Great photo- the best yet!
7
"Trump wants to grab you by the passion. Don’t let him." You just did, Charles.
2
New game: When someone says a certain name, you answer, indifferently,"Who?"
4
Love the picture.
3
Given events of the past week, I really don’t want to miss a syllable or second of Trump’s writhing in a writhy White House.
3
Yes, constructive plans and actions, do not ignore "agent orange" (thanks, Spike Lee) but let him not be the object of your thoughts. Infrastructure, health plans, the safety of our environment and of all of our people, being - in Buckminster Fuller's words, an effective "trim tab" on the planet's course toward, or rather away from, anthropogenic climate change.
In the words of Charles Blow's mother: We have survived worse. We can survive this. But we must recruit as much of our population as we can in the effort.
2
For better or worse, Trump's malevolence has become almost banal. We can count on him to always take the most divisive, dishonest, and evil action available. He does it intentionally to distract from his family's profiteering at our expense.
His ability to garner headlines is weakened after 2 years, which is a good thing. But our becoming inured to evil (some of us obviously had a head start) is something we may spend generations trying to overcome.
4
Those who say the press has a liberal bias really miss an important point. The press has a "controversy" bias. The press has a "shiny object" bias. The press has an "outrage" bias. The press has a bias to "expose indecency" partly because it is the right thing to do, but partly because it sells. Interest sells. Selling copy is the ultimate sin that trumps all others. And since Trump provides such "good copy" with all his shenanigans, his major foibles, he is covered as such: the political story of the century. Trump is covered as "Everyman Becomes President" and what you get is the foulness, the stench, the imperfections, of Everyman.
Policy discusssions? Boring. Ideological conflicts? Too esoteric. Right vs. wrong in how we're governing? Too subjective and therefore polarizing. Finding a middle ground in policy, establishing nuanced positions, compromising to find solutions? Boring, boring, boring.
Outrage sells, obnoxiousness sells better than bland. Trump is the logical extension of the foundations of this society - style over content - so Trump is the perfect embodiment of the coarsening of our discourse.
4
Voters who lost the last presidential election always pay more attention to the president they didn't pick. Republicans' obsession with Obama continued for eight long years and they had far less to be afraid of and shocked by. Mostly, they had to make stuff up to keep their passion burning.
3
I don't think the media should stop covering Trump. I think the media should stop repeating the things he says at his grotesque rallies and at his press conferences. And his tweets. His tweets are there for all to see. Or at least the media could change the balance - more on what legislation the administration is proposing, what the GOP is trying to move through the Congress, and less on Trump's verbiage. Good example - report that he didn't attend the ceremony to honor veterans in France. Don't report on whatever stupid thing he said about it.
1
While not contesting Mr. Blow's wisdom, I fail to clearly see how not to react with despair to this insanity. It boggles the mind. How do you stay calm in the face of it?
Of course "we ... are so outraged by the dishonesty, villainy, corruption and divisiveness that we appear to be attracted ... to that which underscores and feeds our fury." I agree, I am but a moth drawn to the flame - I feel powerless to avoid it without blanketing myself in a cocoon. It may well be 'self-immolating', but what choice do we really have?
The cognitive dissonance evoked by this 'I've run out of adjectives to describe this total waste and failure of a human being' is just too overwhelming to the psyche of us sensitive types. Any psychologist worth his/her PhD will tell you that keeping anger bottled up inside is not mentally healthy.
It's all well and good to look to the future, but I'm still not hopeful that the worst is over. The fact that 1/3 of the US population still adores what he stands for is so upsetting to anyone with a modicum of emotional intelligence, as to be mind-numbing.
I wonder if we will overcome this assault; I worry that the longer this goes on, the more permanent the damage to our civilization.
We must never stop fighting this insidious disease, but much like medical researchers and providers must recognize pathogenic micro-organisms to treat them successfully, we have to hear his evil ugly lies to protest them.
Thank God for the Jim Acostas of the world!
3
I cannot think of Trump followers as being anything other than a Cult.
"a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.
"a cult of personality surrounding the leaders"
synonyms: obsession with, fixation on, mania for, passion for, idolization of, devotion to, worship of, veneration of"
I do believe the media should stop attending his ridiculous rallies as it gives him fodder for his insults, he is always playing to his audience and using the media in their "Pen" to hurl insults at. Maybe just have a couple of journalists turn up to his so called press conferences to make a note of the lies but as you say Mr Blow all we are going to hear is more of the same. Men like Trump thrive on attention so we need to start starving the beast. We don't want to hear what his has to say because it is all revolting nonsense.
1
I stopped watching any and all TV, cable, or radio news seven weeks ago. My original intent was to avoid any clip of 45, his voice and his face and his gestures were starting to drive me into a near rage. I am a person who is not easily bothered, but 45 sends me to a place I wish not to experience. Nearly eight weeks into a 45 free life, my mental health is back to where it was before that horribe day, one of the worst days in American history, November 8, 2016.
5
There's actually some news and commentary I'd rather click on that anything with "Trump" in the headline. Remember what the top priority of Democratic voters was just yesterday? Healthcare. For me, it is still is and will be tomorrow until we get a single-payer system of some design. There is much public education to do on the concept. Just because there are no "How are you gonna pay for it?" answers locked in as yet, people first have to know how it would work and how it would be better than what we have now before they decide if it's worth paying for. Many groups are working on that issue. Ring up some of them.
1
The horror of Trump is that his prejudices (in his tweets, in his speeches, in his interviews) often reveal where his policies are going. He inflames us with his sloppy rhetoric because his words are the headline for the story that’s going to follow.
In some ways, we’re obsessed with his words because we’re angry about his policies. But I agree that we should focus on his policies, not the nonsense he offers on Twitter or at his rallies.
Trump can create an uproar any day of the week, but he needs to work through difficult legislative processes to enact any of his terrible policies. That’s where the battle is; that’s where the outrage and opposition should be. The rest is a distraction, and Trump knows it.
1
I have basically given up trying to escape it; it is the epic saga of our times, for good or ill.
I don't know if you're old enough to remember Watergate, Charles. It was the most engrossing mini-series ever aired on television. (And that includes the OJ trial.)
2
Please please stop saying Trump's behavior is not normal!
His supporters voted for him in large part because he is not what they see as normal. They wanted something outside the norm and if you just have to vote Republican that's a reasonable thing to do. He is as abnormal in a negative sense as Obama is in a positive sense. They wanted abnormal but they couldn't and still can't articulate what kind of abnormal would be helpful to them. In stead of using that word try incompetent or lazy or disinterested or dishonest , mean of spirit anything but abnormal!
3
Mr. Blow, I whole heartedly agree with your column. Perhaps whatever the media is, it should focus on past Presidents who addressed the same issues facing this country today successfully, with dignity, and without destroying America’s soul.
Additionally, a good compare and contrast with the past decorum and respect previous Presidents have given to this country’s citizens and institutions would be in order as well.
1
Thank you! I really needed to hear those words!
1
Michelle Obama was not wrong. Go high when they go low. The antidote to Trump's lies, demonization, ignorance, and fear is truth, love, smarts, and courage. Go so darned high they won't know what hit them. Yes, do it for all of the obvious good reasons, whether or not it enlightens the willfully blind Trump base. But do it also because it helps us--the Trump resistance. It gives us the freedom to turn off the unhinged and untethered Trump whenever we want to. It gives us a calm mental place. We know we have done all that we could, without sacrificing our principles or our traditional aspirations.
5
I've read Mr. Blow for some time now and no pundit is more obsessed with Trump than - Charles Blow. And it is misleading on Mr. Blow's part to imply that all the new Democrats in Congress are "leftists". Virginia's three new House members - all quite attractive candidates are - very much center-left. Trump will not be defeated in 2020 if opinion leaders like Mr. Blow continue to delude themselves that the results of the mid-terms were a smashing victory for the "Resistance". They were no such thing.
1
@John J.
I agree. We have a wide range of winners on the Dem side and we should embrace and welcome that. OK? So, if you are in a red state and a Dem is on the ballot who is slightly more leaning right but generally agrees on the more reasonable solutions to problems that appeal to the Dems-Vote for them!! I voted for a former Dem Who was an Independent/Republican in CA 48th because he wants to reform the system and protect our environment. I'm totally happy to be rid of Rohrabacher. Lets not jump to the Left let's support GOOD candidates which ever way they lean.
1
The photograph is the best Trump picture that I have ever seen.
Love it!
5
Brilliant Charles, I really needed to hear that! We should continue to contact our representatives and let them know how we want to be represented but then we have to look to the future. There are some signs of hope!
1
President Trump's disregard for veterans all over the world, those who left this earth during two world wars and those still with us, reveals his shallow and contemptuous manner of leading.
He gives us new reasons to feel disgust almost daily, but we can't be angry all of the time. We need to continually do all we can to prevent him from dis-empowering us and be informed of his misdeeds but our growth and even happiness as a society will be the best weapon to resist this man.
52
While I generally agree with Charles Blow, and hope he continues attacking Trump daily, I disagree with the premise of this article. Decrying Trump's lies, stupidity and anti-American speech and actions is essential. Daily public humiliation is critical and was in large part responsible for the mid-term blue wave. Hundreds of thousands of voters who either voted for Trump and have changed their mind or who did not come out to vote in 2016 voted because they could no longer accept a President whose actions are destroying American Democracy and making America the laughing stock of the world.
31
@Disillusioned: Trump defies the expected role of government to put a floor under public conduct to prevent the bad from driving out the good, which is otherwise inevitable, according to "Gresham's law", which many claim applies only to money, but is obviously extendable to any human activity. The bad will drive out the good if bad conduct is not discouraged.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gresham's_law
11
As Bill Maher correctly stated when lectured about how to handle and understand Trump: I don't care anymore. "It's not my job or duty to deal with this stupid man's psychosis."
The midterms showed that the majority of Americans are on the same page.
8
I may be going out on a limb but the saying if something doesn't kill you it makes you better may be true. The distaste of Trump is motivating people to get involved in numbers like we have never seen before. Women feed up with Trump are putting on their sneakers and getting involved. The Burbs have flipped and Beto almost won in Texas. Take a look at the picture of the incoming House reps on The Left and on The Right. Maybe The Left needed Trump to get get its blood boiling. Trump may be the pain we needed to get us of our behinds and willing to fight. If the new house majority can keep Trump in his box until 2020 we can survive.
4
Why not refer to him only as the president? The media could tell the story and drive him crazy(er) with each omission of his name.
3
Ha! I love it. The election results i mean. I dance and smirk in my sleep. All those women, Lesbians, Muslims, Native Americans, etc., soon to have the honor of entering our sacred halls of Congress. Imagine that. (How about you, Melania?) I can't forget nor do i want to. I will fight against trump as long as i still have breath in my body. It renews me. I feel young again and ready to go. Hear Me Roar.
4
Anything the man says is a lie; that is what he intends and what he always does. That idea needs more traction: he lies.
So, we proceed on without him. Ignore the bombast, attack the lies.
2
c'mon c.b., no one known hereabouts has even hinted that you (media-nites) "ignore a sitting president.'
here is one progressive that asks merely that you pass up the cheap shots, the fulminations that offer us little light, and get woke!
in trump's behalf, look at the shift of the u.s. diplomatic center to jerusalem...how many prior "sitters" have promised and failed to deliver...today's prison reform story is another example of...call it "redeemability."
on immigration, trashing trump while ignoring the history of congressional nonfeasance and past potus's use of the exact same words about illegal entry as trump uses...h(r)c used them too.
get on his case for dragging both feet on infrastructure...for his plan to create a "space command" (renew nasa!) when the need for the future is a cyber-command...china's already sitting down to our lunch.
and so on.
what you have to do to get your mind right is get over the guilt you and yours feel for letting trump have the key to the oval office while you and yours (in the hijacked name of the democratic party) fawned over a candidate you was after a key to the k street wash room.
let the guilt trip end and help frame the issues and nourish the talent (schumer and pelosi are suffocating it) we need to get back in the game as the voice of the people, working men and women, who ask only that the government promote, as promised in the preamble, "the general Welfare" and live up to its pledge of "justice for all."
c'mon c.b.
1
The goal of progressives in the House is to change the subject. Force Trump to focus on real policy issues & take positions.
maybe the news media now can shift attention to the constructive efforts our new 'blue wave' and what they will be doing; taking attention away from the current master manipulator...and, continue to report the daily lies and have facts to support. I still feel that less attention on Trump is a proactive step for media. I do worry, though, at how Trump's fury has been shown to suppress our press (Acosta example)
1
I feel this is a profound insight--even as it might be couched and laid out in simple explanation. As a middle school teacher for 27 years, this idea has proved invaluable to my growth and effectiveness as an educator--that is when I focus on negative behaviors it robs my mind of the imagination, intelligence and energy it needs to take my work to the deepest and highest levels. What has become clear to me in my work as I've become more focused on this idea, and the practice of it, is that then the work we do becomes an infinite landscape--and we realize the one thing holding us back the most is our own limited world view and mindset.
3
Trump shouldn't be ignored by journalists, but turning every Tweet or asinine comment into "Breaking News!" hurts journalism itself, which is exactly what Trump wants.
The upside to the "new normal," to our inability to be shocked anymore, is that not every outrageous comment he makes needs to be the big headline. Getting back to reporting what is really important in the nation and the world is the best way to serve in the age of Trump.
To witness how obsessing over every Trump tic can ruin a news organization, observe how low CNN has fallen since the election. A once-decent cable news program has become a kind of ridiculous tabloid. We get it, CNN, you're outraged too. Get back to doing your job!
2
Trump needs to be reined in as we watched him fire Sessions and install an unqualified lackey to be our new Attorney General. Trump would send our former ambassador over to Putin to jail to please Putin and only our congress stopped him. Trump gets all his information from crackpot right wing conspiracy sources like Alex Jones. Trump dismisses the Justice dept and our intel agencies as dishonest and secret deep state Hillary lovers. Trump calls out our elections as filled with fraud and the free press is the enemy of the people ,these are rantings of a wanna be dictator. Thankfully our democratic House will rein in this erratic authoritarian president and his Romanov ruling family and we may see the rotten picture behind the curtain of our carnival barker tv president.
1
When you are raising a child or a child being raised even in bad circumstances you learn there are important things and unimportant things and that there is a scale on which all things fall from one to the other. Whether or not you are able to or have learned to adjudge things to properly place them on that scale, you know that scale exists. You correctly know some things that are important and other things that are not important regardless of how ignorant you are.
So what we have here is an opportunity for the media to teach people what they all worked so hard after taking Fox's lead, to make so many forget for all the money to be made without thinking about the consequences of encouraging the worst in everyone. I still have those words Whats his face the sexually disgraced former CEO of CBS Les Moonves, "He may be bad for the country but he sure is good for CBS". How could anyone have that thought or say those words and not recognize the utter destruction or simple moral decency they depict?
It really is not so hard to pay attention to what is important and less attention to what is not so important. The readership and viewership do not have the direct control Editors and CEO's do over what we get to see.
1
This chaotic WH and POTUS proves the US desperately needs an active free press.
But if the newly democratic Congress can keep the GOP’s useful buffoon in check, a summary every two weeks of Trump atrocities, buffoonaries, mysogynies, tyrant worship, self-enrichment, and self-absorption is plenty for me.
1
Trump needs to be passionately and constantly reviled for the danger he is and the blight upon America and Americans that he is. His supporters need to be confronted about the man they supported and voted for and to explain how they can support a " person" who takes the positions he has on Charlottesville, Russia, women and immigrants. There is no other way. What Trump has let loose is the resentment white men have felt since the civil rights and voting rights acts were passed in the 1960's. That anger and fury has been fed by the constant diet of lies from Fox News, Rush and Hannity and of course the basic strategy of the GOP. We can't overcome unless we confront them and let them see that we are every bit as angry and passionate as they are.
1
I strongly disagree with the premise that every gathering and utterance of a sitting President must be covered, and discussed. It seems that the media did not provide this level of amplification to any other President in the era of television. It is also very disheartening to dismiss important policy discussions as "technical and bureaucratic." and therefore somehow less worthy of discussion. These twin pillars of argument in favor of the media status quo as to Donald Trump suggest a disregard for the importance of informing policy discussions in a democracy, belittling the intellectual capabilities of readers, and, at the same time crudely pandering to baser human instincts for commercial gain. It is unfortunate that the current reduction in the quality of discourse reminds us all that participants in public discussion can be a part of the problem or a part of the solution, and are never successful at being both. Let's have some reporting and editorializing that helps readers understand our nation's challenges, not reduces us to an angry audience fuming or gloating over daily atrocities and headline grabbing stunts, deflecting attention from much more important matters.
4
Just want to say how grateful I am for the picture that accompanied this essay.
It's one thing to avoid giving trump the attention he craves. It's another to avoid his face. A face which is in my face 24/7/365. A face that makes me viscerally upset. As for his voice, there's the mute button. For that I am also grateful.
No more of his face, please. We all know too well what he looks like. I'll not elaborate further. It wouldn't be 'kind'.
5
Based on comments and recent conversations, I think I may have been confused about what everyone meant by "don't cover Trump." For my part, my advice to news organizations that do not want to be Trump's tools is to refuse to cover Trump... "on demand."
By this I mean that if a president is going to lie at such an absurd rate... and he preserves evidence of his lies on Twitter, Fox News, etc. anyway... I don't see the societal value in reporters gathering whenever Trump says so. If the Trump administration has prepared a statement, I'd say the only people that need to be in the press room are a camera crew. There's no need to have reporters asking Sanders or Trump any "follow-up" questions.
"What do you mean you're a 'nationalist'?" Rhetorical. The totality of Trump's life, candidacy and presidency provides the clearest context of what he means. "Do you want Whittaker to rein in the Mueller investigation?" Rhetorical. Trump's actions only need explanation if one gives him a presumption of legitimacy; a presumption which has been utterly rebutted at this point.
The only way to know the Trump administration is indirectly, like the regime controlling the "Democratic" "People's" "Republic" of North Korea. If this country wants the truth regarding any matter concerning the Trump administration, it will have to talk to consult flippers, leakers, filings, financial data and intelligence agents. Direct comments from the executive are just so much propaganda.
4
Most of my real time spent with others leaves Trump out of the conversation except occasionally when someone is outraged and I listen.
I follow him through WAPO and NYT and actively use the comment sections of each to vent my anger, state my opinion and assessment of his behavior, always bad to horrible with no exception, and thereby make a strong attempt to stay sane and not obsessed.
He won't go away until impeached and removed or voted out of office but you have to report on the Narcissist-in-Chief and we, the people have to safeguard our freedoms and rights under a president who works hard to take them all away each and every day.
4
It’s easy to laugh at a president who stumbles over fake voter fraud with a statement that suggests ID cards must be shown to buy a box of cereal.
I have thought deeply about this 72-year old man who has never bought a box of Cheerios or Wheaties. Someone else has done his food shopping for him, since birth. I’m not sure I want to trust my future, and the future of this great nation, to someone who has not included grocery stores among his numerous walks down the aisle.
#SaveDemocracy
9
Einstein wisely said that the problem could not be solved on the same level of consciousness on which it was created. So, if we wish to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, we need to elevate our response to all things Trump. Righteous anger and indignation feels good but solves little as has been seen. But right action at the right time . . a winning combination.
3
Trump is coming our of the Obama playbook where he (O) too stayed in the media 24/7. However I'm thinking that the Donald is doing so to his detriment: that or those 47% always Trumpers I believe too will find him pretty pathetic and that we'll see less of the red (MAGA) hats in due time. Be patient.
I'm in my seventies. Life is short. I have no bits of time to spend on Mr. Trump, and he has not gotten any of mine since the day he took over the government.
1
"There is no way for the media — define media however you will — to simply ignore a sitting president of the United States. That would not only be a dereliction of duty, it would also be folly.
As for the policy machinations, those stories are often covered, but they are rarely splashy news because by their very nature they are technical and bureaucratic."
Translation:
This is a business and our only purpose is to get money for the shareholders.
It is hard not to be obsessed by the horror of Trump. Those of us that grew up after World War II learning about the rise of fascism in Europe have blindly believed that "It Can't Happen Here in America".
We are now witnessing in our own country the same processes that led to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini: Extremist polarization racial attacks and blaming our problems on "foreigners", attacks on the media and press, massive Big Lie propaganda machines, now including the social media in addition to Fox News. All of these devices and strategies are being used by Trump and his rabid followers to divide and conquer our nation.
We must be obsessed by desire to fight against Trumpism and to fight for the restoration of decency to our country.
2
So agree, Charles Blow. I know you're right and can try to follow your recommendations intellectually. However, my emotions are still so disoriented by the corrupt complicity of the entire GOP that it's hard.
1
Whereas it's both appropriate and sanity-saving to tune out annoying attention-seeking celebrities like Kanye and the Kardashians, this is a different situation. This guy is not an entertainer. He's affecting people's lives. When he goes on a tantrum, women, Jews, LGBTQ folks, people of color and God knows, immigrants are ever so much closer to danger, either from DT's policies or his followers. I was brought up learning history. We studied the Holocaust, the McCarthy era, Jim Crow. Over and over, in those classrooms, we were asked: What would you do if you saw this happening? To turn away would condemn us to the same regrets as our forebears. My sanity is important to me, but the future of the country I love, even more so.
4
As always, Mr. Blow, heartfelt thanks for your frankness and insight.
1
I hope the Times and other MSM outlets follow the precedent in accompanying image to this column. I am SOOOOOO tired of seeing that face. Please media photographers, find other creative ways to eliminate the talking head. The teleprompter is such an excellent start. I know this is a very superficial response, but seeing that face one less time feels SOOOOO good.
5
Good column. Good advice.
Yay for Charles Blow! You are so right. Trump just thrives on all the attention, good and bad. We have got to stop giving him what he wants. Change the channel whenever his picture shows up. Please, MSNBC, I love you, but will you please stgop showing us l4 pictures of Trump while you talk about the story? We are so sick and tired of seeing his face. Please, please stop showing him. You guys are waaaaay better to look at than trump is....and, I love the NY Times so much.
1
Cable news TV could cover a LOT more policy and fewer tweets and palace intrigue. Compare the coverage of Melania's power grab versus news about US military and trade policy in Asia, or the prospects for a slowdown in the world economy. There is practically no sustained coverage of any policy issue on cable news. I understand the restrictions of the medium, but any progress on this front would be welcome. I don't think Trump's policies are working but how can the public see that if the policies aren't covered?
3
I have to say that your ongoing commentary on Trump continues to be the wisest, bravest and most far-seeing. Thank you for helping us to keep our eyes on the prize -- a decent nation coming together to tackle the real problems here and in the world -- not to make more problems. And to keep our sanity amid the outrage. Thank you. You are a very welcome and needed voice in the wilderness!
1
During the 2016 campaign I was exhausted already from the Trump drama and scare. I looked forward to the end of it and a Clinton win. I told myself I could quit the worry and just trust all would be well.
Natural crises would still occur, the fires, the hurricanes, trade balances, climate change, energy...but they would be smartly dealt with and our allies would be cherished partners. But it's constant drama with Trump. Rally TV daily episodes of demented drama.
Trump the destroyer is the biggest danger this country has ever known. It's hard to ignore. It's painful. How wonderful a very boring Clinton presidency could have been.
5
Count me among the obsessed. Hard to break the habit. But also count me among those who think a president should be able to communicate in complete sentences, spell correctly, and use proper grammar. I know the notion of Americans speaking more than any language other than their own is nearly if not completely extinct, but I don't think it's too much to ask that a president be able to use the one language with which he or she communicates in a manner that can be understood, doesn't require translation, and might even inspire people to emulate. I know; I know: elitist palaver. This, of course, is a minor concern compared to the other ways in which he threatens modern civilization as we know it . . . he is a muling, pewling infant who presents an existential threat to the world through his ignorance, not just of language, but of all things except his own ego, his own conviction that only he knows how to fix what ails us. It is no wonder that other leaders are moving on while Trump pouts and lashes out and inundates us with his indecipherable, incoherent tweets -- and it is no wonder that we remain transfixed and horrified by the spectacle he has engendered, which would be comic were it not tragic and so very, very dangerous.
4
@Paul
The world essentially is just waiting the next 2 years. (hoping that the American electorate comes to their senses) obviously, with the Congress now firmly in Democratic hands, that at least the purse strings are going to be pulled tighter, along with comparative oversight.
Having said, what is going to make or break the next 2 years (imho) is whether the press will cover Democrats trying to move the country forward through legislation from the house. If it is continually blocked by the republican Senate and President, then how will the optics of that play out? We shall see.
IF we continue to lurch from tweet to tweet, and lie to lie from the President, then it will be a tough slog to overcome.
Dangerous indeed. Good comment.
4
Even if it's possible to overwhelm Trumpism, this shoudn't be the goal. The goal must be to discredit Trumpism, which has absolutely nothing to to with making America great.
1
I'm positive that the Senate Majority Leader broke his oath to defend The Constitution.
I'm positive that he and his Senate conspirators weaponized the Supreme Court nomination in order to:
win their party The Executive;
pack their corporate-interest, non-independents into The Courts which were denied confirmation votes for 2 years on The Sitting Executive's nominations, and
build a coalition from complicit councils on national policy and one-true-religion advocates with their publicly funded school allies to provide their party a loyal, growing membership.
I'm positive that my and my fellow citizens' echoes, charged as Lennybrucic, to our free press' Socratic opinions are a symptom, a deafening symptom. Remove the disease and sings the host brightly. Until then, it's all positive.
1
Trump triggers my PTSD. I've been having relapses since he imitated a spouse abuser ready to smack Hillary across the face during the debates. When he triggers trauma, it feels dangerous to ignore him and let him bleat. The human brain is organized to force us to pay attention to traumatic triggers. I suppose that is his secret as a "leader." To trigger enough fear that nobody can feel safe just ignoring him.
4
As usual Mr. Blow hits the mark with this article and his previous one encouraging resisters to Trump-ism to take the occasional mental health break. Canadians can feel the same stresses. When Trump announced his candidacy, my wife and I, full of confidence he could not win, rather enjoyed the outrage, saying to each other, "Want to watch the crazies?" The "crazies" were what would be on CNN or MSNBC. Not the announcers or the reporters, the crazies were who they would cover, mainly Trump, his supporters and minions. We still ask the same question but these days it has a different tone. The same craziness is available but now there is some fun to it - the Democrats control the House. Some non-depressing news is coming. So yes to Mr. Blows encouragement towards mental health breaks. and now one of those breaks can be watching the progress of countering the crazies.
1
Mr Blow, I agree with you, but he is hard to tune out. What happens is that the other members of this incompetent government is undermining what America has stood for in my lifetime. Trump is not about making things better, but destroying them. And no one that supports his world view will ever stop. - for the sake of future generations, we will be much worse off if we tune him out. We need to replace his voice with louder more reasonable rhetoric. We can do that starting in January. And the the sooner we VOTE him out the better.
2
I am one of those asking for a Trump moratorium. I deserve it. I am tired, dismayed, angry, and I'm not going to take it anymore. Except that I can't seem to escape it. Trump is everywhere.
So, to Mr. Blow, I prpose an experiment...for two weeks, put nothing in the NYT about Trump's petty behaviors and inane tweets. Just give a short summary of anything of true consequence coming from the White House. Stick to the facts, ignore the rest. See what your readers say. If they like the peace and quiet, then stay the course. if they don't, go back to the Trump tripe. It's all lies anyway.
1
Does your TV not have an off switch?
He grabs you by your passion you say. I think you're right and furthermore it kind of like thought control. As long as you are thinking about Trump, one way or another, you're not thinking about anything else.
Not that I'm accusing this columnist of being obsessed, but almost every column he writes bashes Trump and attempts to whip up fear of him with the readership....As the writer indicates, his readership loves to talk about how bad Trump more than any particular issue.
....These columns feed that need. They serve little purpose intellectually. They are declarative in nature, not analysis....But I admitt, they are kind of fun to read....My favorites are the type that exclaim the media has to stop dwelling on Trump, while in effect, dwelling on Trump..
...These kind of little joys are what led many of us to vote for him. It's great theater for us rural deplorables to watch you create the monster that may ultimately eat you....I give you guys "thumbs up" and 5 stars for making this show a hit! It's bound to be a classic!
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We got the House back. Your thumb is not Dumbledore's wand.
My experience with liberal friends is that they don’t try to understand why people voted for Trump. They don’t realize that their higher socioeconomic and educated status can create a bubble that makes them behave like obsessed, clueless, condescending elitists.
@Daniel B
As a "condescending elitist", I prefer a President who is not an amoral, lying, divisive, money laundering tax cheat. If that is my bubble, then so be it.
5
Reagan respected people in the academic elite and people in the working class alike. He saw that both groups are necessary for the country to be a force in the world. He was a supporter of science and of the arts. That is why although I hated his policies, I never came to hate the man.
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Yes, the press should cover a sitting President. We need coverage on his presidential activities both nationally and internationally. We need analysis of the acts and orders he has signed. For example, the Water Infrastructure Act. What does it mean for the average American and our access to clean water?
We do not need endless parsing of his tweets, off the cuff comments, nationalist rallies and pressers (sum it up in a paragraph or two and report the facts). The opinion pieces go on ad nauseam with breathless coverage of the latest distraction. Tabloid journalism at best and of no informational value.
Sadly, I am trying to figure out why I still have a NY Times subscription.
2
I thought Blow’s point was excellent: that whatever the media gets wrong, a lot of liberals and lefties might try ignoring Trump for themselves, and paying a lot closer attention to the many news articles on policy and actions and results.
For sure, I for one have gotten heartily sick of seeing lefties and liberals skip all kinds of reporting (TL:DR, I guess), and then bellow about how them medias never gives them no reporting on the important stuff.
Charles and Socrates on the right track. From my own comment 11/14:
“Would it not be better to put our (Trump) pens away and show patience in the extreme…wait until the DP House is up and running? Instead…mount a campaign here in the Times to discuss a state-by-state and national approach to ending fossil fuel use…(and fixing infrastructure) https://nyti.ms/2DfzduK - 19 RR.
Times on CA fires: “Many fires in recent years have been caused by downed power lines serving California’s utilities.” https://nyti.ms/2Dnxm7b
Infrastructure correction: Do as done in my city, Linköping SE: ALL utility lines underground. Common reader reply: Too expensive. My reply: More expensive than present cost of CA fires?
End fossil-fuel use: Use solid waste as a partially renewable energy fuel, use food and human waste to make biogas, a renewable energy source. Use ground-source geothermal heat pumps.
Infrastructure correction: Build 21st century systems as in Linköping, city heated by solid waste, buses run on biogas. Use heat pumps especially ground-source geothermal instead of natural gas. Common reply: Larry, we in New York and New England love our landfills, just look at the one on display in Springfield, and we love natural gas pipelines, even those that explode.
Times, we cannot write replies on renewable energy and infrastructure unless you give us articles. Give us: Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island, Champlain & Saint Michaels colleges, VT.
Your move.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
All true, Charles, without a doubt. Except: America has to survive for two years, physically and in terms of our democracy, in the hands of a lunatic. Mr. Trump, who when running plainly did not know what the nuclear triad was, still holds the nuclear codes.
If he is not legally removed from office I do not believe that it is a sure thing that America willl still be around, in either sense.
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Trump demands constant attention and It is the duty of the press to report on the President's attention seeking statements and behaviors.
But incredibly Trump now attacks such news reports as "harassment".
I say the news media should do what DJT does when he gets "attacked", Double Down. Ramp up the coverage of Trump's unhinged speech and behavior.
Let the world hear how insane this man is.
60 percent of Americans said in a new poll that they don't want to see President Trump re-elected in 2020.
The midterm rejection of Trump proved news coverage is working.
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What comes first the chicken or the egg? If the media would only cover his policy issues, instead of the man, we could focus on the true damage he's doing. We already know he is a criminal and terrible excuse for a human being. Let's focus on stopping him from doing damage to health care, the environment, immigration, hatred and suppression of the media and how his party supports and guides him, we would be better off. Of course its not so easy to separate the man from his policies. In both he is abomnoble.
1
You can keep some airtime to discuss international topics, or to explain the difference between socialist Democrats and establishment Democrats, and you'll end up with CNN ratings.
You can also broadcast 24/7 Trump bashing and you'll end up with MSNBC ratings.
Is MSNBC performing better or worse than CNN?
1
The press could simply state what the president says/tweets/does on one side with a fact check narration on the other. It might no sell many copies or garner page clicks, but it would take away Trump's ability to be outrageous while preserving the media's obligation to report.
Writing about getting beyond Trump obsession is still obsessing about Trump. If you really mean it, write a column about something else.
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When Trump started his terrible behavior, insulting everybody , all institutions, the media had the opportunity to stop him totally, but unfortunately they gave too much attention to this buffoom. Actually, all journalists in Washington in the conference room should put a tape in their mouths, get up and leave .Don't you think he abused his power enough? Wait to see the campaign for president. NO AMERICAN had the courage yet to come with a smart strategy to end his arrogance.
Compelling reason news media is fixated on President Trump: He is the only truly interesting show boat/cum politician out there, and if Trump were not there to psychoanalyze, ridicule, degrade mercilessly by the media and its pundits, his critics would not have jobs. Times newspaper has already laid off a number of journos, and my heart goes out to them, but just imagine if , say, it were Gov. Kasich, Jerrod Brown in the WH, or Kamala Harris, Cory Booker who appears to have trouble expressing himself in plain old Anglo Saxon English at times--and yet he graduated from Stanford--where would you all be? Can't think of 1 column by you, no se ofenda, that is not about Trump. Yet w/o him, folks would not be tuning into CNN, MSNBC, FN, or reading the op eds. Plain truth is all of you need each other. Jim Acosta, with a slim c.v.,is a media star thanks to Trump, and after his "challenge" to the c-in-c last week at a news conference, am sure his speaking fee on the college circuit and other venues went up considerably.What other man in public office could command thousands for a rally with thousands waiting outside at a moment's notice except Trump? Entire family, Juliana, bros. in law James, Michael, sister in law Rebecca and her husband, Nana, Ghanaian staff officer, all admire Trump for his financial acumen, his carpe diem view towards life. Daresay that if he could run for the "quinquennat"in France against Macron, champion of "delocalisation," Trump would win!
You know, Mussolini was pretty much the same kind of interesting, and I will pretty much take a pass on that sort of interesting, thank you very much.
But nice try on jumbling together some of the classic Trump riffs—black men all faked their education, Jim Acosta’s a lightweight, the failing NYT, a few whoppers about crowd size and so on—slapping on a little blop of Spanish and your Ghanian brother in law in order to vaccinate against anybody noticing what you were up to and throwing it at the page.
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This opinion contains great wisdom. I will add that being in control of my attention and my passion will allow me to step back to rest, meditate and think. My physical, mental and spiritual health have benefited.
All the media needs to do is stop advertising his stupid tweets. Let Fox be the water carrier and call it a day. Trump would shrink down to nothing in 2 days.
Despite what Trump personally believes, he is truly unpopular around the world. I trust all these nations realize he doesn’t represent the best of America, and that they will patiently wait to reconnect with their former friend and ally once Trump is out of office.
Fortunately Trump's an anomaly. Unfortunately he's demonstrated how even "The Donald" could manipulate and "inspire" the Alt Right. Going forward, should democrats consider how much some of their candidates, however irrationally, are hated by the right? Should we say goodbye to Pelosi, the mere mention of who's name infuriates the Trump base? Would Dems be more successful electing democrats that are less known and less attacked by FOX News et al? Or would those lessor known Democrats just be vilified in the same way?
The Republican Party and 45, confronted with the reality that the Democrats will now control the House, are compelled to sober up. Gone are the days of riding roughshod over everyone else who is not a member of their diminishing base. The GOP and its besieged small handed miscreant at the helm will plot a course through perilously dangerous waters, strewn with obstacles, just out of spite. The Republican Party is now the Nationalist [white] Party, persistently backing extreme right wing candidates playing the race card and playing to xenophobia. Whether a dog whistle or a public announcement system, the GOP is hellbent to preserve a display of intemperate arrogance. Representatives Chris Collins, under indictment for insider trading, played the race card on his challenger (Korean American), and Steven King, an outspoken racial demagogue, both won re-election. Playing the race/anti immigrant card works because the composition of their supporters desperately want to cling to that sense of racial pride, which is continually eroding. Refusing to recognize the multi racial multi cultural diversity that is America out of unfounded fear that their way of life will evaporate, the GOP persists with this dangerous game of stoking racial internecine. Don’t be shocked when 45 hosts his most ardent (weatlhy) supporters to the White House to see D.W. Griffth’s “The Birth of A Nation.” Those days are ending, now, with the diverse Democratic majority focused on the positive. Race matters.
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Ignoring a depraved narcissist, with tendencies to autocratic behavior, always searching for adulation, and to occasionally look askance to see if his derangement caused any damage is being irresponsible.
Agree with you Charles, "Trumpism is a disease", and I do curse it, with PASSION.
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Thank you for this, Charles Blow. You've used your sharp eye and level mien as an effective balm for the political boil on many a backside.
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"Trump is a more frequent topic of conversation for liberal Democrats than for other Democrats..."
I thought Democrats were de facto liberals. Never heard of a "conservative Democrat".
Could someone explain this?
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@Jake News: When they write "liberal", they mean "nit-picking tyrant".
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Yep. And I’ve never understood why folks can’t take five minutes and so much as find out that the Declaration and Constitution are built right on top of intellectual liberalism.
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I fantasize about the 'point and laugh' response to whatever trump says publicly. If his audience were to point at him, turn to each other and laugh in unified disgust at the little man, things would be different.
If trump got derisive laughter from those who stand there while he lies and hates, I wonder what would happen?
@deb: What if Trump held a press conference and nobody asked a question? Would that carry Trump into the end zone of liars?
Thanks for these thoughts. One comment about the idea that the press must cover the President: yes, but the issue there is, cover him how? George Lakoff has noted that we can cover lies in a "truth sandwich" - that is, first cover the topic truthfully, then report the lies as stated by the public figure, and then rebut the specific lies. This is intended to replace the current common approach, which is to repeat the lies and then rebut them. This latter style reinforces the semantic frames suggested by the lies, while the suggested approach potentially activates more constructive mental patterns. As an example, before repeating Trump's comments about supposedly dangerous people in the caravan, describe the people who are actually in it - that is news, after all. Then report Trump's claims and rebut them if they are false.
The other Lakoff suggestion, best suited to print, is to publish Trump's remarks in the comics or horoscope section ... :)
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Thanks for your insightful article. I spent an entire career (33 years) in the US Army with much of that time serving alongside of and interacting with allies (read Canadians, British, Germans, Dutch, Koreans and others). I and my family have lived in many of their countries which of course meant that I sacrificed time and events with my own family here in the US. I have been very depressed ever since the campaign of this current president as the denigration of our allies has continued unabated and it seems my life’s work is turned into so much dust. I watch as our military gets a publicity stunt deployment to the Mexican border (I have served in bases there as well) as if this was 1870 or 1910 and not 2018, while a new report questions our ability to prevail militarily against our greatest adversaries. And yet, the news is dominated by his latest grievance or falsehood of which there are so many. Articles that now feature Trump will be ignored. I am however looking forward to voting in 2020.
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@Robert: These people treat the military as they treat guns, something to be used, not as a deterrent to war, which includes telling no lies that modern combat is for "warriors".
I know Mr. Blow is right, but I spent a cold but sunny Saturday afternoon at my sister's house and Trump is all we could talk about. I felt bad because I was the instigator, but I couldn't help myself. I live alone and otherwise I simply yell at the screen, an even more ridiculous and unhelpful reaction. It just is so tough being an American right now. I want to calm down, and, I suppose, I will try to do so, but I am really afraid. I wish I could be as detached as Mr. Blow suggests. I don't think I can.
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@Martha I find that if I don't watch or hear trump, I am calmer. I turn him off on TV or radio. I read the NYT and Washington Post, where I can vent my frustration in comments sections like this one.
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@Martha
Martha. I'm a conservative and Trump supporter. There is a lot of conjecture as to why Trump makes liberals crazy.
I think the chief explanation rests in the fact that liberals can't get past his demeanor, his haughtiness, his brashness and on and on. Conservatives don't see these obvious personal characteristics similar to how we don't see the color of someone's skin or their accents, etc. We can launch directly into discussions of policy and what's good for America.
@Charles in service
Your response to Martha may be one of the most disengenuous and condescending set of remarks I've ever seen here.
People who claim to never see race, etc., lose credibility instantly. One can usually assume they mean just the opposite.
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The president of a woman’s rape crisis center in a medium large city once told a group of women one of the most effective ways to deal with a flasher or attempted groper is to laugh and point at them. Humiliation in other words, turned back on them. They thrive on women’s fear, so to laugh at them robs them of what they want. She actually did this to a flasher when she and some friends were walking back to work. They guy turned and ran off. And they all laughed, taking something frightening and reducing it to a horrible sad misguided attempt to scare women. Eg tRumps speech to the U.N. and diplomats laughing at him, as his remarks deserved.
I keep thinking of her words, and it strikes me as an effective tactic with the orange hot air balloon in the Wh his lying women and men shills like Conway and sanders, not arguing with them, or engaging with them, but laughing at and pointing out obvious lies and behaviors, not debating the truth of their words. That doesn’t help.
Just a thought. And lest anyone thinks we didn’t have a blue wave, sorry we did! So many women just put their heads down, got to work, and started beating these hateful folks at their own game. Thanks Emily’s List!!!We learned a lot about what to do and how to do it, and we can do more for 2020!!! Go blue!!
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Spot on Charles Blow. You guys in the press are doing a great job. Keep it up.
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Once again the Charles Blow is absolutely right .
As long as we make Donald Trump the center of our national conversation , Donald Trump will thrive. He was advised years ago by Roy Cohn that all publicity, positive or negative, is good publicity .
The answer his not to ignore him , that would indeed be a dereliction of duty on the part of the press.But what they can do when he makes statements that are so outrageously false ,and so relentlessly stupid , is to use one’s sense of humor .
In Europe small towns have taken to ridiculing neo Nazis when the rear their ugly heads once again in Germany. And since Donald Trump is only a few steps removed from a National Socialist, this tactic may work as well with him. Stephen Colbert , Jimmy Kimmel and others may have a better idea of how to neutralize this man who is, to any intelligent being , a clear and present danger to the foundations of our democracy and to our rule of law . Humor, and in this case ridicule , is one way of demonstrating that a fraud is still a fraud, no matter how we color it .
If anyone qualifies as "Trump obsessed" it is Charles M. Blow.
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Subscriptions to the NYTimes have risen sharply, viewership of CNN is solid, all because we love to watch a train wreck or because we all need our fix of rightful indignation. Since the beginning of 2016, most news outlets have run a version of the DJT show because they feel that this is what people want to hear. The result has been billions of dollars worth of free publicity, (ratings are better than polls, dixit djt) and the most phenomenal name recognition in recent media history. Cries of fake news and shenanigans such as the banning of Jim Acosta are only meant to make sure that we all keep mentioning him personally and distract from examining his stewardship of the nation. The Democrats and their spokespeople need to start explaining why immigration is good for the nation, why trade is not a zero sum game, why education , not bloated and useless military spending, is what will inoculate America against its evitable decline. Being constantly indignant is a negative and eroding sentiment. America needs to have a positive and enthusiastic vision of itself.
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@Pref1: Name recognition is more than half the battle to get elected to anything.
As John Kennedy once said, "Don't get mad, get even". This is what Democrats did in the stunning House blue wave. Disciplined messaging on healthcare and other issues of voter concern won elections. Tirades against Trump, Hillary's mistake, are unnecessary as people know he is awful. They see evidence every day of his unfitness to be president. Throwing more criticism at Trump is gilding a lily that is already pretty gilded. Blow is right. Be angry, but be smart in how you direct that anger.
Ignoring a problem, won't make it go away. The problem with ignoring Trump, is the fact that it would only embolden him. Yes he thrives on hating the press, but if they ignored him, he would only think that meant they liked him. In the end, there is no way to forget he exists.
The argument here sounds a bit like: Let the drug dealers deal and offer. Or, let gun manufacturers build guns and put them out for mostly unregulated sale. And along with this: That the problem is not in the source of these things, but in those who helplessly take the bait, and become addicted of them, enabling a vicious cycle. So, basically ... blame the victim, right?
As for the media: Are they so nobly righteous as to forsake the profit motive in making a ... well, a "killing?" Normally, the president should not be ignored with citizens held in the dark. However, we are not living ... trust me ... in a normal situation at all with this one. Through the media these days, he's "grabbed" us too, and the darkness of chaos has increased more and more by his unrelenting "grab."
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"Trumpism is a disease, and cursing it won’t cure it. "
Who will be the hero that cures Trumpism. Who will be to Trumpism, what Jonas Salk was to polio, what Edward Jenner was to smallpox?
We thought it might be Hillary, but we were wrong. We still hope (and pray) that it will be Robert Mueller, but I fear that he may just provide a little respite, but won't destroy the virus.
The cure for Trumpism will only come from crowdsourcing. It started with the midterms and will likely take two more years for the cure to work its magic.
In the meantime, each person is responsible for his/her own health. Do what you need to do to find a path to get through the next two years.
I believe the good news is that the disease is no longer spreading. It has infected many people, to date - and they seem to have a very bad case of the disease. But I'm please to say that I believe it is no longer contagious.
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Mr. Blow's advice is right on, though it's hard to practice sometimes. Trump is a master hypnotist. Whether you love him or hate him, it seems he won't get out of your face, ever. Attention is his oxygen. Turn away from him and he will reach out of your TV set or computer screen and grab your lapels.
With the election comes hope that the wall of protection surrounding Trump will finally crack. I am concerned that the battle for the speakership will weaken the united front that Democrats must maintain in order to prevail; Nancy Pelosi is experienced and not afraid of a fight, and this is no time for a tyro. But that is for them to decide.
I'll need so much help to become less passionate in my disdain for trump.
Pls advise!!!
(An otherwise 'forever young' 69, I hate living my own September Song as if I were a non-fiction Howard Beale.)
1
Heads - no, Hats - Off to Doug Mills for the pic.....
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President Trump is physically not looking good. His anger is getting worse which, I believe with his added weight, will lead to a heart attack. He is his own worst ememy.
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Here is a suggestion for all media covering the president. Instead of just pointing out after the fact that many of his statements (and those of his cabinet and staff) are untrue, why not ask them whenever possible to state what sources they are relying upon for the truth of what they have said? While you are not likely to get any meaningful response, you will at least avoid the "he said, we say" false equivalency and make clear to the public that the responsibility for telling the truth and being able to support their statements resides with them--not the media. And a consistent pattern of "no response" to questions about sources should help the public see what is going on. Remember, these people have access to all of the resources of the government to get their facts straight.
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Thanks for the reminder and the pep talk. I do allow this administration to enrage me with its continued double talk, alternative 'facts' and just outright lies. We need to stay focused on standing together to ensure democracy endures.
4
If you don't have the passion to read, to be informed, to march, to write your representatives, to vote, then things will remain the same. We need to continue to be outraged by this man/child's behavior and react accordingly.
3
It's not your constant coverage of 45 that annoys me; I understand that a sitting president must be a vital element of the daily news. This president has been divisive; he seems to feel that he only needs to reach out to those who voted for him. He undermines our national discourse through invective and hatred and he constantly attacks institutions and freedoms that make our country what it is. No, it's not the constant coverage. It's the lack of any positivity or suggestions for actions that might turn our thoughts in the direction of hope. Climate change is another area: it's a major threat to our world so don't simply report on it and leave readers feeling frustrated and angry and frightened: tell us what we, as individuals, can do! Or if you don't see that as the function of the news, provide links to sources that can help. Please keep telling us about climate change but give us alternatives to feeling helplessly inept to affect any kind of change. The same is true for a leader bent on destroying the very nation he is supposed to serve: provide some hope and some practical steps that ordinary people can take to help undo the constant cacophony of intolerance, fear, and lies that we must endure every day. It's soul-robbing to read this stuff every day but those of us who want to stay current have to walk that tightrope between being well-informed and staying sane. Give us some fuel for our minds and hearts; engender hope.
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@Ruat caelum: California is only one of many places where accumulations of carbon in cellulose are going up in smoke. And melting tundra exhales CO2, another positive feedback path to further warming. All of this is considered an act of God by Trump's millenarian backers.
People who know chaos theory know that the stability of complex systems depends on negative feedback.
Re: “There is no way for the media to simply ignore a sitting president of the United States…”
Certainly not, and evidently there is no way to get media to address how we got such a bad one. I’ve noted the need to repeal Citizens United again and again on this site, and I give up.
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"... steadfast determination to resist and rebuke the improprieties of this administration doesn’t mean that our lives have to be dominated by stress and negativity."
Charles is correct: We don't need to consume everything that's written about Trump. However, whether one takes him seriously or literally, he's become a public health problem.
The column is well intentioned, but after two years the damage has become visceral. People are suffering physical symptoms of stress in addition to generalized aggravation. I know even a brief perusal of the news, especially in the mornings, saps my energy and sense of well being. Recovering from cancer is hard enough without the added stressor of Trump fomenting divisive and aggressive behaviors.
Too the press, however defined, just stop. If anything presidential is happening, cover it. Stop the 24/7 parsing of every tweet and utterance. It's a sure prescription for greater substance abuse and a danger to our mental health.
Another awesome observation from Mr. Blow. This article crystallized something I've been thinking about for 2-3 months: we don't need actual text of pretty much ANY of Mr. Trump's tweets. But it'd be nice to have a little box somewhere summarizing the salient FEATURES of his tweets without quoting them so that we can keep track of trends.
In much the same way as we can have an ongoing box score for his lies, it'd be swell to have a regular "tweets-at-a-glance" presentation abstracting the content of his tweets as to their number and levels of dishonesty and meanspiritedness (percentage scale?).
Problems with this notion abound, not the least of which is that such metrics are even less susceptible to quantification than his lies. And, while I admit it's the retreat of a man neglecting his duty, I haven't the stomach for it.
My solution is to simply ignore all his tweets. Period. When Colbert or Myers reads a tweet I zone out until they get to their punchline. These signs of chaos NEED our ignorance lest we be dragged into that pit of despair of which Mr. Blow speaks.
If Trump sows chaos my recommendation is to ignore as much of it as possible so that you've got the intellectual and emotional heft left to attend to substantive issues. My strategy is more "ear-to-the-ground" than eagle-eyed attention. It can save your psyche.
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@John Butler: Perhaps the press should only refer to the chapter of the Diagnostic Symptoms Manual relevant to the facet of Trump's personality expressed in the tweet.
8
Sounds like you're making progress, now maybe you can change the subject of your column.
Have you seen the backroom and arm-twisting tactics Nancy Pelosi is using to hang on to power? It's the same passion-killing way of gaming the system to retain power for the current so-called "leadership' that almost sank the Blue Wave.
The same so-called "leadership" that gamed the system to put Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as DNC Chair, where she gamed the system for Hillary Clinton, then gamed the system to name Tom Perez over the rank&file's preference for Ellison, and gamed the system to name Ben Lujan head of the DCCC.
Most importantly, this is the same so-called "Leadership" that in 2016 lost the White House to Donald Trump, lost the Senate when 9-10 Republican seats SHOULD have been easy pick-ups, and lost the House when Ms. Pelosi predicted a gain of 25 seats!
This was only the latest in a string of losses despite Democrats far out-numbering Republicans in states that were lost, and nationally. The same leadership that until 2017 IGNORED state-house races while Republicans were gobbling them up and, after the 2010 census, gerrymandered the heck out of state districts.
The House was lost in 2010. The Senate was lost in 2014, and is STILL lost despite Democrats getting 13 million more votes than Republicans.
New leadership is needed & Pelosi and her team are putting THEIR power ahead of the party, unable to see the difference.
Imagine the passion-killing if the Ds fall into Trump's trap and Pelosi is elected Speaker only because Rs vote for her, as Trump wants!
1
Sure the media can ignore him or at least keep him off the front page and out of the limelight. Write about the things Trump and the GOP are doing to environmental protections, right wing judge appointments, voter suppression, and the list goes on. Trump is just the tip of the GOP iceberg. Look below the surface at the disaster lurking around and write about it.
4
TV news is dominated by Trump's insanity and he obviously knows how to play them like a fiddle. "Fair and balanced" is a notion from the Fox News propaganda/Republican party alliance. Watching even a hour of so-called TV news is maddening. Keep a tally of how many times a segment is repeated verbatim. NPR isn't far behind.
The media needs to do both: cover every disgusting Trump tweet and violation of social norms, like falsely blaming California for the fires, and simultaneously provide analysis of the meaningful local and national news.
It’s exhausting, yes, but necessary, and liberals have grown stronger and more determined with each passing day rather than apathetic.
I don’t see a problem with liberals talking more about Trump than conservatives. When we finally got around to doing that with GWB we won in 2006 and 2008. And it’s pretty clear the GOP was talking more about Obama than liberals in 2010 and 2014.
I don’t want to be absorbed with this vile man, but I say “Bring it on.”
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The headline - excellent!
Oh - and the content as well. Fear not, my passion is reserved for those wearing Blue.
2
The news media could also self-adhere to the Fairness Doctrine. I believe the term is voluntary compliance. The immediate counter argument is false equivalence. However, this dismisses the most central pillar of the FCC's oversight: Honesty. The media are presenting both sides of public issues. However, the speakers are no longer required to present their positions honestly. How is the consumer supposed to navigate a minefield of false statements and conjecture?
Quite frankly, the responsibility shouldn't belong to the consumer. You are the news. Not us. However, we are shouldering the burden of identifying objective truth. The media lays out a bunch of noise and we are left to sort through the garbage. That's not our job. That's your job.
I'll grant the news media cannot ignore the President. However, you don't need to quote him directly. Drop the lede like a BBC news report. "President Trump made insensitive remarks today causing backlash among [insert minority group]. In other news..."
Meanwhile, the TV stations are still giving airtime to people like Scaramucci and Giuliani. Back to voluntary compliance: If they are dishonest, don't give them air time. You can't ignore the President but you can certainly ignore Scaramucci. That's not the consumer's fault.
Either way, you shouldn't print what they say if they are dishonest. "[insert random pundit] made false statements today. In other news..." See how easy this is?
1
Mr. Blow, I think you are correct. Therefore, I challenge you to to devote every other column to whatever progressive alternatives and strategies you deem worthy for 2020. Every other column would be a fair compromise to wean us off of our understandable Trump obsession.
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Mr. Blow, Thanks for addressing the issue concerning the press and Trump coverage. People asking the press not to cover the president is ridiculous. The press has to cover the president. Blame the president for the insanity, not the press.
That being said, yes, we do have to figure out how to watch this ongoing saga without being consumed. That is difficult. I didn't like him when he was just a mobster-wannabe real estate yahoo. Before he was dangerous to the world.
1
''...simply ignore a sitting president of the United States. That would not only be a dereliction of duty, it would also be folly. ''
It is completely possible for the media to cover the president while starving him of the attention he seems to so desperately crave. I just did it there, see - no name, just the title. We all know who I mean. But refusing to name him is a blow to his outsized ego.
Likewise, in visual media, his actions can be covered because that is news. Don't show his face in the coverage. Don't give him the extra attention. Again, we all know who the president is. We don't need pictures of him attached to every article, or endless video clips and soundbites.
It is a small change. But like calling lies lies, it can sway the bigger picture. Will he act out and have tantrums? Yes, but that's happening already. Will it get worse? Possibly. Allowing him to show his nature more fully may sway more voters to vote against him and his regime going forward though, and that's very possibly a good thing in the long term. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.
1
I agree and well said. But my anger and frustration has moved on to the Republican Party - which I would describe more as a “cult” of sorts. Trump is who he is - and we knew his MO long before he was nominated by the Republicans. But for the Republican members of Congress and State Houses to have and continue to support/enable him is the far more troubling and dangerous aspect of our current state of affairs. They still wield much control via the Senate and the Courts. Much damage to our country’s image/soul can be “achieved” before 2020 by a Party ruled by greed; that traded true patriotism for power, total control and self-enrichment. This is not about one man; this is about his support system. I’m afraid we all had a hand in its creation by not paying attention to all the warning signs years ago.
4
"Trump not only wants to control media coverage, he wants to control your attention. If he can’t have your adoration, he’ll settle for your anger. Either way, you are emotionally engaged with the egotist."
Trump uses the media to control the message, regardless as to what that is each day. Evil, wrong, impulsive, and dangerous seems to grab our attention. The positives are there though in that Trump really lost the election. Now he is sulking and unhappy as his empire appears to be unraveling. What's next?
1
"Trumpism is a disease"
At my age, it is normal to have arthritis. There is no real cure for it. -- President Trump was elected, by the rules, and for four years. There is nothing I can do to change that.
The best way, at least for me, is to treat our Trump the same way as I treat my arthritis: ignore it and keep going.
90
@Francoise Aline: The US obviously has Constitutional arthritis. This is bad news, because governance and domestic tranquility are expected to be immortal.
12
@Steve Bolger
but since I am fairly old and not immortal, I will say "après moi le déluge" (= you will be on your own).
5
@Francoise Aline I suggest that trump is not a disease, he is diseased. Only a madman would create a story about people circling the building after voting, change shirts or don a hat and rush back in to vote again, all because Florida has no voter ID requirements. Florida does have voter ID, I believe. This story is further embellished by his rant that one needs ID to buy a box of cereal. This is NOT normal, people. We are being governed by a sick man.
25
Sure, it’s a waste of energy and sanity to obsess over a disintegrating cipher like the President. We have lots of work to do, keeping our country running, pulling those foul divides back together. While it is a nice game to predict the dismal future of a megalomaniac as an ignored wretch; solitary confinement in the flesh and in the empty void of his head, it shouldn’t contaminate our lives. The rest of the world isn’t paralyzed watching our present turmoil; growth, prosperity, healthcare and empire building are clocking right along, leaving us further behind. By the time we restore government and focus on the future, we will have lost ground.
So, balance: revile the accidental dictator, defeat his handlers, foreign and domestic, but spend our energy and intelligence moving forward.
1
Actually, I really appreciate when the press tells me what Trump is up to. I know the types of things he is going to say, but it's good to know the specifics. I wouldn't know otherwise because I am unable to view him on TV. If he is on TV, I turn the TV off and go do something else. Actually the same goes for Huckabee Sanders and a number of the other liars including some democrats. I find if I don't view them directly I am okay.
I probably watch to much cable news anyway, even though I only do it when taking a break. I am quite aware of their prejudices of cable news. They are very corporate leaning (they hate Bernie Sanders and Liz Warren) and often try to give the impression that they are unbiased by presenting the ludicrous thoughts of the right as if they are reasoned opinions. I get it though, they are after a large audience because they sell advertising and thus they are manipulative. You can't be honest and profitable.
My real fear is not Trump but rather that the DFL will run another moderate corporate apologist from New York State like Schumer, Gillebrand or Cuomo. If given a choice between the failure of democracy and a corporate flunky I think it would be a good time for a complete failure. If all politicians are owned by corporations then our democracy/republic is a scam anyway.
"Trump is dominating liberal discussion in a way that I think could be damaging to us in the long term."
Sticks and stones...
With the House now controlled by the Democrats those who are concerned with the better interests of the nation are able to control the narrative. All that is needed are short, sharp bills the House can pass that the Senate would look foolish not to adopt. Background Checks. Dreamers. Funding Social Security. Tuition subsidies for higher education. Medicare at 50. Let the Republicans or the President balk. They’d look foolish, lose more voters and secure their own demise. So House—stop talking about Trump and govern.
Trump's White House is a circus. How can the media ignore that. Trump's latest claim that voters would vote, go to their cars, change clothes and go vote again is so humorously absurd that it has to be covered. His sour faced Press Secretary on the other hand should be ignored. He role should have been truthfully reporting what is happening with the Administration. When she persists in lying to the nation only a handful of print journalists should cover her press conferences and share what was said with us.
1
If the good guys simply ignore Donald Trump, then only the bad guys will have the floor.
And there would go truth out the window.
1
@Rea Tarr Sorry, the truth went out that window a couple of years ago.
You did it, Charles! You lured me in.
It's not surprising more liberals are talking about Trump, but I'd suggest that too much of their conversation is over the top. Predictably, many see Trump's "dishonesty, villainy, corruption and divisiveness," but don't see the Democrats' dishonesty, villainy, corruption and divisiveness.
That's politics.
But this incessant claim that Trump is violating norms has to stop. Firing Comey, as an example, was not a constitutional crisis, nor did it breed one. It created some political pique, but that should have been it. Trump doing what's within his powers is not a constitutional crisis, but you'd think so listening to the hysteria mongers.
The real crisis is just how little the reading, tweeting, listening, viewing public really knows about any of this stuff. Along comes the (slanted) media turning every Trump action into a violation of our sensibilities.
That's "unhinged" defined.
The only crisis we've got at the moment is a public that is ignorant of basic civics, a media that is the same and/or willing to exploit it, and a bunch of Obama-appointed judges who think the president doesn't have the powers the constitution and statutes clearly give him.
And federal laws?
Check this out:
Back in 2010, liberals screamed bloody murder about Arizona's SB1070 anti-illegal immigration law. A fed jurisdiction, they insisted. Now, according to liberals, states (California)/cities make immigration law.
See what the rest of us are dealing with?
The Trump presidency - in all its quirks, missteps, lies and incompetence - is a big story under the classic definition of news: it's not news if a dog bites a man, but if a man bites a dog, it's news. Trump's behavior in office is one long one long case of a man biting a dog. His insults to veterans - going back to John McCain and the gold star parents who spoke at the Democratic convention - and his dumping on the former attorney general whom he chose are just two examples of his deviation from all presidential norms. The coverage of this president is tedious and distracting, but absolutely necessary to keep us aware that the US president is monumentally unqualified for the job.
There are two things at play here. First, Trump continues to be the master of reality show governing. Second, most of the US and world public are so gobsmacked by this lying buffoon in charge of the free world that we follow the nonsense closely, wondering and worrying, if and when the nonsense changes to fear that he'll stumble into real crisis and war.
I as a individual have already reduced the TV coverage of Trump. I couldn't help it , he made me nauseous every time he started to gloat about how great he is. I honestly don't understand why anyone would go to his rallies, or listen to his nonsense.Now that he lost the house, he seems to have lost some of his luster, apparently, he must feel vulnerable. I always felt that underneath the bluster was a sniveling coward
1
While I agree the media has to report on what Trump says and does, there are ways to downshift a bit from the sensationalism he thrives on. Why not a daily column titled "What the President Said or Did Today," without photos or large headlines. Then a factual report including contextual details that can help readers understand the relative importance or lack thereof.
If he really does something especially newsworthy, then of course bring out the bells and whistles. Barring that, I would like to see him shown as basically background noise.
1
I know, I know, I know! Thank you for the the short, targeted therapy session that came from this morning's column. I have this particular conversation in my own head with increasing frequency. I just need to 'walk the walk.' You should know that I do appreciate your brand of indignation though...Blow Back!
Thanks for covering up his ugly mug: I’m so tired of seeing it
1
Thank you Charles Blow!
The whole Trump phenomenon is and will be broken down, sent up, examined, digested and discussed for the remainder of many of our lives.
Let's face it. The election of Trump to the presidency of the US is just about the craziest thing that could have happened; I can't think of anything crazier in my 69 years. No one can ignore it.
So many people worldwide are terrified by Trump's election and administration. If you are not at least a little bit frightened you have some cognitive, psychological and reality issues. So we obsess.
We didn't think things would go well if Trump got elected, things have not gone well since Trump got elected and things are not going to get better until he is gone. So we obsess.
It's amazing things to me how many people, journalists, commentators, comedians, talking heads, experts, etc. still speak of Trump as if he has some kind of policies beyond self-recognition and self-enrichment. Why doesn't he do this? Does he realize his hurting that group of people? He's going astray of this or that ethical standard. What is his foreign policy regarding this or that nation? His trade policies? What is his underlying agenda?
Hmmm, harrumph, harrumph (shake your head is disbelief).
His agenda is Trump self-enrichment, self-adulation and most importantly, recognition and attention. That's it. He cares about nothing else. Look at me; talk about me, me, me.
In his weird way, he has reached a kind of nirvana; the pinnacle; POTUS. He's flying to the sun.
Everything Trump is demoralizing. Everything I believe in relating to our country is being trashed daily by the man we call the president. All of this has found an audience in moral cretins who echo back all the insults and cruelty and the sound is screeching and now deafening. Reading respectable journalists or watching them on the news stations give me a greater peace of mind and a sense of solidarity and a clear sense of shared beliefs. I need this.
This presidency is deeply disturbing beyond imagining. I am regularly surrounded by many Trump voters and therefore I am further isolated because there is no point of agreement in terms of debating human decency and the lack of it in our president and his republican supporters. No common ground. I do hope that a Democratic House will turn the tide around and drown out the indecency so that the media may return to covering the issues that Americans face and how the legislators are moving to address them. But the president and his rhetoric should never be off the hook for fear of giving him the attention he craves. We need to restate and validate the principles we stand for in our country. The press needs to investigate all the disturbing theories that this president's negativity and this administration's dysfunction seems to indicate, not "obsess" over his petulant edicts. It can be done in a way that treats the bad behavior like you would a child, without giving the child too much attention for it. Find the balance.
I hate the fact that I am angry much of the time about Trump's latest vile Tweet, rally, or executive order. I would like to take a break and just pretend Trump doesn't exist, but I think it's dangerous to do so.
Yes, we all have outrage fatigue, but decent people should be constantly outraged. If we don't speak up daily, what will we tell our future grandchildren? "Sorry for what happened to America, but I was just too mentally beaten down to care."
1
Yes, Trump’s demeaning words whether against black women or the leaders of our allies is disgusting. His misuse of a “caravan” and our military to create fear is tragic. And so go his actions. What I want from the press/media is facts - real information about legislation or actual events - that I can be so outraged about that I write to my Republican senator. Trump’s party is more of a problem than Trump. How dare voting be made more difficult in Dodge City, Kansas or North Dakota. Oh, I learned about those tactics on television. So, why doesn’t the press tell us about the cruel, inexcusable actions taken by Republicans whether in a town or state-wide? No, I’m more concerned about the GOP than Trump. It’s the Senate that is approving conservative judges. It’s the Republican Congress or Trump’s cabinet that are hurting our nation and world. I don’t need to be Trump - obsessed, but I am deeply disturbed by the actions of the Republican Party. And, I think Americans have risen up against the GOP. Hopefully, this continues!
2
The Radio, TV and social media feed us the most outrageous speech as it is their way of building ratings and thus advertising dollars. It is up to the public to pledge to take control by turning media off whenever they broadcast a politician or commentator who spews blatant lies, foments hate or demonizes any group of people. Sounds impossible, but this last election demonstrated the power of the people. Such a pledge would appeal to most of the electorate.
I have no issue with basic coverage but what I find intolerable are all the media folks who talk in terms as if Trump could do anything else. "If only the President..." "Trump should..." etc. Please stop pretending this person is capable of anything really decent and move on to what has to be done to clean up the mess he's made or how to prevent him from getting us in any more trouble than we are.
1
I'll tell you how Trump dominates my small world ....it is due to some republicans in our gravitational pull that frequently denigrate "Liberals" and seeks to do nothing but attack and impugn without any real consideration of the substantive nature of any topic. My husband politely asked one to look up the definition of liberal...."Oh, that doesn't look so bad."
Somehow uttering "Liberals" absolves some of folks of the actual hard work of developing intelligent discussion points about policies, etc, of articulating anything of substance. Rather, uttering "Liberals" (with any choice adjective), presents their argument (so they believe) without their bothering further to posit anything of substance. There is no sense arguing, as you might as well talk to a cardboard box which has likely given more consideration to its point of view.
I concur that there is nothing to be gained in calling out Trump. A skunk sprays any that causes it a problem. Such is Trump. You might as well devote time to the skunk--same thing, different venue.
Let's embrace the example of Sinema...who was sprayed by the skunk in her race but remained on topic for the values and policies that she embraced. Only by singlemindedly, doggedly, passionately articulating positions and striving to find common ground for positive outcomes can we move the energy from negative to positive and steal some oxygen.
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@Leisa
I most certainly agree with much of what you have written, however, I do think that the GOP hypocrisy does need to be called out. I have found that polite but direct questions to conservatives have often left them unable to answer. These include questions such as "What is happening with the debt?" or "Do moral values, ethics, and family values still matter?" Throw the ball in their court and see what happens.
22
@LucindaWalsh
I generally find that "true believers" on both ends of the spectrum are immune from facts. Oh, they may acknowledge an inconvenient fact in the moment but, the next day, they'll repeat the came argument you called them on before.
3
@LucindaWalsh Good advice. And don't necessarily expect them to admit they're wrong on the spot. Just give them something to think about as they drift off to sleep at night.
They'll see the light if they're ready to see the light. If they aren't, there's not much we can do anyway.
4
Just continue to do and live as people do and live during a plague. We are missing so many other stories because of this poseur. Focus on the nearby and cherish your friends.
I have to study the guy, so I follow the news, but it is work, not entertainment.
1
Excellent point. I urge print media to use some word other than his name - Administration? - so readers aren't confronted with his name in way too many headlines. Stop posting and reading - and rereading, as on Morning Joe this morning. As a recent study showed on how to combat misinformation and not amplify it, use a lie sandwich - start with "another lie by the Administration" which starts with the truth, then just summarizes the lie without quoting it, followed by the TRUTH again.
As for TV, I have started turning off the show when they replay his lies, and his ugly face. Don't reward them for giving him air time. Starve them of revenue if they can't do better.
4
"Remember that you can be thoroughly anti-Trump without being completely Trump-obsessed."
Well, of course. Besides, I'm not just anti-Trump, I'm anti republican. And it's one thing to get upset with what Trump and the republicans say, but another to be upset with what they do.
That said, the bottom line is still...what are we going to do about it. For one, we did manage to vote in a majority of Democrats in the House. Obviously, there is much more work to be done before 2020. Hopefully, no one thinks we can now kick back and relax. The mid-terms were one battle in an ongoing war. Rather than relax, we must press our advantages. Show the people that we will do a better job for them than the losers who were tossed out.
As any coach will tell you...to win in a competitive activity, you need a good defense and a good offence. We have to defend the country and the rule of law and yes, truth itself from the hordes of deplorables. But we have to go on the offense too. Not by attacking people, but by attacking problems. Show the voters that we can govern better than those government hating republicans.
And yes, it would help some if the press would spend a little less time on Trump's latest gorilla dust tweet. As we all come to expect the worst from Trump, hopefully his ability to shock us will fade. Once you have someone pegged...confirmation becomes less and less exciting.
So, let's stop yawning over another outrage, and get to work to save our democracy.
2
@rumpleSS I am in complete agreement. I would add that we need to be steadfast and patient. With a majority in the House, the best Democrats can do in the short term is stop harmful legislation at the federal level. We need to make it clear that instant gratification in the form of progressive policy is not a reasonable expectation. Like the Republicans, Democrats need to play the long game. We need to make sure we pay attention to local and state races so we can undo Republican gerrymandering and voter suppression. We need to put tremendous effort into taking the Senate majority to stop right wing court appointments. We need to be rational, strategic, and relentless, not reactionary.
Trump has lay bare 64 years of GOP dog whistles from Nixon to Ryan. Here in Canada anti-Trumpism has united Canadians more than anything else I remember in my 70 years.
I have railed against neoliberalism since Trump was unknown outside of NYC. I have watched the entire world grow and prosper even as civil wars and genocides took over the headlines. The USA has always lead in producing new wealth but nowhere else has a shared prosperity been honoured more in the breach than in the observance.
Trump has brought a sack load of questions to the table and as much as those questions hurt, America had best start answering them.
Three fifths of a person was not something given to the slave it was a political value given to the slave owner it was America's first Citizens United.
The only way to be Trump is the truth and the truth must be your American truths not Donald's truths from another planet.
In 1775 the English conservative philosopher Samuel Johnson wrote a letter the the American congress titled Taxation No Tyranny. It outlined meaning and responsibilities of what he knew to be the social contract of citizens with their government.
When Reagan uttered his most treasonous line "The most terrifying words I am from the Federal Government and I am here to help." America was doomed. Countries are only as good as their social contracts and when the conservative movement started the first thing it did was reject our responsibilities.
"You don't know what you lost till its gone."
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@Memphrie et Moi
I think you're a bit of an example of the hysteria monger rather than the truth monger.
Part of what's wrong with the hysteria is its progenitors.
People who liken Trump's proposed border wall to the Berlin Wall.
People who liken Trump to Hitler.
People who accuse opponents of illegal immigration of being racists, xenophobes, and immigrant haters.
People who claim a US college student population "is not healthy" without an undocumented component.
People like Charles M. Blow who can't see past their own petty indignation, and who think it's everyone else who is crazy.
People who think it "makes sense" that illegal immigrant children be granted automatic US citizenship.
People who think illegal immigrants should be given instate tuition, health services, and drivers' licenses.
People who think Trump is a fascist compared to Angela Merkel.
Canadian Prime Ministers who mischaracterize Trump's push to curb illegal immigration as "anti-immigrant," use it to score political points back home, then become indignant that illegals in the US misinterpret the"welcoming" tone and start piling into Canada ("Oh, um," says Justin, wagging his finger, "We have rules."
There are a lot of truths people are ignoring, mostly I think because they think it's hip to do so. After all, doesn't everyone hate Trump?
2
@smacc1
I certainly don't understand your criticism. I have commented for years and championed the election of Trump as the way to start the dialogue that America sorely needed.
Trump has always seemed a rather pathetic human being and I suspect a victim of fetal alcohol disorder. I have worked with children who had no empathy and learned not to hate this tragic condition. I suspect Trump really has no understanding of what is going on outside of his own being.
This is the first time in 15 years I am in anyway optimistic for America's future. I have never got into any argument over Trump or his policies and still believe Reagan was the worst President you ever had.
I believe what you call conservatism attacked and destroyed America's core values and it was going to take a man completely outside the Age of Reason to shake America out of its lethargy.
When the NYT asked which historical character Trump reminded you of I said Peter the Hermit and two years later I say the same name.
I thought I would never see the day when Americans were our third largest group of asylum seekers. Most of my family members are Americans and everyday I threaten to stop paying attention but I worry to much about my grandchildren.
We just had an election in Quebec, we have our own immigration department. If it wasn't for treaty obligations we would take the entire caravan and educate, shelter and provide healthcare to all of them because our economy and our province needs new citizens.
5
@Memphrie et Moi
And by the way Canada has committed to 350,000 immigrants a year 1% of our population. We have been condemned by China, Russia, the USA, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia because of our stand on human rights.
I believe in democracy and although Hillary had more votes Trump was the correct President for this time as same old same old just wouldn't cut it.
Over 80% of new arrivals become citizens within 5 years it would be stupid not to take care of them that is the Canadian way.
Anyhow I can not think of a better example than King Leering as a warning to Americans to change direction. Our legends tell us Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because they adopted American Conservatism as their political and social philosophy.
6
Yes, Mr. Blow "There is an exciting new class of left-leaning legislators joining Congress who bring with them fresh blood and fresh ideas. Democrats will control the House, all of its committees and its legislative calendar."
And it would not have happened unless "liberals" - average people who want true democracy meaning Social/Economic equity for ALL Americans - stood up and shouted out our refusal to accept The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren's actions.
NO. It is not time to be quiet. That's what happened in the late 1960s and 70s when people thought we "won". Democracy is not a spectator sport - it is a living thing that is constantly changing. There are people every single day trying to destroy it and only constant vigilance and action by every single American who loves democracy and fights to protect the one thing they value most can preserve it.
Thank you for your brilliant part in helping bring about a non-violent revolution by Socially Conscious Women and men who do not want OUR lives destroyed by insatiable greed. Please, do not abandon ship now. The fight has just begun and you can help keep it civil.
1
There will be another shift left when the full tariffs go into effect and everyone will pay more for clothing, common household items, dollar store gadgets, as the cost of living among his supporters rises.
2
@qiaohan - Plus when the (R)ich (R)egressives realize that there's no more minimum wage workers left to manicure their estates, nanny their babies and change their Grandma's diaper because of his immigration "policy".
1
I don't know about other people but I continue to read in hopes that there will be a magic lifeline that tells me everything will be okay at some point.
The Titanic is not really going down and taking us all with it.
There are adults in the room.
The end is in sight.
Needless to say, thus far this has all been in vain.
7
I totally agree! I have been so obsessed that I am physically ill. However, your column gives me hope and I am refocusing that energy into action on a daily basis. Thank you. We need to continue to move forward by keeping our congress people in check with our calls and postcards to let them know we are looking out for our country!
1
Charles I always look forward to your articles and appearances on Don Lemon's program (my favorite CNN program). Thank You.
I know there's no hope of ever communicating the harm Trump and his base of supporters are doing to our great nation of American Democracy. I give up. And it's not just those Trump Thumpers at his rallies. Stone faced Alice Stewart is one prominent example of Trump's backers who regularly appear on Don's program and always pivot out of any attempt to denounce Trump. She finally admitted "Hey, I voted for him before and would do it again". Her impenetrable sense of moral indignation is more damaging than anything Trump says or does.
2
How timely.
I regret that I am/was obsessed by Trump’s machinations. And it is tortorous. But as a citizen, I felt obligated.
But, not any more.
I will not, going forward—stoke the fire.
2
My grandma gave me some wise advice, "This too shall pass."
2
Thank you, Mr. Blow.
Everyone needs to lower their expectations and leave it there and last, but certainly not least, stop covering his every lie, tantrum and tweet.
The focus needs to be on getting the country out of this mire and moving it towards meaningful legislation that helps all Americans.
2
Thank you Mr. Blow for reacting to my anguish about the choice of photos in the last two columns. I can attest I already begin reading your column less stressed.
2
The media's call to duty on everything Trump rings of hypocrisy, not to mention that it’s far too much, and more than a little late in serving the interests of the country. Had the media been working with even a fraction of this effort on calling out W's performance Mr.Trump would still be firing people on his TV show.
42
I’d love to ignore him, but the Administration is like a trash fire loaded with flammable containers.
You either clear the area or enjoy the show because it won’t last.
And watch out for flying debris.
3
Well, in this case, the answer is simple. Just get rid of Twitter.
2
Thanks to Charles Blow for a sensible article. There is indeed no reason to go off the rails regarding Trump's lies and bad behavior. We now need to be resolute and focused to try to curtail the damage he is doing to our nation. Screaming will do no good. Electing sensible people to public office will. Speaking out with sober rhetoric, countering his lies will. We now need to focus laser-like on 2020 to get this cancerous influence on our body politic out of office, and root out the causes that got him here. It is a moment of decision for our nation.
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@William O. Beeman
And support the politicians that are helping us and the country.
10
The reason we are justifiably outraged is because trump is destroying our democracy and plunging the world into authoritarianism. We will die trying before we let him take over.
6
Yes, indeed, Trump is bribing his 'base' purely by emotion (as there is no rational thought process behind his lies and insults); as he has no real long-term plans, his fearmongering is getting old and tiring, and some of them are beginning to think for themselves...and realize this demagogue has been cheating on them all along. Basically, what we expect from journalists is not disengagement in informing us about Trump's misrule, but avoiding mentioning his name. Starving him from his addiction to applause is a good start. Asking Twitter to refuse this clown to publish lie after lie, may be another way to stop his irresponsible trajectory to deceive us. Or at least uncover his falsehoods right away, next to his defamatory and incendiary nonsense. You are right, there are one thousand and one facts we must pay attention to, while making a living and pay our taxes...to pay these elected officials for their self-serving stance.
3
Self-immolation over Trump won't remove him from our Presidency. Fear, stress, anxiety are marking this hinge of American history in the first quarter of the 21st Century, as fear, stress and anxiety -- and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (and his wife, Sophie) of Austria-Hungary -- led to World War I in the first quarter of the 20th Century. Eight weeks after the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife were shot and killed during their 6 car motorcade visit to Sarajevo, by a young Serbian nationalist with a gun, World War I set the world on fire.
American obsession with president Trump's outrage against democracy and the world isn't going to cut the mustard during these trending social media times when news is reported globally in an instant. You're right, as always, Charles Blow, that Trumpism is a disease. The only cure is cutting it out of the American body -- uprooting it branch, tree and poison fruit. We must disengage emotionally from the disease of our time and the horrific American means of ending the lives of people with whom we disagree by guns in the hands of demented people.
4
Obsessing about Trump is all too easy when you are on social media. Facebook's algorithms pick up on what you are obsessing over, and they serve you more.
2
By being constantly outrageous and ordinarily offensive, Trump doesn't just get news coverage, he dominates American media, top to bottom. Does he deserve that kind of power? No, except for the threat he poses.
Contrast the news over-coverage given to Trump with the under-coverage of Obama. Because he styled himself as a kind of Mr. Cool, no-drama-Obama seemed to not be doing anything for the people of the US, which helped, in turn, set the country up for Trump. If people in Kansas or Iowa or Oregon don't know about something, to them, it didn't happen.
Obama's low key style seemed to merit little or no coverage most of the time, which made him nearly desperate for attention.
Obama and his wife went on just about every television program that would have them short of SpongeBob SquarePants. He even invited Seinfeld to the White House and became visibly irritated with Jerry Seinfeld wouldn't let him make his points for Obamacare. The "television presidency" used so effectively from Kennedy through Clinton and G.W. Bush seemed to disappear under Obama.
Now, it is all Trump, all the time. He really should have his own national television channel, the Trump Channel, so he could compete with himself in getting news coverage.
The major media, sad to say, are being ignorant, letting a man known for conning the media and using it for his own purposes do the same day after day in the White House. Shameful.
4
Hindsight is 2020, let it be so in 2020.
2
True Charles. But, the press is not being very creative in covering Trump. For one, "Fake Facts" are never challenged anymore. Why isn't there a column or columnist who regularly compares the fake facts to the truth. Trump says fake-here are the facts. Side by side.
3
We are not asking you to “simply ignore a sitting president of the United States.” We are asking you to tighten up the editorial strainer through which Trump’s latest outrage must squeeze to make it onto the front page. His tweets are mostly shiny objects for the media or red meat for the base, or both. Don’t stop covering him. Just raise the bar that his brand of crazy must get
over to make it above the fold.
3
We are in a much better position now, since the Midterms, to do as this column suggests and not be Trump obsessed. We now know we have the pieces in place to regain the country that we love despite his daily dose of anger, attacks, lies and torments. The obsession, or at least my obsession (I will speak for myself.) was born over not just his behavior, but the lack of checks on his behavior and the continued support of this minority of Americans, who seemed incapable of seeing what an unfit man he is to be elected president. I am still stunned to find his approval rating around 40%. What kind of person would approve of this man and his means to 'winning' at all costs? Yet, now that we know that the majority of Americans feel as we do and the Democrats are promising to check this out of control, authoritarian- leaning president, we can be at greater peace and less obsessed with Trump. Overall, we know that most people want good government that works for everybody. Most people want every child to have a fighting chance to achieve the American dream. Most of us have had loved ones fight and die to enjoy the freedoms of America that we hold dear, even if the current president keeps trashing them. We want to be the 'shining city on the hill' again, even if not perfect but being perfected, as a union of the people, by the people, for the people, "with malice towards none, and charity for all".
2
Trump jumped started his campaign for 2020 immediately after the inauguration. Everytime that year is mentioned I'm overwhelmed by grief. A media coverage in relation to a perpetual election cycle is not helpful. The damage he and cabinet officials continue to do on a daily basis must take precedence at all times. For instance, separating children from families was delayed in reporting the tragic result, some families may never be reunited.
The media must become junkyard dogs with fine tooth combs to expose how diabolical, dysfunctional and also face the reality we have no president. Steve Miller, Kelly, Kushners, Mnuchin, Don McGahn, Sean Hannity, Cabinet officials, other rag tags have been running the presidential show behind the scenes.
Relentlessly pounce on them as well as Trump.
89
You have iterated many of my thoughts and musings since the election. I have developed a sort of calmness about 45 now that the Democrats have taken control of the House. At last a check on his presidency. I now have hope that the future will be more normalized and that we will get through this. In the meantime, I plan to minimize my exposure to the "two minute hate" that Twitter provides and absolutely keep 45's face off my Facebook page in anything I share. I look forward to monitoring the news about Democratic candidates for president in the coming two years. May the best candidate win! Thank you for your continued commentary--I read your columns with relish every week!
1
By George, I think he's got it! What have two years of depression, anger, disgust, embarrassment, fear, and a bakers' dozen other negative emotions gotten me?
More of the same, day by day. Mr. Blow has provided the spark to make me realize that Trump proves the quintessential Madison Avenue maxim that any exposure is good exposure. He has, I now realize, grabbed the news cycle by the platen; and with it, an overlarge part of what serves me for a mind.
Current science suggests that the human mind can only consider one thing at a time. One cannot, for instance, solve the Pythagorean Theorem with one part of the mind while composing a grocery list with another.
So, when I read today's news and indulge in profound anger that Trump sulked in his limousine while others marched in the rain to honor those who fought in WW I, my grocery list withers on the vine and I arrive home with a soggy pizza for dinner. And breakfast.
Perhaps the worst of it is that I already knew about Trump's "limousining in the rain" in Paris, and yet I read the story again! This is at least the third iteration I've read!
Now I realize that it's an indulgence. I've allowed Trump to march into a large part of my mind and to occupy it. In that, he has succeeded. Madison Avenue should throw a ticker tape parade.
59
How can we get thru the political mire and keep our sanity? Keep reading Charles' articles that help us take a breath, sit back, relax, clear our heads, and deal with the hand we wer dealt (some of it our own fault) and plan our next move. One gratifying fact is that 45's era will end soon enough. Time flies. This country has been thru far worse situations and we exited those tunnels with a sigh of relief, a clear head, and hope for our future. We can do it again. Plus remember...one day, he and his cohorts will be a blip on a page because they will no longer walk this earth. Personally, I look forward to it....don't hate me for saying that.
1
C. Blow
I don’t want to agree because then both of us would be wrong.
But I do hope that Trump continues to dominate the liberal discussion and it continues to be very hurtful to your cause.
The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of somebody else’s money.
@Pogo
The problem with nationalism is that sooner or later you run out of friends.
1
@Pogo
Is your point then, that Trump's tax plan was socialistic? That his suggested spending for defense and "the wall" would be considered socialistic expenditures of money? Would you say the GOP n general and the House and Senate, US, favor socialism w/their carefree attitude about spending money to the tune of what is the federal deficit now, $173 trillion, or somewhere in that area?
1
There are a few things we need to obsess about, and they fall solidly into Trump coverage.
We cannot be a free society if the government acts against a free society. The Trump admin takes the old "spin" and created "bald faced lie." Posting an altered video to justify banning a member of the press?
We can't be a free society if we undermine the intuitions of a free society. The media is left leaning fake news (unless it is FOX.) The Courts are rigged, unless it is the GOP rigged Supreme Court Government is the problem so shut it down, but first, undo everything that was ever done before.
Our national reputation as an open society is undermined by our failure to address the toxic mi of nationalism with xenophobia and racism. (And no folks, I am not talking about sensible immigration; I am talking about it being OK to walk in to churches and shoot people for being who they are; I am talking about putting children - including toddlers and infants - in "camps"; I am talking about characterizing refugees as rapists, or a horde.)
Our national reputation as the upholder of democracy is undermined by our global policy of bullying and picking fights while walking away from all prior commitments.
I get that it seems obsessive to keep talking Trump and allowing Congress to wreak havoc while Trump takes the spotlight. But to be fair, are we supposed to go gently into that dark night? Or do we rage against the dying of the light?
1
Of course covering Trump has to happen. However, I marvel at the amount of news about Trump as compared to everything else... the wildfires in California being the loudest example.
One of the things I have noticed over the last few months is that much of the media has finally gotten around to calling out Fake POTUS 45 on all of his conspiracy theories by finally, FINALLY using the "L" word (liar, lying, etc).
If Fake POTUS 45 us going to continue being covered by the media incessantly. then they need to keep using the "L" word.
Over and over and over again.
1
Just as journalists have an obligation to report on the president, we citizens have an obligation to monitor his behavior, especially if fantastically errant. How can we not do so? Like you, Charles, we too are watchdogs of the republic. But in this instance, it is a thoroughly disgusting job, done reluctantly by honorable Americans like yourself.
1
As much as I dislike Trump I have to admit he is a master at media manipulation.All media are bottom line oriented.Big ratings generate big revenue.Trump gets ratings even for the media that are hostile to him.He simply cannot be ignored.I doubt that the NYT will bury Trump coverage inside the paper to limit his exposure.The media have to aggressively cover Trump and continue to expose his lies and character flaws and erratic behavior so that the voting public can make informed decisions at the ballot box.2020 is just around the corner.
1
I love your new approach to the graphic image of the man. Last week it cropped out his head, this week it's obscured by a flag.
What a fantastic way to deal with a narcissist! If a picture is worth a thousand words, with this guy, no picture is worth two thousand.
3
Bravo, Mr. Blow. I, too, find myself in the quandary you so aptly describe—caught on the knife’s edge between caring and scaring. I’m reminded of Rick Wilson’s recent book “Everything Trump Touches Dies”. Decades ago, it was the Plaza Hotel, the Taj Majal Casino, Trump University and the Trump Shuttle; today, it’s American democracy, institutions, indeed, our very country. The fine line between Trump suppression and Trump obsession is a delicate balance, lest one succumb to the toxic effects of Agent Orange.
Another tale that comes to mind is the excellent film “Michael Clayton,” about a fixer who has been similarly slimed by similarly sleazy forces, only to redeem himself when it is almost too late. Perhaps it is nothing more than coincidence that George Clooney’s character’s initials are identical to Trump’s former fixer, who may himself be in the midst of another kind of come-to-Jesus-moment. But I digress.
How fitting, though, that you, Mr. Blow, as a media representative opine on this struggle. On the one hand, you are obliged to cover Trump as a manifestation of the news while, on the other, you and your colleagues, maybe even more than the rest of us, need to resist the temptation to let the rogue, renegade-in-Chief become your poisonous bread and butter. Of course, as we speak, a Trump appointee, is deciding which of you will continue to enjoy that “pleasure,” and whether or not the elephant in the room will be the ultimate arbiter.
1
The press must do its job. Trump wants the press to give up. Trump wants the press to allow him to do whatever he wants. Trump does not want his taxes investigated, among other things, although that will not sour fascists on him. He really could kill someone in the street and the fascists would not care. They would call him tough. The press must report the news, no matter how dreadful it is. The press must also investigate and do everything it can to keep politics open and honest, even if the politicians are not. Americans deserve an investigative press.
3
Just waiting for the day in another two or six years 45th is gone for ever and nobody talks about him. We have 22nd Amendment........and I am pretty sure majority in the United States will be happy on that day.
1
Charles Blow telling Americans we don't need to be Trump-obsessed is an entirely new level of tone-deafness.
Most of us know this and live this. Of all national columnists, however, Charles comes the closest to Trump with being obsessed with Trump.
Stop it.
So true. We all need to stop feeding the beast that is Trump.
I think maybe the media can "sex up" issues by using headlines that you usually reserve for Trump's idiocy.
For instance, instead of having a bland title for Health Care issues You can title the article "You Will Die if this Legislation Goes Through". Or perhaps for issues on Voting Rights " All Democrats Held Hostage at the Polls" . Or on Mental Health issues, "Melania Commits Trump to Mental Health Facility"
Or on Gun Reform "Massive Bump Stock Purchases Foretell of other Massacres to Come."
Just some suggestions.
2
If the court determines the king has a right to deny access to the White House to reporters he doesn't like, you'll be at head of the line. Consider it a badge of courage and dignity, Charles. You've earned it.
5
The Press has to cover this maniacal person calling himself POTUS differently from other POTUS. It requires different skills than were needed with previous men. In general, the press has found its way but has more to go. It will be evolutionary. After all, there is no experience covering a difficult, deficient man with fatal narcissism as our POTUS.
Perhaps not covering him live at some times is appropriate, giving yourselves the necessary time for fact checking. The public needs truth but does not have the time to fact check. He has earned this type of coverage. He is not speaking to most Americans, he is speaking to his supporters. But he should be addressing all Americans, not just those who believe whatever he tells them. If he doesn'speak to us, you must. And we need truth.
Much of trump's oxygen comes from Fox "News".
They themselves say they're entertainment, and not news.
The FCC could put a dent in their ratings by requiring them to call the show, "Fox Entertainment".
I would ask the Fox "News"people how trump's fascism will affect their own lives. That dividing the country is devastating for all Americans.
How can anyone think that by encouraging/empowering the worst among us, could possibly have a good outcome?
4
@Stephen
Put that question to his base of supporters at one of his religious revival type rallies. Good luck getting a intelligent, rational answer.
You could stick to reporting the substantive things being done by the Trump administration and ignore the empty chatter. Though, that wouldn’t leave much to actually report.
1
My family friends went to a place for vacation where only important local, national and international news is covered and Trump is barely mentioned ( <20%). They were told Republicans and other parties get on very well with each other. Barely any fake news and no daily drum beating about Trump as by NYTimes to rile both sides and create partisan factions!
@rajn and where would this magical place be, and could any of us regular folks afford to visit?
This article is very wise. Thank you.
1
We need to keep Trump front and center to measure the daily damage.
History demands facts, and all the rallies in all the red states in all the world won't change a thing.
Knowledge matters!
3
No worries, Charles. After November 6th, I believe that liberals will be much less obsessed with Donald Trump. Now that we have seen that we can defeat him, his hold over us will diminish.
3
You are correct that Trumpism is a disease and that cursing it won't cure it. The problem is that you cannot be thoroughly anti-Trump without being Trump obsessed. Trump obsession will probably gain a diagnostic number in the DSM due to the devastating effects of witnessing not only this obscene presidency, but the obscenity of our friends and relatives supporting it. You and I and the people who regularly read your excellent column are obsessed with this mess. How can you possibly advise us to do what you have been unable to do; ignore him or somehow rise above him? You tell me how to do that, Charles (my favorite NYT columnist), and I will give it a shot.
4
OK, fine, so keep reporting on Trump, but at least cut out the sensationalism and publish it on page 3. There is no sense ruining our mood by blaring his outrages from the front page.
The media should put the atrocities being committed by his cabinet on the front page.The Bear’s Ears monument; HUD’s treatment of people in govt housing; the court overturning the Keystone pipeline; all the many things that slip by the press while covering Trump’s latest tweets. I don’t know if any of these many damaging decisions will get the Mob’s attention, but, if they affect them at home, maybe so. Example: drilling off the coast of South Carolina even has the Carolina crazies up in arms.
1
Just hide the ketchup.../s
As a young adult, the corruption and crime reaching all the way to the White House revealed during Watergate contributed to a growing disgust for abuses of power. Even Nixon’s first Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, had to resign over federal investigation into taking bribes and tax evasion. Then as now, I viewed supporters of and believers in Nixon and Agnew, in the end, just as guilty, just as gullible and susceptible to demagoguery and conspiracy theory driven excuses as Trump supporters are today.
The difference is Nixon and Angew were not pushing anti-democratic Nationalism as is President Trump. My disgust has elevated to deep concerns for foundational democratic and human values. Mr. Trump’s corruption is overt and purposeful; he has shown utter contempt for the Constitution, laws, and appears to lack a moral center, disdainfully challenging and threatening those who try to stop him and who criticize him. His conspiracy theories, lies, fear-mongering, hate-mongering are directed at every democratic process and institution, every group of people deemed undesirable, and at every individual he dislikes. Mr. Trump’s foreign and international economic policies isolate this country, making America great only in the minds of some, not in reality.
I want to be immersed in every corrupt minute of this presidency out of love for this country. If this democratic Republic goes down because of Mr. Trump and his purposefully ignorant base, I want my anger to demon
2
Hey! Please don't make a stupid argument so you can shoot it down:
"There is no way for the media — define media however you will — to simply ignore a sitting president of the United States."
Who said anything about ignoring? Ignore the guy who could get us all blown up in a nuclear war and end world civilization in the process?
What would be helpful, major media, is to back away from the constant repetition bigly news coverage. In particular, Trump's tweets should have their own space...buried in the daily rush of news coverage. When he tweets something that can be tied to actual policy or actions of the government, then treat them as news.
As one who has covered the White House, Capitol Hill and other news fountains in DC, it is clear the media is caught in a trap. Of course, every president is important, but how important and how much coverage is warranted? As it stands, the major media have turned over deciding what is news and how much it should be covered to Trump himself. Is this a wise idea or just a really dumb one blown up to 1,000 times its normal size? Trump should be covered with perspective, not given constant, blanket coverage.
As children, even my older brother and I (I was seven) realized that presidents get far too much coverage. Long ago, we tried to put out a little self published newspaper and one of our first stories said, "The president drank a glass of water today." Were we smarter then than the news editors and producers of this era?
3
Exactly right. Who cares about this guy anyway. Let's just get him out of our face.
1
Said the late Carrie Fisher, "Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die!"
This is the one time I disagree wholeheartedly with you Mr. Blow. This is what you say:
"As for the policy machinations, those stories are often covered, but they are rarely splashy news because by their very nature they are technical and bureaucratic."
No, these stories are not often covered- except in the most cursory manner. You imply that- because they are "technical and bureaucratic"- we the reader of such are too dumb to comprehend; how offensive to the NYT readers and readers of other credible media. It isn't that we won't understand. Be honest. It is because you and your fellow journalists don't believe they are appetizing.
For once, I detect some serious burnout by you Mr. Blow. Lastly, Donald Trump's obsessive tweets are not newsworthy. They are in the same vein as a 15 year old's ramblings. Stop acknowledging them.
1
mr. blow writes: "This column, ironically, only adds to this Trump-focused dialogue and illustrates the issue, but I digress."
no, he doesn't. that is exactly the topic of his column.
he also writes "There is no way for the media — define media however you will — to simply ignore a sitting president of the United States. That would not only be a dereliction of duty, it would also be folly."
the media - define it how you will - does not, however, have to repeat mr. trump's blithering tweets. even the name - "tweet," for god's sake - is ridiculous. mr/ trump's tweets are available to anyone who wants to see them, and there is no reason for the media to repeat them. that is folly enough.
the times's recent four-part video on how it covers the president, though a brilliant piece of work, is basically embarrassing to the paper - it has 50 people covering the president. it runs half a dozen stories on his idiocies every day.
no matter who he is, this is not necessary.
broderick crawford, as harry brock, the criminal heavy in the classic film "born yesterday," put it quite clearly: he didn't care what was written about him because "every knock is a boost." so it is with mr. trump. he posts his idiotic tweets and the times - and the rest of the media - have a collective fit. who needs sarah sanders when the trained seals will do their act unprompted?
i wish the times would wake up and cover the president as though he were jimmy carter.
1
study the enemy!
If all segments spent as much time on Mr Trump as liberal Dems do then we would be in a better place. Liberal Dems have educated themselves and know that Mr Trump does not support Democracy or its institutions. Mr Trump it seems would be happiest as an oligarch. These are tough, hard facts. They are awful and we must continue to talk and debate to understand the truth of our situation.
I’m reminded of how families sometimes deal with a member who is an alcoholic or a criminal— they say to each other “don’t talk about it”. It doesn’t work for families unfortunately won’t work for our country.
2
Thoughtful. Well said, with good humor.
1
A Mental Health Tip. Ignore what Trump says or does
for a few weeks. By that time, the lie total will just
ump by a hundred or so.
The man has no idea what he is doing, slobbers
over our enemies, smears our friends, and lies
constantly.
Read a book, watch some sports, talk to your kids,
but ignore him.
Word
5
Two things: First, a suggestion. Maybe one day a week, DJT does not get any coverage and then we can find out what else is going on in the world in a little more depth. The caveat, of course, would be unless he resigns, is caught in bed with a dead hooker or a live boy, or Bob Mueller pillories him. Secondly, since the midterms, I have stopped fretting. I have loathed DJT since having to deal with him in the early 1980s, and now I am sitting back and watching with pleasure as his karma comes home to roost. I hope our country can survive his karmic reckoning.
1
In order to improve the mental health of American readers, I suggest that every time a journalist contemplates writing an article about Trump he should instead write an article about Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau or Emmanuel Macron.
2
"Why doesn’t the news media simply ignore Donald Trump? Or, at least, cover him far less? He thrives on the attention. Withhold your coverage and starve him of oxygen." What I've been saying all along. The media is simply helping Trump Make America Grate Again, as in grate my teeth every time I hear him on TV or reach about his latest tweet.
3
'Trump is a disease and cursing it won't cure it' Absolutely. . But Charles, that's mostly what your columns are full of.
I’ve posted often that we need more than just anti Trump/GOP columns giving us emotional catharsis. It’s your columns that have been dominated by stress and negativity. We need more discussion of positive proposals--- what works, where, and why? That's healthy and constructive and forms a positive opposition.
We’re all too painfully aware of Trump, so how about some columns on what Dems should do to win in 2020? Like opinions on how to finance health care? Compare ideas. Compare fake news on it. Gun law reform? Campaign finance reform, or is that a no no? What works and where?
Did you know that some candidates have rejected PAC money, and raised small amounts from average voters? That should be big news in our big money politics. Where is it in the media?
What's happening with the underfunding of the CDC on gun violence research? There's timely topic, as we wait for the next massacre.
You say ‘Dems did better in midterms than many thought on election night.” Good, so Charles instead of adding more to the constant horse race commentary, tell us some of the proposals you think were effective for Dems to win and how you evaluate them. Maybe a paragraph in a column?
That ‘s what we need now, as the daily pile up of Trumpism gets more atrocious every day---every hour. Yikes
1
Indeed ...
I’m not opposed to pointing out trump’s soulless character, his heinous racism & sexism nor reminding everyone his ‘presidency’ is completely illegitimate due to the result of the popular vote, but Progressives have to get focused on what to do about it.
I’d start by demanding Beto O’Rourke run for President! Woot!
1
Just stop listening to Drumpf. It is easy. Tape the news and skip anything to do with Drumpt or his off springs. The same for print. I have been doing it for months and it is very liberating. And I think when one does acknowledge his existence referrer to him by his ancestral name, Drumpf. I hear he really likes it when one does that and Drumpf seems to fit more of his presence, personality, and demeanor.
1
Trump is the key-stone in the arch of the GOP control of America. We must dislodge him. However, there are foundation stones that are of equal importance--maybe more. McConnell and Gingrich, for example. Newt may be dining in Rome as our acting ambassador to the Vatican (his wife is the real ambassador) but the tactics he introduced decades ago have blossomed like weeds. Mother Jones has done a masterful history of Gingrich, and gives us a partial list of words he offered for use by his GOP colleagues in describing Democrats: "decay, failure (fail) collapse(ing) deeper, crisis, urgent(cy), destructive, destroy, sick, pathetic, lie, liberal, they/them, unionized bureaucracy... traitors, sensationalists, endanger, coercion, hypocrisy... pessimistic, excuses, intolerant, stagnation, welfare... taxes, spend (ing) shame, disgrace... cheat, steal, abuse of power..." At the same time, anyone who saw McConnell welcome Rick Scott to the Capitol with other newly (re)elected GOP senators must now see clearly that McConnell is an enemy of the Constitution. So too are Scott and his ilk. The election in Florida is not over. Tomorrow is the deadline for receipt of ballots from our military overseas.
4
Trump is an existential threat: we're stuck in a sealed box with a deadly venomous snake for two more years. He's no inconvenient truth but a clear and present danger with massive fangs and an instinct for warm bodies.
You don't survive with apoplexy but you do monitor every twitch, every slither, and you train your eyes straight back at the reptilian stare. You prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Obsession? Or survival?
Trump does shock and awe. He counts on wearing you down. He would love to monopolize all available attention but he only needs his cohort of diehards who will thrill at every outrage he sparks. If he can wear us out, exhaust our focus, dissipate our anger, ultimately alienating many of us to the point of resignation and apathy, he wins.
It's long term mass voter suppression. Forced to watch too many horror movies and soon it's a challenge to muster a yawn.
The blue wave was driven by antipathy and compelled by the fight of our political lives. There would be none of that and will be none of that come 2020 if Trump's fulminations are normalized and his resident evil remixed as elevator music: irritating but unnoticed.
Freedom withers without concomitant responsibility. Democracy diminishes without accountability. Trump is proof that political inertia and passivity can be suicidal.
There's no moral ambiguity here. Trump is a runaway locomotive, a looming catastrophe.
Exactly the wrong time for a nap.
Stay wide woke.
4
Dennis Rodman.
The Wizard of Oz.
Trump.
Acting out just to capture our attention. No substance, just a lot of noise. Increasingly, we see the GOP ignoring him instead of echoing his noise. And now Melania is running White House staff...
2
Reading this column was like looking into the mirror. Thank you Charles for giving me something to think about. My blood pressure just went down a few points already.
2
Best picture of President Trump that I have ever seen.
7
"Trumpism is a disease." That disease has spread around the country to red states. In Georgia yesterday, a black woman state senator who was sitting--not chanting--with her protestor constituents in the Capitol was just arrested. She was strip searched and kept in jail for 5 hours until she was released to go home to her husband and child. A white representative was sitting with his constituents at the same protest. He was not arrested.
One symptom of Trumpism is such horrific treatment of black women, especially if they have positions of power. Sen. Williams has legal immunity as a legislator, and she was inside the Capitol on the floor, happened to glance up and recognize some constituents and went up on the balcony to join them. She was doing her job and had every right to be there.
Another symptom of Trumpism is to put thousands of children in cages. Or to send troops at great cost to guard the border from poor women and children seeking asylum. Trumpism is Trump insulting allies, embracing Putin and Khashoggi's killers, and reenacting the Marcos dictatorship, wife's designer shoes and all.
Still, maybe we will learn to actually vote, not waste our votes, have hope for the future and form a more perfect union.
Otherwise, as Will Rogers said, "If Stupidity got us into this mess, why can't it get us out?"
4
Thank you Mr. Blow. We are all responsible for our response to things.
2
63m voted Trump, and continue to vote him in the mid-term - 59% women voted Cruz/Beto - America's problem is bigger than Trump!
2
"Trumpism is a disease,and cursing won't cure it." Agreed but ignoring racism, xenophobia, misogyny, homophobia, bigotry and stupidity leads to Trumpism. Republicans have been winking and dog-whistling to the deplorables for decades now and we have been scolded by their spokespeople to tamp down the rhetoric in order to find common ground, compromise and respect. Those goals have been shown to be naive and unachievable when the worst of Republicanism morphs into the cult of Trump. Trumpism is a cancer on our politics and society, Republicans should have taken preventative measures when it was just a mild cough.
1
Mr. Blow, in the view of many of us, Trump is 'Yesterday'. Time waits for no Man, and our president is reminiscent of Kipling's rhinoceros wearing an uncomfortable and irritating hide of breadcrumbs.
Ionesco would have dedicated his successful play 'The Rhinoceros' to you; one of the last men standing, blowing a trumpet to wake us up.
Happy to report there is no rage here, and the good news is that Trump is having Mueller prove that he is blameless and untarnished of alleged reports that he was dancing with the Russian Bear.
We support him in this difficult endeavor, ignoring the Howling Mob, while you are slogging away with the burden of covering our leader's latest antics.
If you are feeling in the cold, you are not alone, and you deserve a generous amount of drumsticks, while sitting at The National Thanksgiving Table.
Chipper up, at least you don't have to call Paris, always polite and kind, with a brief summary and confirmation that we have fallen on our crown. Versailles, holding the fort, replies that Monsieur Trump is not so terrible, but then she was a youngster when the Nazis stormed her City.
Unfortunately, I did have a dream where Trump features, inviting him to see an old carriage house in Manhattan. 'It was rubble once', and it is time for us to pitch in and redress our Nation.
Perhaps it was blind luck that made him a president, but our toleration is growing weaker, and the tide is swelling and changing in an invisible way, with quiet passion.
1
Trump is a sideshow compared to what global warming has in store for us.
4
The most remarkable data are buried in the middle of this article: that more progressives find talking with people who don’t share their views “stressful” than moderates or even conservatives. This only crystallizes my opinion that American “liberals” are nothing of the kind. Liberal means open-minded, educated, intellectually nimble and tolerant. True liberals thrive on debate. American “progressives” are totalitarians who cannot accept opposing points of view. This is why, in opposition to every political cliche from everywhere else in the world, in the US it is “liberals” who try to gag free speech. The hounding of opposing viewpoints on campus (read Jonathan Haidt’s recent excellent book about this phenomenon); the endless complaints about “hate speech” on the social media; and finally the tiresome hysteria about Trump being at least Hitler, if not Antichrist himself. All of these prove that American “liberalism” by now has spawned a dangerously authoritarian minority, only waiting for a charismatic leader. Trump will be gone in 2020 but what shall we do with the Resistance?
1
I've always called it the "Jerry Springer Effect."
Why would someone watch a show that features the most depraved, disgusting and outrageous behaviors? Obvious answer: it makes us feel better about ourselves. Whatever is going wrong in our lives, whatever foolish or outrageous behaviors we've engaged in, we can always tune in to "that" show, watch "those" people, shake our heads in disgust, and be reassured that no matter how bad we are, someone out there is worse.
Trump is like the bearded lady show at the carnival: we just can't resist looking. And when he gobbles up all the oxygen, we simply blame the news media for featuring all those stories that folks just can't get enough of.
53
“Please don’t squeeze the Charman (toilet tissue)! The most obnoxious tv commercial stayed with the viewer into the store, past the cashier, and as they brought the product home. The unbridled obnoxious Trump reminds all of us of the worst aspects of humanity and motivates his supporters to act out their unmitigated anger and unchecked impulses to dominate others.
4
It is not Trump that is my major cause of irritation and distress. It is the hypocrisy and complicity of the GOP leadership, and the apparent ignorant glee his misbehavior elicits from his base that u find incomprehensible and infuriating.
3
I just want him out of office. And I want America to look at how this malevolent malcontent became President.
1
Mr. Blow, as one of those liberals you are talking about, I am moved pass Trump---his is what he is--a racists, a sexists, a liar...No, what troubles me are the daily contacts I have with neighbors and strangers who appear to accept Trump's behavior as normal---Sometimes, in certain settings, I feel like Randle Patrick McMurphy in one flew over the cuckoo's nest.
3
Amen, amen, amen to Mr. Blow's theme here.
I can be broadly informed on the very serious threats and challenges of Trumpism without giving over my life to them.
Maybe we need a dose of " Accept the things you cannot change and find courage to change the things you can."
I cannot change who he is or how he behaves. I can focus my energy on the actions that I can take to assure that this assault on our sensibilities...and our freedoms....does not continue. We saw a beginning in the mid-term election outcomes. We need to elevate ourselves and push on.
Not being outraged at Trump is like ignoring foul smelling puss oozing from a boil the size of a watermelon on your nose. You can't do it.
No. We can't ignore Trump. Or his enablers in Congress. Or his supporters who have emerged from America's bogs and cesspools.
"We ought to resist, resist, resist until we hurl the demagogues and tyrants from their imagined thrones." Alexander Hamilton
Let us be passionate. Let us rage. Let us resist! Let us cut off the boil. Let us hurl Trump, Republicans and their supporters back into their cesspools and bogs.
4
Your argument doesn't hold water. Journalists are indeed responsible to research and report but it doesn't have to be on the front page or a top story. Put your commentaries on the Trump Administration on the back pages of the NY Times and use the front pages to discuss issues every day Americans face like lack of health care, student debt, low-wage jobs, unaffordable housing, homelessness, etc.
3
In 1991, after the Saddam’s Republican Guards surrendered to the Americans during Desert Storm, back in Washington, nearly retired old General Kelly was giving his daily press briefing and was asked a question by a journalist, “now that the Iraqis have surrendered, are you still keeping a close eye on them?” General Kelly quickly replied, “have you ever seen a cat outside a mouse hole?”
1
Trump is the human incarnation of internet trolling. We figured this whole thing out circa 1992:
Don't feed the trolls.
1
Trump and his followers are diseased. The “patients” have presented with cognitive deficiencies accompanied by a lack of effect (human emotions) and myopia.
3
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. ... Well, I believe in God...and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Söze."
Make that Trump!
1
It's time to focus on progressive ideas that the new Dems ran on. It's time to cover their work in the house and what they want to accomplish. If Trump does something illegal or so horrific lets nail him every time but otherwise let's put him on the back burner. Every time the left accomplishes something good for the country we need to shout it from the highest hill and let America see that we are fighting for ALL Americans and their best interests even if they hate to admit it.
4
Unfortunately, trump is not someone I can read about, look at his disgusting fake hair, or listen to his phony, lying voice without becoming enraged and thoroughly disgusted with this entire country. I will never believe we as a nation elected this fool. Instead, I read less and less each day of this paper because I need to concentrate on my own miserable existence in this world, not his. I used to subscribe to a paper in San Francisco and one in Houston just to read something form somewhere else besides the Dallas Morning News. Yuck. Try living in Texas for a year if you hate trump and what he represents. It's horrible. Now I work the mini puzzle, scan the headlines and close my iPad. Yep. No reading so the plus side is no stupid advertisements to read for things I'll never be able to afford in this 'booming economy' that the apprentice loves to take credit for. Enough to make me throw up; however I won't let trump be the reason I experience the pain and disgust of vomiting; I just quit reading about him or turn off the tv every time he appears. It works well.
Let the politicians we elected take care of trump. Yeah right.
3
I suggest reading "The Guns of August" and "The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich". As Trump and his tag-team partner Putin put the choke hold on Western civilization, the parallels with last century's buildups to slaughter cannot be missed. Fueling all of this is a trust and reliance on fantasy and delusion for the prey, and the almost gleeful purveyance of propaganda by the predators.
Institutions can only be eroded to a point, and then they topple in the blink of an eye. American society is bubbling up explosive fumes. Trump is the catalyst. Europe is on the verge of breaking up under the strain of hard right nationalism. Putin AND Trump are the catalysts for that.
We have a President who rivals Putin in his ability to lie, cheat, steal, threaten, and extort. The only Putin vice that Trump seems to be missing is the habit of murder. Judging from Trump's own words, he has that last step on his Christmas wish list. If he gets his wish, what then?
Trump shrugged his shoulders at Putin's murders. Trump tried to cover up the Saudi Prince's butchering of the reporter. Trump sat back and permitted Turkish government thugs to beat up protesters within sight of the White House. Trump bragged about shooting someone down on 5th Avenue. He suggested violence against protesters and reporters. He applauded violence at his rallies. Trump praised Nazis.
I think that it's better to be passionate about words now, rather than to be forced to be passionate about guns later.
4
@Wiley Cousins Thank you for the recommendations, I'll grab those books. Was never interested in history before, but the scales have fallen from my eyes.
Just out of curiosity, what did President Obama’s do when Putin had journalists murdered, rivals served plutonium tea, and airliners blown out of the sky?
At least Trump doesn't even try to act like he's a decent person. He would be even more dangerous if he was more deceptive. He makes it perfectly clear that he is an abomination. I think even he is shocked how despicable he's allowed to behave without any of his followers caring.
Of course there is a much smaller percentage of Republicans that want to talk about him. Surely many of these people are humiliated by their own lack of integrity and don't want to expose their support of this horrible man.
3
Okay I can do this. I have to say the results of the midterms have helped to alleviate my obsession. There are actually people in Congress now who have the power to check and balance. A wonderful, diverse and compelling group of new House members who can DO lots of different things to protect our democracy.
Up until the election, the Trump train was full steam and now it's idling at the station.
So a big thank you to all the people who worked on every campaign across our country to achieve election victories at every level of government! The citizens have responded to the Trump grab with one of our own. Keep up the hard work, we have two more years of Mango Madness. And we are not even half way up the hill. But it's a good start!
7
@Elizabeth
“Mango Madness”, I had not heard that one before. Thanks for putting a smile on my face!
Maybe we need a 12 step group...AA for DonJ
2
but Charles, you have been the most relentlessly Trump obsessed columnist in the country. And we love you for it. The fierceness of your anger, and your unwillingness to compromise your principles is an inspiration.
2
"Trump is dominating liberal discussion in a way that I think could be damaging to us in the long term."
And Blow has no part in that discussion? Maybe he can find another topic one week with no mention of the T-word.
1
Thank you.
Of course he can't be "ignored", but maybe that opaque square that you used to cover his head in this column could become a requirement every time you publish a photo?
You would be doing everybody a tremendous favor by not forcing us to look at his frightening visage and his clown hair.
3
'Remember that you can be thoroughly anti-Trump without being completely Trump-obsessed.'
Charles - I don't think you practice what you preach. I doubt you can go 5 minutes without saying (or writing) something anti-Trump.
1
Would that every photo published looked just like this one! I do agree that the headline is almost as tasteless as trump is, though. Please send it for rewrite!
3
Misery loves company.
Charles, I think you are correct. And I also appreciate that the photos accompanying your articles have not been showing djt's face... I am tired of looking at it!
6
I have to say this. Today is an exceptional day for New York Times! Not a single headline with the name I shall not say. Only three with it in the summary and buried. Only your piece has his picture that for a change I liked!
Yes, covering the potus is must, but lies are not news anymore. Divisive, racist, unsubstantiated claims have no place in the headlines in NYT. This is not the Enquirer!
Suggest covering such things by stating and giving more real estate to the truth first and the buried in the middle say what the potus tweeted without using the name. No free publicity to anyone who is disingenuous, spewing hatred or lying. By the same token promote truth and genuinely compassionate words. Yes we can get into a debate about what is truth but if a claim is unsubstantiated or if a statement is questionable, it should not be headlined. You do a disservice to those who skim your paper. Splashing and focusing on the truth, not only fits what you do, it also removes the dereliction you mentioned.
You can cover without glorifying. I think that is the point everybody is trying to make.
Thank you.
6
yes, not covering larger damages done by the mistake would be dereliction of duty, the media could absolutely never again mention his tweeting at least for a couple of days until it has been clarified, walked back, reinterpreted into something not retarded or denied that it was ever said despite evidence to the contrary. this is where his id and 8 year old spoiled brat tend to throw red meat to the feeble of mind and if you let fox have it lock stock and barrel, the rest of the country and world, would profusely thank you.
1
I'm just a little confused, Mr. Blow. For two years now, you have steadfastly and stoically devoted your column to an expression of your own outrage, while channeling ours, regarding the Charade of Trump.
Yet, suddenly, you are admonishing us not to obsess. Huh? What gives?
Fine suggestion, but let us readers check up on your future columns and see if you take your own good aldvice.
Trumpism IS a disease, an STD. A Socially Transmitted Disease. The victims are infected thru their Ears, and pass it on via their mouths. And fingers, thru UNsocial media. Put down the Facebook, get a real education, and a clue. And, the absolute worst insult to Trump is Laughing, AT Him. It works very well with his Fans, also. They become enraged, then avoid you in the future. Winning !!!
5
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Count me as a “Phyliss Fan”.
spot on!
Trumpism is vandalism, which is more fun for the vandal than for the person being trashed with infantile nonsense.
3
“These people, like the Antifa—they better hope that the opposition to Antifa decides not to mobilize. Because if they do, they’re much tougher. Much stronger. Potentially much more violent,” Trump told conservative news site The Daily Caller in an interview in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “And Antifa’s going to be in big trouble.”
That's a lot more than "winking" at racists. That's breaking out a wad of cash and asking, "How much?"
1
Does being anti-Trump without being Trump-obsessed mean that people fortunate enough to be columnists at the New York Times might be able to consider writing about something... ANYTHING... else?
3
Not being Trump-obsessed during the Age of Trump? It's like not being "obsessed" with Hitler during the Third Reich. Trump is the problem. The fact that there are so many ignorant people who will support Trump shows an existential defect in our democracy. Until that's addressed, we don't even know if democracy has a future here.
4
While reading this article and the comments following, I thought of people like the late Dick Tuck. It occurred t me that the most effective way to deal with Mr. Trump is to use ridicule against him and his minions. Tuck was well known for his bedeviling of Richard Nixon, among others. Perhaps some deep pocketed Democrat could fund a series of prizes for effective skewering of Mr. Trump.
There is ample fuel available to stoke this particular fire. His no-account sons, his wife and his various hangers on all provide materiel that lends itself to ridicule. And that's not even taking into account certain revelations made by some of his love interests, (Hey! This is a family newspaper.), that recounted tales of his oddly shaped anatomy, and his mediocre performance.
Make Mr. Trump a universe subject of ridicule. That's how you deal with him. Make him a laughing stock. Nothing would make him angrier...
1
A wise man once told me that the only way out is through. In my view, that wisdom applies here. The recent mid term elections were a good beginning, evidence of a great awakening. I don't believe impeachment is the way to go, too bitter, too divisive. I do think reasoned opposition and progressive legislation will demonstrate to the public at large who has the better way forward.
As the civil rights movement had it, keep your eyes on the prize.
In this way, we can finally solve this in 2020. And who knows, the way he's going he may implode before then.
4
Another good one from Blow.
4
Thank you Charles for giving we liberals a little redirection. We should also thank Trump for showing us what hell is really like. That's what it took to also redirect the country. It has been so exciting to see new, energy emerging for the Democrats and for the country. The efforts of young women in politics raise my hope that the future may be in good hands after all. We cannot become numb to Trump's antics but we don't have to focus on them. Times could become exciting.
3
Trump masterfully and successfully sucks the air out of every room every day, fills Cable News and talk shows with Trump 24 hours a day (unless there is a real disaster), fills talk radio with Trump all day and garners the headlines of newspapers each day.
And, the media has been and is complicit in Trump’s brainwashing of America.
Each and every day Trump throws raw meat to the frenzied media with outrageous Tweets, crazy misleading comments, outright lies and unpresidential behavior all to the delight of the media who suck up his crap and rush to get it onto the news, radio or in the newspaper.
And, while Trump plays the media like a symphony there is no leading voice from the Democrats to counter and balance his nonsense.
While Trump may not know or appreciate history he does know and follow the rise to power play books of despots like fascist Mussolini, Nazi Hitler and Communist Stalin as he is succeeding in destroying the Republican Party and Rep,acing it with the Party of Trump.
1
Today, it is embarrassing to be an American. My husband and I were traveling internationally for over a month in Eastern Europe and Africa. The question always was “What in God’s name has happened to your country?” Our only response could be that the president is an ignorant,childish megalomaniac who only cares about enriching his family and supporters. To hell with the environment, to hell with people in need, to hell with with democracy. He is a scourge on this country. And the sad thing is that people around the world see this, but his supporters still blindingly rally around his racist, misogynist, sexiest agenda.
5
Distraction is a danger, but Trump is a motivator in both directions.
Those whose passions are engaged and enraged by what's happening to us should use that passion as fuel.
Voting booths, campaigns, demonstrations, protests, economic boycotts, writings, social media posts, mailings, non-violent movements in general are all a part of one process of both resistance and achieving change.
The sit-ins, marches, and bus boycotts of the 60's achieved lasting social change. Today nobody would even think that they could tell a passenger that they must give up their seat (which the law then required) or that a person couldn't sit a lunch counter because of his race. We got the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Non-violent resistance can work.
The problems are many, but most seem traceable to money - big money, 0.1% ers, big business - and its dominant influence on our government.
Frederick Douglass famously said, "Power never yields anything but on a demand."
It's time for some demanding.
7
Excellent column. You are right that Trumpism is a disease, a cancer that may be able to be identified with a specific tumor, but that has spread through our country’s body. You write of “overwhelming” it. The steps you shared are more like medicine: every day, good medicine of decency and focus and effort, taken patiently, sometimes with pinpoint radiation, all dedicated to weakening and finally eliminating for the long term that which would kill us as a free, brave, and compassionate country.
8
Let me be succinct! Best, most informative reporting at Times newspaper comes from those willing to go where many others would fear to tread, like Kristof, Nossiter,those who collaborated on "24 Hours in Puerto Rico,"as well as those who returned to Mosul after the eviction of the ISIS zealots to tell us how gruesome and seemingly hopeless daily life had become for returning families, but who ,through endurance, were determined to restore the battered city. Great reporting all around. "D'autre part,"there are the "stay-at-homes,"columnists who make a nice living contributing from time to time, and who profit big time from second jobs as guests on cable t.v. channels with a left wing slant and frequent gigs as lecturers at universities via the Speakers Bureau. One should never become complacent in the news business!
The single achievement of the Trump presidency is his destruction of the Republican Party. He is doing a great job on his own but he needs our help.
8
The media need not ignore Trump. However they must stop providing him with a megaphone to amplify his falsehoods.
This means not playing his sound clips repeatedly, and not sharing his tweets verbatim, because in so doing, the media becomes complicit in spreading his lies as propaganda.
Earlier this week, I heard an NPR reporter say (approximately), "I'm not going to read this tweet because it's so full of things that are just plain counterfactual." That was the wisest and most responsible thing that I've heard from a journalist all year.
That reporter recognized that it's not responsible to repeat Trump's lies, and then explain why they're blatantly untrue. With that approach, his falsehoods still spread and get drummed into the ears of listeners, and the media becomes a tool for his propaganda.
Journalists -- and all of us -- need to exercise responsibility. Don't repeat Trump's lies even if your goal is to critique them. Go straight to the critique. If you need a quote or a sound clip to add punch to your reporting, look for other voices who are speaking the truth.
17
@Joel Geier
Amen! Tweete, insults, and daily bleats are not news. I no longer read columns about dt with his picture above it. I could read this one because his face was covered.
3
As Mr. Blow avers, "... we must also focus on the future." Fair enough, but the Democratic Party will find it very difficult to focus on the future with a top leadership mired in the past.
There is much chatter these days about the leadership future of Nancy Pelosi. I take all the arguments about her past performance and, like her supporters, instinctively recoil at the prospect of denying her the House speakership simply because the GOP has so relentlessly demonized her.
That said, the Democratic Party will fail to capture the imagination of an energing generation of voters if its top leadership is comprised of septuagenarians. It is time for the old guard to hand over the reins to a new generation of bright, energetic political leaders.
I do not think Nancy Pelosi should be removed now, but I believe she should voluntarily step aside before the coming presidential election and assume a new role as esteemed mentor to those who follow in her path. If she does this, other old-guard Party leaders should follow her example.
8
@John lebaron
Great Idea!
I've found that working on elections and issue advocacy channels my anti-Trump energy. It means I can release it in productive form rather than ruminating.
Not everyone likes political action, but another option is working to help the people Trump is hurting most. Immigrants and refugees, racial and religious minorities, LGBT individuals, poor people... all are taking a much worse hit than middle class white people.
Even supporting the arts counts as resistance, in my book. Resistance to a sterile anti-culture that seems to be animating the hard right.
9
Criticism of the press, in terms of problems generated with public opinion, go back a long ways and include the writings of Walter Lippmann: "Public Opinion," 1922 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book) ) ). He felt it was almost impossible to organize facts completely and accurately--they are organized with a certain selective bias to portray a selective view of events. That observation still holds.
Lippmann also noted that mass media was inevitably subject to manipulation--something we see on a daily basis.
These are not reasons not to have news reports, but so much of what we get is punditry. That is not going to stop. The lack of editorial control in most social media amplifies Lippmann's articulated concerns.
I am not defending what we see in Trump. He is extraordinary example of just how bad things can get. He is a symptom of longstanding problems that have festered and grown.
2
I have been Trump obsessed for two years. I think, as a gay man, that was in part a function of feeling unprotected in this political environment. The assaults on minorities of all stripes has been exhausting. But, as Mr. Blow says, the new climate in Washington takes at least some of the stress off. Knowing that the checks and balances upon which our democracy depends are at least in part operational has been a great relief. Perhaps the spotlight can now turn away from the clown in the center ring, and we will no longer need to feed the insatiable narcissist the constant attention his bad behavior demands.
7
Thanking Doug Mills for an excellent accompanying photo:)
3
For me and others on the Left, Trump just says out loud what many (most? all?) Republicans have been doing on the QT for decades.
Between teaching policy and diversity courses, I've had ample opportunities to lecture on the Southern Strategy; Lee Atwater's 1981 interview; Weyrich's "goo-goo syndrome" and voter suppression; the influence of the Christian Right on policies that negatively affect women, LGBTQI persons, persons of other religions, and the nonreligious; and anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric of the far right.
It's never been just about Trump but, rather, about Republicans creeping and now lurching further and further toward a fascist theocracy.
So, let's discuss the fact that Alabama just amended their state constitution to allow the display of the Bible's "10 Commandments" on public property. I'm not sure which 10 commandments from the Bible they're planning to display (Maybe the set that includes "do not boil a kid in its mother's milk"?), but this should concern all of us. I wonder how the extremely conservative majority on SCOTUS might rule should any case on this reach its docket?
2
"Why doesn’t the news media simply ignore Donald Trump? Or, at least, cover him far less?" says Blow. Then continues to give DJT more chatter. The media cannot stay away from the Trump circus because it equates to advertising money for the media outlets.
While I agree that as a nation most of us are weary of the negativity, polarization and division caused by our current creepster-in-chief, we cannot stay away from the unbelievable acts of sensationalism that is spewed out every day by this loser, his administration and the congress owned by him. He has succeeded.
I would propose that the media start focusing on stories of goodness and citizens working together. Most of us are starved for inspiring news and stories that heal, inspire and educate us as a people. God knows that we will never get this kind of messaging from our leaders. The last time I remember being inspired by anything from Washington, D.C. was during the funeral of John McCain.
I see locally in communities, that this is where the real work of citizenship and good governance is taking place. Citizens are generally engaged and care about issues affecting their communities. Americans need to show another view of what success is.
2
I agree we should focus on issues Trump's administration has raised. Mr. Blow says “the left began to do it this month.”
I beg to differ. Since 2016, millions of people have opposed Trump’s policies. We contacted our representatives and questioned them at town halls. We registered voters. We met, evaluated and endorsed candidates. We wrote letters to the editor.
The 2018 election proved that work worthwhile. However, there is still much to do. Just before the election, eleven people were murdered at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. A Trump supporter mailed bombs to 16 people. Two people, shopping while black, were killed in Kentucky. 5000 troops deployed to the border to ‘protect’ us from desperate people fleeing violence and poverty. Trump proposed to end birthright citizenship and define transgender people out of existence.
The problems made manifest since 2016 are structural problems in society: racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia, and economic inequality to name just a few. Since 2016, they have dominated our public life. Politicians know they can be used to get and keep power.
Progress is always slower than we would like. Martin Luther King said “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' But the arc doesn’t bend toward justice unless millions of people push it that way.
Jews believe one of their obligations is repairing the world. It is up to all of us to do what we can to begin that work If not now, when?
1
I realize that a president of the U.S. cannot be ignored by the media but Trump governs by photo ops and he uses cable TV news outlets to promote his image. But I don't understand why cable news is obliged to cover everyone of his red-hat political campaign rallies while ignoring campaign events for Democrats.
What ever happened to the doctrine of equal-time?
4
@Whole Grains Ronald Reagan got rid of it.
1
Do as I say, not as I do? How about appearing on CNN to argue with people whose ideas are pointedly dishonest and perpetually overheated? Is it useful to dignify Katrina Pearson with a retort? Or does appearing on the shows help with name recognition and building celebrity, which of course won't hurt in selling books and negotiating salaries, later on down the line?
I appreciate the attempt, but there is more that everyone can do, including you and me. And please, the press does not report on Trump out of a sense of responsibility, they do it because it requires no effort, the way it would to do a lot better job. Its hard to make reports on Yemen or infrastructure sexy enough to gain the audience that draws advertising dollars. Which means of course that people will starve and dams will crumble, while we learn about Melania's helmet, or Javanka gets resurrected for the 80th time in a Sunday spread.
Cable CEOs are greedy and lazy, as are newscasters, pundits, and the rest of human beings. It does require some discipline and sacrifice to do a good job. But people grow easily accustomed to their status, and their luxuries. They get used to having their stories write themselves, without lifting up a pen. I'm not sure that those who are perched in the cat bird seat, are well suited to lecture the rest of us commoners.
2
Two more years. We should hope that Democrats will effectively play their hand in the House. We really need to hope for that. And we need to help them all that we can.
If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between
My brothers and my sisters
All over this land
7
I doubt that the news media will ever ignore Donald Trump as evidenced by the fact that they faithfully attend not only his press conferences but the briefings of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. In neither do they ever really get honest answers to their questions. So I have another suggestion for the reporters: Every time either Trump or Sanders tells a lie ask them over and over again for evidence of what they said. Be relentless and aggressive in demanding evidence. Too often, reporters simply let a lie slide by without even questioning it. Don't do that. Ask for proof.
3
There are a few false premises operating in this piece.
1. Trump as a "problem"/"disease"
-- Not once does Mr. Blow even fathom the possibility that Trumpism might - even partially - be a reaction to certain failures of the Liberal consensus.
2. The idea that the media, especially the corporate media, does not have a vested interest in commodifying anti-Trump rage.
-- Not once does Blow suggest any connection between the saturation of Trump coverage and the obvious fact that mainstream media companies have done quite well by Trump in terms of viewership and ad revenue. Corporate media outlets have a financial interest in inflaming Trump hysteria, not dousing it.
While the second premise verges on a sort of professional dishonesty, the first premise is politically damaging and counterproductive to anyone hoping to move past Trumpism because it both exonerates the failures of the opposition and de-incentivizes the necessity of any sort of political adjustment.
If Trump is just a virulent disease entirely extrinsic to the Washington Consensus, why change anything?
1
I almost lost hope when my country voted in 2004 to support a man who started a war. It voted to support torture as American policy.
I was ashamed to be part of this and felt awkward interacting with others. I knew half of them actively supported promoting horror and the betrayal of America's aspiration to be "Good." I assumed Republicans' actions were "not normal;" a manipulated and mistaken response to 9/11. An anomaly.
I was wrong. I now feel completely awkward and fearful when seeing "Red Hats." That anyone could support this obvious hack and villain is stunning.
Trump is not well. He was, is, insightful to know he can treat voters with contempt and appeal to the worst instincts to successfully motivate them. I had no idea this would work after 1930's Germany.
A minority, but a huge portion of my countrymen now support Republican policies championing an assault on truth, denying the rights of their (mostly brown)neighbors to vote, and an ideology of hate and fear of "Others," even poor women & children fleeing violence and poverty.
McConnell is not sick. He uses Trump and has reveled in Republicans' trade of American ideals for tax breaks and judges. He allowed millions to suffer in support of his power rather than working with Obama to fix the economy.
It is not Trump. He has shown that the ugliness I thought was a tiny minority of America is promoted & countenanced by Republicans and is now the face of America. I am obseessed with its defeat.
4
One can also be thoroughly anti-Trump without voting for Democrats. For "old school Republicans," that would be like breaking a leg to ease the pain of a broken arm.
1
@Southern Man
"old school Republicans" ARE todays Democrats. Fiscal responsibility - Democrat; international cooperation - Democrat; moderate to liberal social policies - Democrat. Dud, your a Democrat!
2
"Lastly, Robert Mueller is still on the job."
Several weeks ago, this paper published extensive evidence that Donald Trump's personal fortune is a myth emanating from dynastic, massive tax fraud. Mr. Trump appears to be in no danger from these revelations due to statutes of limitation, and his hard core base probably consider it to be "fake news".
I believe Robert Mueller's findings will be more difficult for Trump and his craven enablers to dismiss. If justice is still a viable concept, Bernie Madoff could be orienting Donald Trump to his new residence fairly soon.
2
Health care, health care, health care. Then work on addressing climate change, infrastructure reform and investing in education.
We have control of one branch of government. We now have a seat at the table. We, as Dems, need to stand for something, not just oppose the person in the White House. He loves to have his name in the news and the constant fighting and insulting only helps him, because it distracts from the real issues.
5
I agree with this assessment. What I do find surprising is that with the nonstop, blanketed news coverage of this man there is rarely a mention that he has an intractable personality disorder. Once we realize that fundamental truth, we can stop hoping for some kind of positive change and just acknowledge that he will never ever be any better than he is. So yes, let’s move on to more productive thoughts and actions.
11
I have reached some island of peace by thinking of our President as a “symptom”, rather than a “cause”. In the context of any disorder, causes are the problem on which one should spend their thoughts, energy and efforts. Symptoms are simply side effects to be alleviated while one focuses ones efforts on the cause.
In the case of Trump, I realize that there are many potential Trumps waiting in the wings like sneezes and stomach upset unexpressed until the underlying disorder is identified and dealt with. Sneezes can result in big problems as I know from having sneezed violently three times while driving at 17 Jane hitting a parked car. However the real cause was my inexperience. Now when I have a sneeze explosion when driving, I slow down to a stop or pull over. I don’t fret over the symptom. I have allergies as the cause, which bothers me and which gets me upset, not the sneezes.
The Donald is a four year sneeze explosion. We need to simply get plenty of tissues, take antihistamines and get over it. The cause is the underlying demographic trend in the country which has caused a portion of the population to act sick.
We should just slowly pull over, wipe up the disgusting mess and wait for the allergy season to pass.
13
@Ralph Hirsch What a metaphor! Kudos!
@Ralph HirschYes! Ezra Levine a co-founder of the progressive group “Indivisible” said a healthy democracy would have resisted Trump the way a healthy body resists a virus.
That (& no longer watching cable news) has helped me shift my focus to cause rather than effect.
2
@Ralph Hirsch
I wholeheartedly agree with your Trump is a "symptom" and we need to focus on "causes" analysis, but your "The cause is the underlying demographic trend in the country which has caused a portion of the population to act sick." is vague.
I think it is pretty clear that the moral rot and the substitution of propaganda for reasoned argument in the Republican party is the cause. Instead of a two party system, we have one political party opposed by a cult.
I am content enough to know that Trump's agenda for the last two years of his term is dead on arrival on Capitol Hill, and that there isn't going to be a penny for his Mexican wall or any more of his tariffs. If he wants to do anything besides sit in his high chair and whine on Twitter, he is going to have to learn to compromise. That gives me comfort, not anxiety.
19
The reality is that the informed person has more reason to be obsessed than the uninformed. The Trumpers ,in particular, are uninformed, getting what they believe is news from Fox.
21
Yes when it comes to politics the media must focus on technical matters more and the facts of technical matters more rigorously.
They they must clearly and honestly expose cause, effect, logic flaws/propriety, and factual flaws/truth.
They must insert things into an overall working models (not just throw out tidbits) and help us understand where things might lead or not lead functionally.
It is their job to help us know and understand - to know the pros and cons of our voting decisions.
This is an awesome responsibility they - the free press - has.
They must be privy to things we might be denied then they must let us know what we have to know without damaging innocent people, security, or other operations.
They must be objective while NOT being impartial about or silent about the truth/facts. That is they must honor the truth/facts regardless of their personal likes/dislikes.
They can offer opinions based on evidence and bona fide tested rigorous models but not skew things to suit themselves.
They must present very complex things simply and understandably to lay people with sparse time.
It is a tough job and only tough honest intelligent truth seekers need apply.
It is a job that must be performed intensely and well. And it is ESSENTIAL to any vibrant healthy democracy and any believer in democracy should cherish and protect it.
Real journalism is vilified or perversely distorted by the GOP apparatus. Only dictators do that! Think about that!
6
All true Charles. However, people must remember that Trump's tweets & rants on the campaign trail are "official statements or policies of the United States". They are therefore subject to being publicized, reviewed & discussed by the press & the citizens. So here we are.
6
Charles...you've been my hero for as long as I can remember, but this one has me at a loss. The press, with a little help from friends abroad, got our fearless leader elected in the first place and keeps his persona front and center absent any accountability whatsoever. The entire playing field must be shifted toward serious discussion on serious issues with a sense of urgency. The suggestion, if I understood you correctly, that the consuming public is to blame is analogous to blaming smokers for the evil deeds of the tobacco companies.
6
I suggest shifting focus whenever the negativity of Trumpism becomes so overwhelming that depression and despair kicks in. Shift focus to solutions, energize passion and compassion toward positive actions we can take to overcome Trumpism. But keeping that steady eye on him and keeping up the drumbeat on his lies, hatred, racism, etc etc is also important. It has been effective at keeping him in check. If the press had not been as persistent as it has been at calling him out every single day, on all of his behaviors God only knows what damage he would have done. He needs the monitoring.
So balancing focus for those in the trenches, for the press I say keep up the good work, don't let up on him, but also make sure to highlight the victories like the midterms to keep our morale up.
11
@Ellen Liberals constantly scream racist without ever providing an example. Balancing focus is not something the media do - otherwise they would occasionally provide a positive article.
You are right to point out the many fresh new faces in Congress that will serve as a springboard to change and I can’t wait to see what they get up to. I loved seeing their eagerness (and naïveté) as they took part in freshmen orientation. Their youthfulness and willingness to fight are something we haven’t seen in decades and even though I know Nancy Pelosi will remain their leader, good on them for not backing down in their quest to remove her. The differences in the photos of the Republican side of the House and the Democratic side were stark: all rich old white men on one side, and a diverse mix of black, white, brown, female, male, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, old, young, and everything else that is representative of our country in real time.
20
@Frau Greta
At the Boston 4th of July celebration on the Esplanade, hundreds of thousands gather alongside the banks of the Charles River for the music and fireworks.
The last time I was able to attend a few years back the faces of the many people were exactly you described: a diverse mix ......
What a wonderful sight to see such a gathering, rich in its diversity, all celebrating the founding of the country.
1
There is another factor in this news imbalance, namely how we support learning or rather how we fail to support rational learning. It’s too complicated for this space, but essentially we support a huge degree of relevant learning and almost none of what people need to understand who they are and what they need to be successful adults. This focus is primarily a factor of testing and making good, compliant workers. The inability to understand the self-relevant stuff makes us real susceptible to the titalating irrelevant. Hence, we have Trump, who is completely involved in the irrelevant and made up keep them coming news cycle
6
I am not sure when Trump will be gone but he will. In fact Trump is over but unless we unite Trumpism will win.
The greatest danger lies ahead as the oligarchs line up behind one of their own, Mitt Romney, for 2020 and we really move into a complete takeover of the state by the business and financial powers behind the throne.
The goal now must be to stop the GOP dead in the water. Mid-terms are a good start. Dems need focus and leadership to save us all. And we need to let moderates into the process.
18
@Bill Wilson Bill, oddly right now, most of us would take any leader who represented decency, sanity and fair representation of the people. Isn't it crazy how in a short 3 years, we've been worn down to this point?!
4
Just paid attention tot he photO: I'd recognize those little hands anywhere; but nice work on getting the expression just right.
10
Maybe many of us are speaking about trump often because we need to both let out our rage but we also need to connect to other people so we feel support. A year before the election, I moved to the Bronx. Connecting and resisting with my neighbors has helped me cope. And I now have a new group of friends that are helping me feel right at home here.
19
As always, Mr. Blow, thanks for the excellent advice.
A few short weeks ago, in another country (and within the embassy of another country), a journalist’s fingers were cut off before he was murdered. A few days ago, an American journalist was banned from attending White House press conferences.
We should all be thankful that we still have the freedom to express our feelings, whatever they may be, to as many people as possible as often and as respectfully as possible. We must protect that freedom. If others choose not to listen to what we are telling ourselves or what the media tells us, then so be it. This is no time to play ostrich and pretend that if we do so, what angers and frightens us will somehow go away. Yes, we are the loyal opposition. Yes, we have been, are and will continue to do whatever it takes to rid this country of the plague of illegitimacy that has tried to divide and destroy it. Yes, we’re beginning to win.
And yes, we are more susceptible to stressing out and should probably pace ourselves more to handle it better.
But no, we cannot, must not, ever stop resisting until we rid ourselves of what has gone wrong with and what has been done to our democracy.
The mind is a muscle that must be exercised daily lest it atrophy.
Use it or lose it. And don’t forget to breathe.
27
CHARLES Presents viable arguments against focusing on Trump. However, it has been pointed out by brain scientists that negative thoughts have survival value, since they are a warning against danger. Trump, like it or not, represents an existential threat for the entire planet. That's something to think about very very carefully. Still, it's important to know when to disengage--when to challenge the cycle of automatic depressive thoughts.
22
Yes, we have to move on to actions which help change what we deplore. And it doesn't surprise me that the more liberal one is, the harder it is to stop obsessing ( hey, someone has to make up for the oblivious!)
Bottom line: trying to ignore Trump and Co is like ignoring a toothache. It eats away at your verve and concentration until you finally have the rot removed.
13
@cheryl: They're ignoring a fire burning up the planet.
1
When one's child is having a tantrum, many parents just walk away and leave the child and by ignoring him, the tantrum generally ceases.
I feel as if the way Mr. Trump acts is a never ending tantrum. At first, one pays attention as something serious might be going on. Eventually, one either has to walk away or get caught in a never ending battle to see who is dominant.
Unfortunately, not making an effort to change things by getting involved in positive ways politically, is giving ground to what he represents.
13
Yes. Channel all that anger into something productive. Then get all your friends and family to help out too. The midterms show clearly how a clear choice can succeed. We need to keep moving: not throw a temper tantrum.
Resist.
45
Maybe his new AG has already looked at Mueller’s notes and briefed the president. I would think that would make for a panicky few days until the narcissism regained control.
As a veteran, I think his absence from the ceremony in France and on Veterans Day is (inadvertently) the most decent thing he’s done in his whole life. We must all remember that the draft was a zero sum game. Trump didn’t go, so someone who wouldn’t have had to did. Draftees had 30% casualties. What happened to Trump’s soldier? Did he come back alive? In one piece? Sane?
28
@Luke sorry. Cadet Bone Spurs is a disgrace. My son is an F18 Super Hornet pilot flying off the Ronald Reagan. I cannot believe that this shameful human being is his Commander in Chief.
@Luke no doubt you are correct! When service and serving was inconvenient he failed to rise to the occasion. I was 17 and received a high lottery number so was not drafted, but have always wondered how I would have responded to the call. My hope is I would have stood up and met the challenge, but I’ll never know. I do have friends who served some came back in one piece and are ok, others died or are troubled still. So bone spurs may have sent one of those men in his place.
Now 45 is using troops as props for his southern border show. I’m pretty sure that guarding us from unarmed refugees is not what any soldier had in mind when they signed up. “Rocks are weapons” so feel free to shoot these desperate folks is an embarrassment for our armed forces and country, at least some of us.
1
What's the matter with being Trump obsessed. It's because Trump is going to Trump that obsession is the only way to roll. If your not obsessed, you might miss something. He wants to grab us by the passion? We want to defeat him by our passion. Especially now that we have a venue for our passion in the House. We've gone through the valley, now it's time to enjoy the view from the mountaintop.
18
I heartily agree on all points. On the one hand, I can't put Donald Trump out of my mind. I don't even want to, for the reasons you cite.
On the other hand, I believe absolutely that the surest way to rid America of this menace, whether incarnate as the man Donald Trump or seeping through society as a toxic moral substance, is not wailing and gnashing of teeth but high-spirited camaraderie in pursuit of a just and decent alternative.
As far as Trump the man is concerned, it's just possible that between now and the next Republican convention we'll get some help from the man himself. Mustn't count on it, of course, but it is conceivable that, if he comes to think a bid for re-election will end in a blow to his ego, he'll claim to have accomplished everything imaginable in a single glorious term and return to private fraud. It would be like him. Of course, he'd have to count on escaping prosecution, but that, too, is conceivable.
Let's show that while we take the current danger seriously we don't waste respect or fear on Donald Trump. The sight of a Democratic Party happily striding forward, joining hands with more and more Americans who are ready to look past this awful period, could be the crucial bucket of water that leaves the arch-villain melting … melting.
56
Wow ... nicely done.
1
Charles, there is something you are missing at least when it comes to me. And I am sure I speak for a few others out there as well. Some might say that I am obsessed with Trump and that he has "grabbed me by the passion." But it is my passion and love for America and its ideals that drives my seeming obsession with him. I am so concerned that this greatest of human experiments in governance, founded upon radical and unique ideals that have moved the world, is being denigrated every day. It is my pride in such luminous symbols of American goodness- Abraham Lincoln, the Declaration of Independence, the Civil Rights movement, and the values for which we stand- that drives my passion, although it can look like an obsession with Donald Trump. I don't hate him; rather, I hate what he is doing to our nation. I am anti-Trump, I am Trump-obsessed, because I love my country, and I will not rest until he is out of office.
135
@JB.
Very well said, JB.
2
Donald who? I cherish the rare Trump-free moments which sometimes can last much longer. I was on a seven-night transatlantic voyage and, not only did I not hear the name of the guy who is president, but I rarely gave him a thought. The joys of no newspaper, radio, cable news, cell phone, or internet. For some a spa, for others the ocean.
38
@arp I am now taking 2-3 day breaks from the media after being totally addicted to minute by minute feeds over the last 3 years. It takes discipline, but has cause more peace, reflection and determination to use my energies to affect change in good ways.
Oddly, this is exactly what media does not want to happen with us. They need us tuned in. It's advertising revenue. But guess what? The American public is not only pushing away from the lunacy of governance that has been going on over the past few years, but we have grown weary of the polarization caused by right and left wing media. We've had an overdose of opinion based news reporting.
Many of us are turning to news outlets like BBC and NPR for simple reporting of daily news. Just the facts.
5
@arp
Great comment, my wife and I are going on a Caribbean cruise next month and 7 days of no Trump sounds like a dream.
There is a place for cold contempt for the semblance of a man who resides in the White House as we continue our actions to bring back rule of law and civility to our country. Trump for the second year will not show his face at the Kennedy Awards ceremonies knowing the cold shoulder her will receive there. The House was not won by attacks, we all know who he is. It was won by solid actions and people showing up to do the right thing through love of country.
36
Well, Mr. Blow, I think that you're spot on suggesting that we stop being "obsessed" with Trump. It would probably be the healthy thing to do. I would love to be free of the fear of what he will do next to endanger, insult or embarrass all or some of us who love our country. I'd love it if he had proven me wrong and become the president he might have become, if he only had a heart.
But sadly, he doesn't. Trump morphed from second rate real estate developer/failed casino owner/failed football team owner/golf course developer/and reality tv personality to President of the United States with the expected results. He has handled diplomatic matters with our allies with all the grace of an MMA fighter. He has cozied up to dictators and strongmen, rudely criticizing the leaders of our allied nations. His budgetary priorities are shockingly inappropriate, and his party has allowed him to conduct personal business while serving as president, enriching himself and his family. There is so much more to be fearful about - but we all know the sad stories.
I'd love to forget about it all - seriously! I do! But how can I?
43
@Chris Wildman,
By keeping the focus of attention on your reaction and those of others, while we coast the big tidal wave that is perilous to our Constitution and well-being.
I have found over the past two years, that my anger and frustration is far worse with those in unison.
Arguing with the opposition is obviously a fruitful exercise but pounding my fist with all who agree is
no consolation either. They say misery loves company but, in my case, it only raises my blood pressure.
5
There is no easy answer to Trumpism. He's the symptom, not the cause.
But one thing is for sure. There wouldn't be a United States of America if the colonies hadn't obsessed and fretted over British outrages.
26
@We'll always have Paris: There might have been a continental Canada instead.
1
The best remedy is to remain laser-focused on the ballot box - which both giveth and taketh away. This is, by far, what the right fears the most, as evidenced by the panic of Kemp (Georgia) and Scott (Florida) as they egregiously flail about in trying to wrest their very own positions from the electorate.
It was thus truly magnificent news that the new, “swamp-drained” House will be addressing voting rights directly, pushing towards popular initiatives like automatic or easier voter registration.
48
@John B. Bravo!
@John B: Abuse of the structural inequalities of representation in this relic of slavery system has revealed that it is fatally flawed.
1
I am far more concerned with Trump working to become the first US dictator since George III. Everything he does points towards that, whether it's undermining confidence in, and stirring up hatred of the press, calling votes against his choices "rigged" without evidence, deliberately scaring and then enraging his base to hatred and even violence, accusing people of what he is doing, setting up "enemies" to be accused and even arrested, and putting our nation at risk of economic and real war in the world.
His total jerkiness is less important than the catastrophic damage he is attempting to wreak on our Constitution.
31
@Dadof2: Trump stands on the shoulders of people who want to abolish separation of church and state in the US.
1
@Steve Bolger
Agreed. They've been laying the groundwork for this for 8 years hard-core, but for 50 years since Nixon. Ironically, on a personal basis, Dubya is the least racist Republican President since Garfield!
I think what Mr. Blow is advocating for will happen no matter what due to Trump fatigue. Aren't we all sensing some that now?
10
Charles, I confess that I am obsessed with the fact that the soulless commander in chief is our commander in chief. He has already caused permanent profound damage to this country and the rest of the world. I have no way to cure myself. Kyrsten Sinema's and Ann Kirkpatrick's triumphs helped a great deal, but they and all the other Democrats can't do anything until January. Until then, I'm unable to budge to a lesser level of despair.
27
A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that ..."currently, 42 percent of liberal Democrats say Trump’s presidency comes up in conversations very often; that is double the share of conservatives and moderates who say this".
Perhaps this is because conservatives brought up President Obama in every conversation for over 8 years and now don't really want to have pointed out to them their incredible hypocrisy of complaining about everything from golfing to Dijon mustard to accusing him of being the anti-Christ. Family members and neighbors who relentlessly trashed former President Obama at weddings, picnics, funerals, and in grocery stores haven't said one word to me about President Trump.
Perhaps they realize the truth about what they put into the White House and don't want to admit it, but I will certainly call them out if they ever give me the chance.
28
On point and correct. I am as liberal and angry as they get but I do not obsess about Trump. I temper the news by listening to the comedians (Oliver, Colbert, the rotating panel on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me) and most of the time muting the radio or TV whenever Trump is speaking. Instead I prefer to read what dribble and bile has passed his lips.
33
I believe that Trump is a symptom of the larger mood/problem in this country. Until we address the anger, racism and strange behavior of the deep conservative portions of the country, we may only be in for more polarization over time. There are likely more "Trumps" forthcoming after this one. Time to figure out how to reign in our Constitution and find some way to safeguard checks and balances while we still can.
20
After the midterm elections, at least the legislative worst of the Republican Party is over. There are still the courts, and of course the actions of the Executive Branch, to worry about, but there is now room to at least imagine a better world.
The Democrats must hold firm to a more moral, more decent, way of doing things than the Republicans have shown. But they must now truly show a plan for governing towards the future. They must pass the legislation they truly want the US Government to run by, the rules they want the American People to follow.
And when the Republicans in the Senate ignore them, and they will. And when the President vetoes everything in an attempt to force a win for him. And when the Main Stream Media says that they need to compromise on the wall, on atrocity all for a happy middle ground that doesn't disturb rich white men.
The Democrats still need to hold firm to a future that they believe in. A future for all Americans, and the diverse group that voted for them. Of which Rich White Men were a small minority.
13
Well said - to feed into Trump is nothing more than reaffirming his power over us - the Democrats that were elected won on the strength of their messages, on those things that they could do to improve the lives of the average person! Such had wide appeal to voters. We need candidates, and especially a Presidential candidate, that understand the importance of the Democratic Party returning to its roots, serving the average person, meeting their needs - the public is tiring of Trump's message of fear and hate! We need a more hopeful brand, a more hopeful leader, one that can both unite and excite . . . keeping my fingers crossed - can we find a new Obama?
17
If passionate, even obsessed, voters were responsible for the remarkable Democratic wins and the decisive Republican losses in the midterm elections, then I say bring those constructive emotions on!
50
Opposition to Trump and--let's not forget--his many fervent supporters would do well to focus on reinforcing the major obstacles that he will face in the next few months. One is the Democratic control of the House, just a few weeks away. Infrastructure? Reform of mandatory sentencing? No. In what way would those things hobble Trump? How about gerrymandering? How about four-hour outdoor all-weather waits to cast a ballot? How about voting on Sundays? Or making election day a national holiday? And the big one: fixing our broken antique, the Electoral College. Democrats, if you clearly and openly fight for Democracy, elections and re-elections and majorities will follow. Don't get distracted and whirled into Trump's tumble-dryer all-spin news-cycle politics. Democrats are for Democracy. Republicans are for winning while losing the popular vote and unrepresentative representatives.
The second obstacle Trump will shortly face is the Mueller report.
Is there a working group of Democrat veterans that are pre-planning to maximize the political impact of this event? Which committees will take up the leading roles? Who will be the party spokesperson? If impeachment is not a practical recourse what will be the preferred option with 2020 in mind? Each month highlight one or two points of the report so they won't be lost in the hailstorm of lies, blaming immigrants, the press and the French.
31
Why don't all the press attend all the presidential press conferences and just ask one question, such as, "When will you show us your tax returns?" Keep on asking and asking the same question until it is answered. The question should be on a topic not of Trump's choosing?
108
Better yet Elijah Cummings can subpoena the returns. When Trump predictably fights that move, reporters can ask him exactly what is he trying to hide from the American people.
29
@R That's exactly what the press should do with that question and others but they never will. They always think they have to blaze their own trail and the result is that Trump and Huckabee Sanders always get a free pass.
15
I agree that hand wringing, despair, and obsession are not very productive. Let's focus instead on these two paths:
Noam Chomsky, the great philosopher, recently described the President as criminally insane. That carries far more of the ring of truth than those who treat Trump as simply a bad President. The corollary here is that around 40% of us think he's just fine, providing evidence that his disease is communicable. Let's address how they got to that point, and it's not just stupidity: Trump has been enabled by lunatic media companies, including Fox, Sinclair, and talk radio, especially Limbaugh and Alex Jones. Crazy is as crazy listens.
The second thing we need to do is to employ our best weapon: sharp satiric humor. We no longer have George Carlin or Richard Pryor, but Steven Colbert is certainly a good start. There must be more of his type on the bench, and they need to be heard, especially young comics.
Since Trump is so sensitive to criticism, let's amp it up, and show the world what he really is: a ridiculous figure, who could not locate his own butt with a road map. One of the President's many faults is that he has almost no sense of humor, unless you include schoolboy taunts in describing his opponents. If the humorous attacks hit home, his insanity will reach full flower, and he will self immolate. It's a dirty job to clean up the fatty, orange mess that remains, but somebody has to do it.
207
@Mike Roddy--Don't forget about Alec Baldwin!! His Donald Trump impersonations on SNL are spot on!!
10
Noam Chomsky is a linguist. His diagnosis of Trump as "criminally insane" carries as much weight as yours or mine (unless you're qualified, in which case... why are you citing Noam Chomsky?)
2
@Scott K.
I cited Chomsky because of his direct language, which few seem to have the gumption to use. His status as a philosopher is secondary.
10
Look Ahead rules for the Trump Era:
1. Auto-mute radio and TV clips of both Trump and Sarah Sanders. If you count to ten, you can usually rejoin regular radio broadcasting without missing anything. Why listen to lies?
2. Ignore the daily Trump Sturm und Drang. It is targeted at the Trump base in order to distract from reality. The caravan "invasion" is a good example. Some 50,000 were detained at the US Mexico border in October and yet Trump wants you to think the caravan of a few thousand is an invasion worthy of sending the US military to the border (and voting Republican).
3. Don't ignore the real threats that Trump is trying to distract you from, especially climate change, environmental damage and financial larceny.
95
The press must report what Trump is doing, but they must report on the less titillating things: what is he doing on the deregulation front, especially on environmental issues, and not who he's "doing" (that should probably be past tense). I thought it was really interesting that Bob Woodward pointed out that, immediately following the release of information on Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Pussygate tape was released. Guess which item got our attention.
26
"When you obsess about a problem, you have less energy and passion to pursue solutions. When you fret over every outrage, you elevate those outrages."
Charles, you hit the ground running and haven't let up until your last column when you admit that it takes an enormous amount of energy to resist the very concept of a president like Donald Trump.
This column seems like another installment in your realization that two years of resistance really take their toll.
I confess I've been one of those who question the media and their breathless coverage of every tweet, video clip, wink, scowl, raised eyebrow, and Mussolini heat tilt this man displays to the world.
And yet you make the best argument, which was sort of my point three days ago: we can't afford to take our eyes off the ball, not to wallow but to wage.
After reading this, I think I need to cut at least half my reading about a president who deserves so little of our attention, but which by no means lets us off the hook.
So my new plan is, don't obsess but don't stop watching less in case I miss something.
I need the daily reminders that I'll never get "used" to a presidency the keeps hitting new lows.
100
@ChristineMcM
Christine - I completely concur with your new plan of not obsessing but also not stop watching either.
This presidency has been utterly exhausting to read and follow, yet it is only in its second year. Some days I wonder where I will garner the energy and strength to weather two more years.
But burying one's head in the sand is never the answer. Continuing to remain informed is crucial, but keeping one's emotions and blood pressure in check is key. I've been going for more frequent and longer walks since Trump took office just to reduce the stress, anxiety and anger I feel. I refuse to become obsessed with the actions of this reckless knucklehead. I continue to focus on 2020 with hopes of him and his pals being dethroned.
8
@Marge Keller Yes--the problem is that he's kept us on defense. We have to defend Muslims, we have to defend LGBQ military members, we have to defend children separated from their parents at the border. I don't think we had a choice in those matters, or in several others.
What's different now is, with the House in Democratic hands, we can go on offense. We can, I hope, put him on his heels and reduce the harm he's able to do.
Republicans also had to notice how the last election went. They must also understand at this point that "the embrace" of Trump is not necessarily an e-ticket. That may change their attitudes about protecting him.
Trump will be gone soon, by the end of Frbruary. We also need to concerned about the remainder of the Party. Don't forget they nominated him. Let's also recognize the Democrats did not offer good alternatives, although I feel either Hillary or Sanders would have been a better choice.
Anyone who does not think that Citizens United or gerrymandering had nothing to do with what we have sitting in the White House is missing a major cause of our current problems.
80
I am also excited about the experienced Democrats in power again who will be able to pass strong legislation through the House in any case. It’s not just the new members who have great ideas.
26
As a PTSD, as in Persistent Trump Stress Disorder, sufferer, I'd welcome less Trump coverage especially of : his rallies, his tweets, his degrading name calling which should be treated like hateful curse words and bleeped out, his palace intrigues in The White House, and his truly "fake news" attempts that, as a narcissist, he needs to get constant attention such as his attacks on the media. Now that Democrats have come off life-support and will control the House, let's focus on them and how they handle important issues like gun regulation, immigration especially the DACA program, protecting the Special Counsel investigation by Robert Mueller, taking charge of tariffs as is their Constitutional responsibility and ending Trump's reckless trade wars, protecting Obamacare and strengthening it, and, of course, their other major mission to act as a "check and balance" to his executive overreach. Let's give the Democrats to megaphone and focus on real policies for the people who voted for them.
75
Charles, even before Trump was incredibly elected you came down on him with every new published opinion piece. Now all of a sudden you want to make nice?
I read your line " to simply ignore a sitting president of the United States. That would not only be a dereliction of duty, it would also be folly." Ignore him? The media has tendered to Trump billions of dollars of free advertising, and given the fact his face is constantly on cable, or in the headlines of major newspapers, it's possibly time for a little ignoring.
Trump is a scourge on our America, our society, and has managed to disrupt our leadership and credibility globally. Ignoring him, of course, will not diminish alt right media from worshiping Trump, but will continue with their misinformation, to Dem detriment. So what else is new?
But, you know what, if voters, including the Trump base, will for just a thin minute evaluate whether this man can sit with any of our previous Presidents, then they might have an epiphany.
Ignoring some of his vile nonsense would not be such a bad idea. His supporters will find all they need on the alt stations, or alt press who will continually feed their frenzy.
4
@MarnS
We need to boycott advertisers on Fox so as to starve that purveyor of lies, misinformation, deceit and propaganda of revenue.
Can we all boycott Twitter until it blocks DontheCon's account?
OAT: I urge all writers here to break extended ideas into paragraphs? I now routinely skip over long posts that do not follow this ancient rule of the essayist.
@marjorie trifon If only all of your suggestions would come to fruition. The key issue here is that those who have decided to join the Trump cult should consider following legitimate news sources, such as the NYT, rather than be polluted with the misinformation that has skewed our election process, and spawned such a POTUS.
Thanks for the reply.
Trump is less a problem than Trump's supporters. They may only consist of forty percent of the population, but they are disproportionately present on social media, with letters to the editor, at city council and supervisors' meetings, and on television and talk radio. They know, and Trump has proved, a vocal minority can intimidate, dominate, and win. While it's correct to argue we should not be "completely Trump-obsessed," it's just as correct to claim we should be devising a strategy and tactics to counter his malign influence.
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@Eric Caine Agreed, to a large extent. Yes, the Trump followers are a dark side of Americana. I'm not buying that they are the lost, the forgotten, slice of the American mainstay. Regardless of their motives, and I will grant some grips should be given attention, such as decades of lost wage growth proportional with the overall economy. Even though they cheer characters like Trump, or Walker here in WI, when they give tax breaks to the rich, legislate against organized labor, etc.
Hello! The democratic party, the democratic-socialist and other progressive movements are the help source there; not the GOP.
Trump will be gone, one way or another, as the majority of voters have awakened... if the majority acts, and stays engaged, contrary to its past passivity (2016 election) that powerful Trump minority will wither under the heat. Democracy must be attended to, there are other systems in the waiting, "watching the herd" if you will, and if we're limping, they'll pounce.
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@Eric Caine
Pls c my idea vis-a-vis boycotts of Twitter and FOX advertisers.
I so agree Charles and my way of coping is to BE the anti-trump. That means not engaging in the mudslinging and being thoughtful and conscious of my words and deeds. I will march and vote and resist but I will not hate, even though I want to. I don't know who said "an eye for an eye just makes everyone blind" but have you ever noticed if someone yells at you and you don't respond they deflate? I just want some peace.
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Engagement. A key word in Charles op-ed. After the preemptive war started in Iraq I was devastated by this. Never in my life did this happen, it was wrong, and made my blood boil. Then the 2004 election came along, and with that hope, I began to follow MoveOn.org, went to local meet ups, then supported Howard Dean and went to the Iowa caucuses to knock on doors. I engaged, and it helped me to keep believing in our country. Bush got 4 more years, but ultimately we won with President Obama.
Trump is a terrible human being, so if we want to beat him, ENGAGE.
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Human beings have a bias towards the negative and Trump is a huge negative. He also threatens our survival as a species. How many people could avoid talking about a hideous Monster in their basement that wants to burn down their house. You may be enjoying a nice dinner with friends but you know he is there. In the basement. The Monster.
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A while back Wolf Blitzer said in response to criticism that he and others pay too much attention to Donald Trump that, “when the president says something, we have to report it.” I would accept that when the president does something it should be reported, but I see no reason that the press needs to repeat his various ramblings. How about “President Trump spoke today about (fill in blank), but did not contribute anything worth repeating.” This way what he did (speak) is reported, but we can ignore the details unless what he says is actually of any significance.
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@George Mandeville - And here's me thinking just the opposite.
His ravings to the press before he went off to Europe to put on yet another ham-fisted display of his woefully inadequate grasp of history should become Exhibit A come January when Congress starts the process of removing him from office in accordance with the 25th Amendment as stipulated in the Bill of Rights.
And can we please stop calling it "Trumpism" like it is something new? There is nothing original about bigotry, womanizing, demagoguery, abuse of power, or narcissistic megalomania.
Sure, it's nasty as all get out. But the man is ill. Giving his condition an anthropomorphic name isn't a cure. It's encouragement.
And now a little something for Mr. Roddy:
"It's the Confederacy, stupid!", and I say, give it to 'em! Hey, it's just the Deep South and flyover country. Who'll miss 'em?
It might just be a better deal than having Trump pull 30 percent into new Nationalist Party. And with today's Dick Tracy technology, it might not be the headache it once was.
I say if Great Britain can work through the Ireland problem with Brexit, then we can pull this off. We'll still have Lady Liberty and the Port of Oakland.
Let 'em build their own walls.
2
I value my sanity. Regarding Trump, I have come up with a strategy that has made me a happier man. I no longer allow visuals of Trump or the sound of Trump's voice into my brain.That means that I have cut out all cable and network TV news. That means no CNN, no MSNBC, and no ABC, NBC and CBS. I keep up by reading and taking notes. I have shifted my focus to an attempt to comprehend the "psychological and neural factors that underlie much of the Trump supporter's unbridled allegiance." "Conservatives have an exaggerated fear response." For white Christian Trump fanatics, "religions, political ideologies and national identities act as a buffer to this fear by instilling life with meaning and value."
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The way I keep from from obsessing on every embarrassing act emanating from 1600 is to remember that there is a showman in there determined to distract us from the dismantling of our social contract. I have to remind myself and others almost daily to focus on the policy actions, not the sideshows. It isn't easy.
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Passion is going to be so much easier with this wonderful group of Dem candidates arriving in DC. What substantial, engaging, thoughtful people they are! Every time I get to see another interview I am more passionate. These are impressive folks. The way forward looks thrilling.
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The Democratic House and anti-Trumpers have an easy path to American greatness:
1. Pass a new Voting Rights Act that enfranchises eligible voters by enumerating easy, accessible voter registration that does not discriminate against minorities, the poor and college students, that gives more transparency and safety valves to voter file purges, that mandates auditable voting machines and voting results, that provides funding for modern voting mechanisms nationwide at all polling stations, that moves voting to a Saturday or Sunday and expands absentee voting mechanisms...and let the Republican Senate and Trump object to democracy and explain their opposition to the will of the public.
2. Pass a nationwide infrastructure jobs bill to be paid for by reversing the 2017 Tax Cut for The Rich...then let the GOP Senate explain why paying for the gold toenail polish of the 0.1% was a job-maker, but paying for 99% infrastructure is a job-killer.
3. Pass a campaign finance and dark political money reform law that prohibits unlimited political contributions from the 0.1%; implement a maximum political contribution of $1000 per person/entity...and let the Republican Senate and Trump explain to America why the 0.1% political sugar daddy sewer is necessary in a democracy.
Let the Democratic House Make Legislation Great Again while the Republican Robber Barons and the Imposter-In-Chief continue to rot America from the inside and impale themselves on their contempt for the American people.
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@Socrates, now we are talking! My question is this: why should we need national legislation to ensure what should be no brainer in the USA I thought I lived in.
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@Socrates
We showed with these election results our goal is to bring democracy back to life. Knocking on doors educating our communities we are committed to change, holding our new elected officials accountable for their speeches , votes and representing us the people. Standing engaged and committed. Not allowing social media to tell us how to think. We have so much to do so much to be proud of. Their is no room for trump noise but we will watch him and his swamp administration.
Everyday is another day to move , forward to find those missing children who are in a cage somewhere and keep trumps feet to the fire.
We are so excited to be involved in destroying fascism and moving proactively forwArd with everyone.
40
All fantastic, exciting stuff!
Just one tiny detail. we haven't just yet declared the Republic of blue States. and that's what this would take.
14
Unpleasant a topic as Trump is, we cannot and should not avert our eyes and ears.
True, he has great power from his office, distinct from that which we grant him with our attention. He will make a mockery of our highest office, at home and abroad, whether we tune in or not.
But we also can't lose focus of the things for which he must be held accountable.
When a sitting president 'makes an example of' a reporter for being persistent, we must not turn away.
When a sitting president tries remaking the Justice Department into an extension of his authority, we must not turn away.
When we learn of a steep increase in hate crimes during the first year of his presidency, unmistakably connected to the dark impulses he encourages, we must not turn away.
We have to simply channel that outrage into something constructive. Last week, we saw that fury in the heavy midterm turnout, wherein Democrats gained control of the House, and gave Republicans sharp competition that was once unthinkable.
Beholding Trump is repulsive, but rather than ignoring him, the key is to find a positive response to the endless offenses.
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@NM Don't forget the separation of children from their parents, many of whom will probably never be reunited again. That, in my mind, is one of the most evil things the Trump administration has done. Absolutely unforgivable.
3
Here's what's not being covered by the major news sources but brought up on minor sources. The president appears to be bitter, sulking, and unable to face the public. Notably, he failed to go to Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans' Day, something past presidents have done for decades.
Is he ill? is he embarrassed by the Paris fiasco? Is he in a mental slump? If the president is unable to do his duty, for whatever reason, the public needs to know. Why didn't the president venture forth from the White House on Veterans' Day? Low energy from his trip? Crying in his Diet Coke? If the president is unfit, the press needs to dig this out.
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@Linda: Actually, Trump’s sour mood and staffers concerned about his health (weight gain and looking ill) were reported on the CNN web site. That he is intellectually and ethically unfit for the presidency was clear from day one, but now he doesn’t seem up to the job physically as well.
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@Linda
Despite the omnipresent Overcoat tailored by Omar the tent maker, he’s obviously gained a massive amount of weight. Edging very close to 300 pounds, in my professional estimation. Not good, especially at his age.
Just saying.
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@Linda Trump was in France on Veterans Day putatively to attend a commemoration of 100th anniversary of the end of World War one the origin of the Nov. 11th holiday. He could not make it to the ceremony because of rain even though 69 other heads of state managed.
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''...simply ignore a sitting president of the United States. That would not only be a dereliction of duty, it would also be folly. '' - Aye, it would be, but what is also dereliction is how slow on the uptick the press has been to call out the president as a liar (I know, I know - I harp)
At any rate, I do agree with your premise, and that is to focus on the positive. There are some outstanding new members of the house that are truly Progressive, and there is going to be the optics of a woman (the Speaker) standing up to the President.
What is not a given is how the press will react to the deluge of bills that are going to come the President and Senate's way from that house, which are going to be decisively different from what the house has been doing for the last 2 years. (tax theft in the trillions for the rich and renaming post offices)
Is the press going to be declaring it business as usual, gridlock & like with the obligatory false equivalency, or will it show Democrats trying to move the country forward, while republicans do what they do every time Democrats are in power = obstruct.
We shall see...
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@FunkyIrishman
I agree. During Obama’s tenure the GOP earned the title of “the party of NO”. We haven’t seen that moniker printed for the past two years . Has the media already forgotten all the obstruction caused by the GOP? Will the GOP now bring it all back to obstruct the new House? Will the media report it? It remains to be seen. We can be sure that McConnell will claim to say that he was the first to suggest bipartisanship (last week), to which I say LOL buddy.
24
@FunkyIrishman "We shall see..."-Donald Trump
1
YUUUCK, good god please change the headline - absolutely tasteless and gross!! Can't even read the article. Visceral disgust at this headline.
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@Grace Thorsen
Your disgust should be directed at Trump, - similar to "don't shoot the messenger"..
4
Well Mr. Blow, you are 100% right and 100% wrong, both at the same time. You have now attained quantum logic status. You registered both a 1 and 0 at the same time.
Trump must be stopped. He is out of control. True, Trump craves attention. He wants adulation, but he still loves the attacks because he wants to be the center of everything. In fact, I am convinced that he devotes much energy into coming up with ways to be in the headlines each day. He wants all of us looking at him constantly. He doesn't campaign for any reason other than the satisfaction he gets from the crowds.
That's why we fight back. I for one am working very hard to pound on him virtually each and every day. Just as every bit of hate speech eventually culminates into hateful acts, including murder, every bit of rhetoric those of us actively engaged in combating Trump results in turning votes against him. It all adds up.
The price to pay if we lose is fascism and all that entails. So we fight. We complain, we read and we post comments. None of us are going to stop until Trump is pushed aside. Most likely, Trump will start his own TV network after he leaves office, unless he is incarcerated. I would venture to guess his Fox News buddies will staff the thing. So basically as long as there is Trump, we must push back with everything we have. Doctors tell us to take all of our antibiotics to make sure the infection is gone. Trump is one whopper of an infection.
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I have learned first hand that the most devastating thing you can do to a sociopath is to totally ignore them. We have the right to turn off Trump or anyone else whenever they spew blatant lies, foment hate or demonize any group.
You will also thank yourself for clearing your mind of toxic garbage as well as training the media to become responsible again.
13
@Bruce Rozenblit
"Most likely, Trump will start his own TV network after he leaves offic"
Rest assured no Dem president nor Congress will grant this street thug a license to spew hatred and incite violence.
One FIX news is one too many.
7
@Bruce Rozenblit I agree with your points that Donald (and the spineless Republicans who enable him) should not be ignored; they must be challenged. Fortunately, Donald is in essence a spoiled brat who lacks discipline, for which I am grateful. Imagine if he were an authoritarian who didn't just want to be adored; then he would be much more dangerous.
13
Repub losses keep piling on,
Repudiation of the Don
A real grand scale loser
Few picks by each chooser
Wicked Warlock's so woebegone.
So sour, so dour, so surly
And with a hairpiece that’s not curly,
Sits grimacing, pouting,
Conflicted and shouting
By post-election hurly burly.
So let’s dwell on the new
The House members crew
Infrastructure, Health Care,
Senate cuts, beware,
And make for a nationwide Blue.
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@Larry Eisenberg
Democrats should have accepted the 2016 election.
1