In this season of fires in the southern hemisphere, I am reminded of the one we have burning right here in our country. It has a name, and that name is Donald Trump. And he is systematically burning his way through every moral tenant our nation has held dear. He is, like a wildfire, out of control.
I am also reminded of ways wildfires can be effectively fought. Of course, the most obvious weapon against fire is water. Dousing a fire with enough water will have the desired results. While dousing Donald Trump with water is not an option, we could try to soak him with truth, logic, morality.
Still, my suspicion is that none of that will work. Trump has already shown that he has a very sketchy relationship with morals and truth, so most likely trying to use those against him would have little effect.
Another very effective way to fight fires is to remove what’s fueling it. Cutting fire breaks can often limit the damage a fire can cause. With regard to the Trumpster fire, voting him out of office would remove the fuel. Unfortunately that will take many months, and there is no guarantee we will get a fair election this time either.
The perfect way to stop a fire is to deprive it of oxygen. Fire is, simply put, a very rapid oxidation of a material; without oxygen that can’t occur.
When it comes to Trump, his oxygen is notoriety. He is a narcissist and as such thrives on being the center of attention. The presidency is the perfect place from his point of view in that every move a president makes, every word a president says is news and thus gets attention.
Add to this Trump’s instinctive tactics to garner attention, and you have an out of control narcissist in a very dangerous position of power.
So how do we starve this fire of oxygen?
We can begin by slowing down the amplification of every morally bereft statement or act the man makes. There is nothing to be gained by broadcasting his latest tweet or outrageous statement all over social media. All it does is feed his ego and fan the flames. It also infuriates his cult-like followers, who are never outraged by his behavior, instead finding it the perfectly “refreshing” antidote to the “political correctness” they rail against.
For anyone who is seriously opposed to Trump and his politics, the rebroadcasting of his outrageous behaviors only reinforces the already obvious fact that he is morally bankrupt and a danger to the entire world. Frankly, if you don’t already know that, no amount of information is going to change your mind. And splashing his latest tantrum across social media only gives him the oxygen he needs to keep going.
Though he might not see your posts or your friends’s posts, he does watch polls and trends, and as long as his name is running high in the ratings, good or bad, he is happy.
There is no new information regarding Donald Trump. He is a one trick pony; his tweets and chopper-talk press appearances are all designed to do one thing: focus cameras and microphones on Trump.
So why give him more of what he wants? It’s not like he is going to do anything surprising. He will continue to dismantle our freedoms, attack the bedrock morals of society and lie — lie a lot.
I could successfully make up tomorrow’s headlines simply by imagining how low he could go. I would have a high probability of predicting him correctly, and, frankly, so would everyone else.
It’s time to starve the Trumpster fire of its oxygen. Stop feeding the flames on social media and start doing something to make sure he is doused in November.
Get out and work for a candidate to defeat him. Start working to make the world a better place. Start living your life openly and freely and without the cloud of Trump’s smoke hanging over your head. You will find it a lot easier to breath.
Hardy Haberman is a longtime local LGBT activist and a board member of the Woodhull Freedom Alliance. His blog is at DungeonDiary.blogspot.com
Perhaps the author of this article should consider his role in being ANTI-AMERICAN for the rhetoric he spews. This wack-job is nothing but an activist. Go back to SF and preach your crap there…it’s definitely not needed here. The liberal left are only concerned with THEIR agendas. They care NOTHING about those who do not think the same. If you don’t like Trump, perhaps move out of the U.S., because there are even greater numbers of voters who overwhelmingly support this president.
Hopefully you are intelligent enough to look at how well the economy is doing, lowest unemployment in over 50 years, African-Americans lowest unemployment rate ever (I fall in that category, and was unemployed waiting for ‘government’ to bail me out’, but I saw I AM THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN CHANGE MY DESTINY), lowest Hispanic unemployment ever and might I add that those who do not like our President are uneducated and misled, and will continue to spread their venom to anyone dumb enough to listen to it.
So, keep preaching your hate…you are only helping President Trump who WILL be re-elected 2020!
He mentions nothing Trump has actually DONE to make him such a danger to the world. He has no idea. (as he quickly searches the web to respond…)
“ORANGE MAN BAD. ORANGE MAN DO BAD STUFF. ORANGE MAN BAD.”
Gwen-
I usually refrain from responding to anything politically motivated, however, when I see such obvious contradictions in a response I decided to leave you thoughts of my own.
First – I am not sure how you can ascribe the change in unemployment rate to “our President” when you yourself said that you were the “only one who could change [your] destiny. “ It is either that you have a flawed thought process or a clumsy way of writing that would allow such clear contradictions to be aligned in the same sentence.
Second – your failure to include references to support your statements indicates you might possibly be citing either flawed statistics or perhaps just going with what you believe or were told.
Third – your assumptions that those “who do not like our President are uneducated” does not have a foundation . I am not a fan of “our President” and I assure you I have more education and qualifications than could usefully fit on an envelope. I am sure I am not the only one who does not fit in with your widesweeping generalizations in this regard.
And fourth – perhaps when talking about education or lack thereof you might want to read up on the use of the British comma or a perhaps consider judicial use of more periods.
Gwen,
For all the so call employment status is a mix of part time being the growth and full time on the down side. Sure people who are struggling from month to month usually have 2 to 3 part time jobs with no benefits or medical coverage. If you think the quality of life is better then you need to get out and see how people are really living in the United States.
Lets talk about the over two thousand + proven lies that trump has stated on social media. Bullying people or his whole hate speechs about women, POC, people who do not fit or follow his so call religious views or the whole treatment of foreigners. If you think this is what an leader of the so-called “free world” should conduct himself that is your right, not mine.
Our country’s politicals has become an laughing joke to many foreign countries, we are seen as weak and unbalanced, trumps actions or lack of, or clarity has made this mess, yet he points his fat figures to government staff as the issue (which just shows is an lack of leadership, values). Not once has he owned up for an mistake. We no longer have a government for the people buy the people, it is trumps government controlled by fear and punshishment to those who step out of trumps line. Lets also point out that our government is no longer following the Constitution but about following one man. Maybe you wish to call him king trump or dictator trump but I do not! A great example is trump not allowing papers and staff to talk at the impeachment hearing.
How about the effect on our children and how they will view what a leader is supposed to be like or/and how he/she should conduct himself. Another concern I have for the futher is how children will treat each other from the example of trump.
We all have an right to free speech and having views. But this is clear that if politicians can not speak freely I have to wonder when that will disappear for the rest of our nation.
If all people can reply to hardy’s post is grammar mistakes, saying he did not post his reference or calling him anti- American then do not reply to this post.
References look, listen (with your ears and from your inner voice), watch foreign news, read the white house weekly reports since trump took office, seek out the last 4 years employment graphs (I can’t remember the websites) sorry.
Jennifer