I reject that. I fight that.”

The letter goes on to address the women and girls of the nation who she hopes to inspire.