I’ve been severely limiting my access to political news since the Kavanaugh fiasco. The sexual assault circus that the GOP put on over the last two weeks, with a phony FBI investigation as an encore broke me. I don’t want to see news panels, op-eds, or extended analysis of anything that Trump does. I mean, I get it. The first year of Trump’s presidency was a dumpster fire of epic proportions where you had to stop and gawk at the breaking news that was happening every single day. At first I thought the mess in the administration was just because Trump is an evil chaotic moron whose incompetency knew now bounds. But after two years, I’ve come to realize that Trump is an evil chaotic moron whose incompetency knows no bounds, but, his lack of shame completely allows these pathetic qualities to dominate the news cycle again and again. Yes, he’s a dumpster fire, but he’s the one who lit the match to set it ablaze so that we all stare in stunned awe, wondering if the raging inferno will grow in size. And yes, it will. Trump wants us to stare. Creating a burning shit storm to seize the media’s attention is the one skill he has mastered after a lifetime of bullshit.
Admittedly, attempting to ignore him is a poor long term strategy. He is at the head of our government. (That really is the hardest sentence I have ever had to type.) His actions have serious consequences for everybody. And as a person who prides himself on being somewhat up to date on current events (not to mention having a blog which puts me into contact with a lot of internet news), this is a difficult balance to maintain. I’m trying not to get caught up in the maelstrom of smaller stories that happens on a second by second basis and conserve my energy for bigger issues. You know, like when he decides to kidnap children from asylum-seekers. (This is still the shittiest thing he has done. At least until he nukes Ontario)
How will this period of American history end? No clue. I’ve given up hope on anything stopping it if the Dems don’t win the midterms. The NY Times posted a huge expose on Trump’s tax fraud and how he has lied about his inheritance right before dinner last Wednesday and the outrage didn’t even last past Thursday’s breakfast. Hell, EVEN THE NY TIMES seemingly forgot about it and two days later printed a story on Trump’s amazing week full of wins. I’m convinced that Trump could shoot a puppy on tv, stuff the nuclear codes into the carcass, and present dead pooch and nukes to Putin on a gilded platter and the media would just end up doing stories on how Trump voters are hopeful about the tariffs.
I stopped following Trump on twitter a few months ago and it felt liberating. Yes, I still hear some of the crazier things he tweeted just because it will still seep through. Sewage is like that.
I’m limiting cable news. I don’t care to hear the Trump surrogate du jour explain how nobody has done more for women than pussy grabber in chief. I don’t want to see CNN’s chyron about BREAKING NEWS and then hear Wolf Blitzer repeat the same news story that they’ve been “breaking” for the past 2 hours.
Absolutely don’t listen, watch, or read anything that Trump says at a rally. I’m fairly certain his rally speeches are carcinogenic.
I’ll start limiting the times I check Twitter. That’s always a tricky one. I really enjoy the viewpoints of people I have chosen to follow although I should just turn it all off around 8. I’ve lost too much sleep to some breaking story that appears when I should be winding down. I’m guessing most of us have.
Now if you don’t mind, Olivia Nuzzi has published a lengthy article in NYMag.com about a little skit that Trump pulled on her with his cabinet to get her to write nice stuff about him which I’m not going to read. I mean, I’ve read the first few paragraphs already and it’s good but I’m not going to get sucked into this vortex of despair. Ok, maybe I’ll just skim it.
