By an almost unpredictable series of events, Donald Trump has made his home in the Republican Party and has been begrudgingly made the face. He has found a rhetorical theme and it’s has worked fantastically thus far. Now the Anti-Trump movement stands with a pressing question. How can we stop the speeding locomotive on a collision course with the White House, known as the Trump Train? I offer a solution; no superstrength or superspeed necessary.
Simple indifference.
Donald Trump’s power source, the engine to his locomotive is the press. He subscribes to the idea that all press is good press. This strategy has served him well. He feeds the media inflammatory statements and they swiftly publish a series of articles berating him. For good(rarely if ever) or for bad, his face and name has been plastered on all available media outlets. And he loves it.
And so does his voter base. Seeing a man in such a position of power directly state their bigoted thoughts gives them validation. Hence the mass of Trump apologists saying “he’s just speaking his mind!” This conversation has been had many times before but I believe the thesis bears repeating. Thoughts can be bigoted and free speech only protects from government intervention. The public has free speech too and can use it to pick apart opinions if one so chooses.
Now think of a child with inattentive parents. The child will begin to misbehave in order to regain the attention of their parents. Be it good or bad, attention is attention. The parents will offer a punishment under the assumption that they are punishing the child. And by most standards, they are. But in a way, the parents are surrendering to the child, giving into their demand for attention.
There are two major methods to remedy this issue. One can elect to give more attention to the child on a daily basis so as to prevent them from seeking attention through rule-breaking. Or, one can give less attention to the bad behavior, denying the child their reward in the hopes that they seek other, more positive means of procuring attention.
This is why I call for a blackout of Trump from the media. Nothing he says is ever of any surprise at this point. At this point, he is in a contest with himself for how many ways can he display his blatant ignorance. No articles written on him expose any facets of his personality not already widely known. No nuance has been added and quite possibly none can be added at this point. He has shown his hand, and nothing rests inside the sleeve of his blazer.
And as a writer, this comes at a slight pain as I can easily get new material to fulfill my writing quota each time he takes a stage. It is all too easy to sit and deride Trump’s many follies. So from this point forward, I shall not write another article about Donald Trump; unless he were to show any degree of lucidity and begin making a more logical, fact-based campaign.
But it will be a cold day in Hell if he does.
