I
mention him here and now and I am sorry for that. And that person’s name is:
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.
I
know I know but the thing is, what you should understand is I enjoy talking of
politics as I enjoy other things in my life too, say, scratching rashy skin or picking
the tiniest of hangnails or waiting about to vomit when nauseous.
There
are friends, bloggers, and other people as well who say this to me: “Harry, why don’t you ever write about President
Donald Trump in your blog?” They deserve an answer, I believe, and so this
is it. If you choose to continue reading and why not, then you may notice my
answer comes in three parts.
First, I have nothing
to add to the discussion. I lack what might be called a novel angle.
There
are authors I like and musicians and songwriters and draw-ers of the visual
arts. It is not too much a thing to say that their art takes me to astonishing places
and makes my life worth living, or nearly. Yet these very same geniuses –
geniuses! – I follow on twitter from time to time and their shared thoughts on the
American President are, I believe this is the right word, prosaic. Yes, prosaic. The words could just as easily ooze from the
mouth of some fungible Democratic strategist on MSNBC, whatever it is “strategist” means.
The
disappointment is too much for me. It’s that I want the political thoughts of
these geniuses to be as transformative as their art, to twist my mind into new
and novel shapes, to make me see the world as though newly born. You see?
Disappointment
is a terrible thing and far too common and I would never wish to inflict such a
thing on you.
Second, and this is
important, you’ll see many of the readers who come here come from faraway-and-possibly-fictional
countries
such as Netherlands and India and Canada. If I am being honest, mostly from Canada. I
am certain or almost certain these readers have already gotten their lifetime’s
fill of talk of President Donald Trump.
Third, I will not bring
the circus here. I
refuse. It is as though it’s on point of principle. There’s a thing which President
Donald Trump does and the thing is to be a kind of PT Barnum and he makes a
circus where much of the circus is just angry people yelling about him. The
angry people yelling about him, I believe it is a big part of his act.
The
circus is unavoidable almost. Omnipresent. There’s another word I mean to say
but cannot think of just now.
This
blog I made here is never going to be a part, or maybe a ring I guess, of the
circus of President Donald Trump. No. I will write of breaking a key in a lock
or of crossing a street or of staring at a fence instead.
President
Donald Trump is missing from this blog and that is how I would like to keep him
thank you very much. I weep for having brought him here even in passing. Let’s
try and pretend this post never happened.
Hey, I do not blame you. Talking about trump is like taking a medicine designed to make you puke. It's uncomfortable at best and at worst makes you feel dirty and slightly violated.
ReplyDeleteIf I wanted I could make every one of my posts about the buffoon. He sure as hell provides enough outrage for everyone.
Your blog would be much the poorer for it.
DeleteAlthough, as demonstrated by the many responses to this post, both of our blogs would probably get way more page views and maybe even some opposing opinions.
The use of the word "treason" is very big right now and that would probably get me some attention.
I see no problem with that and probably a wonderful thing. I have readers who have commented and said thank you for not mentioning that name. People want an escape. After all, one can only have so much love for a circus.
ReplyDeleteI know I have Trump Fatigue and it's good to escape to blogs where the topic doesn't come up as much.
DeleteThe circus put the lie to the notion that there is no political wriggle room in a two-party state. Apparently you can always wriggle further to the right.
ReplyDeleteHe's sort of an insult comic, although insult comics don't generally have so much power. I'm not sure how the other major party is going to counter it in two years. Things are getting a little tense in the US (as discussed in my anger post a couple weeks ago).
DeleteVery sensible. But I have to ask you do you like waiting about to vomit when nauseous? Isn't that one of the worst feelings in the world? Well apart from listening to the vomit that comes out of Trump's mouth.
ReplyDeleteI don't really like any of the things I listed much, come to think of it. But they're definitely in the same category.
Delete"Nobody could be a worse president that me" -George W Bush
ReplyDelete"Hold my beer"- Donald Trump
Haha... My mom has been watching a CNN series about the 2000s. She called me last week to report that she'd "forgotten just how bad George W. Bush was."
DeleteIt's been a long 10 years since then.
I talk about him because I think it needs to be discussed, but I never say his name. His ego loves his name being bandied about and I refuse to take part in that,
ReplyDeleteBut not every blog needs to discuss hair Furor because that would be just too much of a bad thing!
I love you're way of handling it with a "_____".
DeleteYou also post often enough that people can use your page to keep up with the news, really, whereas I have a long lag time, so it's not exactly Breaking News.
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI rant about politics on occasion – more so now than a few years ago – but I try, mightily, to keep my sense of humor about me. Bloody hard work, that is.
You balance it all really well, Donna: Personal life, art, politics, all wrapped up in the same post, usually.
DeleteI try not to seem as emotionally "triggered" about politics as I sometimes am. Strong emotions are a natural response sometimes. But since I only post once every 7-10 days, I generally have time to calm down before sitting down at the keyboard.
Thank you.. calming down—one day I’ll achieve that.
DeleteAnd we appreciate your efforts on our behalf Harry. You just keep on keeping certain 'topics' out of your blog.....those 'topics' frankly, don't even belong in the world. I like reading about broken keys and fences. I'll keep my politics to myself. Oh, and Canada, I think sometimes we may be a myth.
ReplyDeleteIf you're a mythical place, then you're a mythical place full of great blog writers.
DeleteMaybe it's the long winters.
All good reasons. Write about the topics you want to write about -- that's what a blog is for. If everyone wrote about the same subjects and says the same things about them, the blogosphere would become boring and redundant.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Infidel753. A lot of the best blogs I follow are almost strictly political. Plus, when I do write a political post, PDiddie (who commented below) always links it in a fantastic weekly post of Texas political blogs and it's amazing. But as you said, you kind of have to go with where the urge takes you.
DeleteVery wise of you, Harry. I only do a Trump post maybe two or three times per year, when some particularly funny memes come along. Ridicule is the best response.
ReplyDeleteSome people do great Donald Trump posts, Debra. My political posts generally turn out horribly. I think it's because I'm not a very mean person.
DeletePerhaps the word you are looking for is 'ubiquitous'
ReplyDeleteThat is absolutely the word I was looking for. "Ubiquitous" is one of a handful of words that I want to use on a fairly consistent basis and can never think of. I need to put it in my phone (alone with "asymmetrical") so I can have it at hand, instead of doing 15 google searches.
DeleteI would love to pretend Trump never happened. Truly, I would.
ReplyDeleteThis whole phase in our history is like a book where I want to skip to the last page to check and see if everything turns out alright before going through it all.
DeleteMe too! It's so hard to be an ostrich when the bulldozers come through.
DeleteI am definitely stealing that line.
DeleteHa ha, you insulted him a lot in this post.great,it's an innovative post writing about him in an indirect manner mentioning why you dont write about him.I like it.I still remember how upset u got when he was elected as president.the thing I wonder about people hating him is ,why they think previous presidents as good,when politicians r a bunch of evil,looney toones with the sole aim of making money.I just feel he is one among many evil kings,priests,ministers ,politicians who ruled and are still ruling gullible morons.I hate authority as a whole but trump does look like a clown.in childhood I thought to become a leader or politician,one should be handsome,have great charisma,strong leadership qualities but all I see r clowns and psychopaths. I hate idiots who vote them.how u could call a moron as ur leader.
ReplyDeleteGood for you, Arun. You know, the thing is, before this post, the only time I had ever written a post about a particular politician is when I did one about Hillary Clinton. It purported to be written by her and in it, she called herself unlikable and unelectable.
DeleteSo yes, I was not happy about his election, but had Clinton been elected, I would have been unhappy about that, too. Before the election, I told my mother, "I wish there was a way for Hillary Clinton to be defeated that didn't involve Donald Trump becoming President."
Argh.
Superb picture.you always choose great,queer pics.I wonder where u get them
ReplyDeleteI don't want to steal Doug from Oakland's thunder (he hasn't been by yet), but the guy who did the art is Gerald Scarfe, who is best known for his cartoons for Pink Floyd's The Wall movie. He's been doing political and otherwise offensive pictures for a long, long time.
DeleteI just read aloud, to Norma, your sentence, "... angry people yelling about him, I believe it is a big part of his act. " She says you nailed it and so do I. Nicely done, Harry.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Geo. I'd hate to think I accidentally added to the discussion immediately after saying I had nothing to add to the discussion!
DeleteAh, Harry, I do relate. It is difficult, at times, not to mention the buffoon in every entry. Often, I'll mention him in passing (by name, or otherwise; it is amazing how easily he can be referred to as "that idiot in Washington," or simply "The Clown") while talking about something else. I have two or three completely dedicated to him, from his early days, but I said everything novel there was to say about him then. Nothing he is doing now changes what I said in the beginning and, truly, it is stuff that people who know better already know and people who don't (obviously) never will. As he himself once said he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone in cold blood and he wouldn't lose a single blind follower. He left off the end of the sentence "because you're all so stupid" and he should have just said it to prove his point.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm glad you're not caught up in the circus. I've tried to leave him out of a few in a row because I have a feeling, very soon, that he has a rant coming from Tom, long overdue.
In the meantime, thanks for not posting this. We need to keep Harry sane.
Thanks, Tom. I enjoy reading others' blog posts about current events and even about Donald Trump. I just choose not to do it myself any more than I need to. I hope I don't again anytime soon.
DeleteI always suspected Canada was a make-believe place. I mean, the leader of a country can't be that pretty and sane, he must be a prince dreamed by someone who gets free healthcare. I just knew it. Thank you for supporting my believe.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Orange Infection, I refuse to say his name. Or type it. But, hints of his rot tend to leak into my posts. But... I shan't say his name. I think it's jinxed. Heck, he's probably He Who Must Not Be Named's uglier cousin. So, saying his name might imply that we'll find ourselves surrounded by Death Eaters. And goodness knows no one wants to set eyes on Lucius Malfoy.
Missing is good, for that thing pretending to be a person.
Your blog place would be a much less magical one if he turned up over there very often. Although I am sure you could do a compelling study of the emotions he inspires. Still... I shudder to picture him over there making a mess of things.
DeleteGreat post Harry! Thank you!! As you know, I don't talk about him!!
ReplyDeleteI could learn a lot from how you manage your blog. It never requires more than 5 minutes to read, is always gorgeous, and stays positive. No wonder people like going there.
Delete"I am certain or almost certain these readers have already gotten their lifetime’s fill of talk of President Donald Trump."
ReplyDeleteDog, yes. I'd be happy if nobody ever talked about him again.
Are you absolutely sure? Entertainment is America's greatest export to the world. Y'all might miss him.
DeleteOops, I screwed the first one up. Try again:
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm seeing the lack of him as the silver lining in the whole I-have-no-internet-access thing I'm experiencing just now. Thanks to Jackie for letting me use her phone as a hotspot long enough to post this.
-Doug in Oakland
I am honored that you would use your currently limited access to the internet to stop by here and I'm also somewhat jealous that you don't have convenient access to the misery-filled Trumptopia that is the internet. Things aren't looking good.
DeleteI shall unread this in deference to your wishes. I too decline these circus tickets (Trump, Brexit). Think that Seneca, or some person from an age when wisdom was actually venerated, that advised spending one's energy on building the new, not fighting the old system.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hope I'm focusing primarily on the positive, creating the kind of world I want to see, rather than dwelling on bickering and negativity. Of course, I'm on twitter sometimes, and there I don't always manage to stick with the positive. But here, hey, I'll keep trying.
DeleteYou *have* been posting! Your content just hasn't been showing up in my RSS feed for one reason or another. Damn, I've been missing out.
ReplyDeleteKind of a shame this has to be the first thing I read after my accidental absence. He may be missing here, but he sure is everywhere else. The God-Emperor/Baby-Balloon Trump.
> such as Netherlands
Is that just me, or are there other cool Low-land folk I need to be aware of?
> he makes a circus where much of the circus is just angry people yelling about him.
You know that thing where he claims to control the media? It's true, he does. Outrage and drivel and circus and chaos, it is him driving the media wild. And frankly, it's not even that bad a move.
I think it's just you. For some reason, it seems like there might have been two of you back when I was Nasreen. Not like those Canadians, who are everywhere.
Delete"...waiting about to vomit..." good choice for this feeling.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good idea to keep vomit-inducing president off your blog. It's hard to do.
Hi, Bill. I generally try and keep news stories off the blog entirely. I've been doing a few the past few weeks that break my rule - the facebook sexual harassment policy story, the Thai kids, the President.
DeleteI tried it. Been there, done that. Time to go back to the usual stuff and leave the news out of it again.
I am glad you got it out of your system. I have Trump fatigue so I enjoy when I can take a trip around the bloggosphere and not read about him. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I felt the same way about the War in Iraq back in 2004, 2005. At a certain point, there are a so many other things to fill my head with.
DeleteTrump fatigue...finally I know there is a name for it.
ReplyDeleteI keep telling myself, "Not my monkeys, not my circus," but it only works occasionally.
Hi, Pixel Peeper!
DeleteI think I'm getting better at it. It's taken two years or whatever, but I'm finally feeling like I'm not in a constant state of... whatever. I am committed to living my life through the crazy. Is that good? I mean, would I have been saying, in Germany in the 30s, "I knew something was going on, but I was pretty busy..."?
Don't worry, Red understands and is willing to take up the slack for you. This reality TV show joke of a presidency must be confronted, ridiculed and scorned by someone.
ReplyDeleteI am consistently impressed by your way of expressing that scorn. And one of these days, maybe I'll have some way of saying it that is more interesting, too. Speaking of which, your page hasn't been coming up in my feed for a while. let me have a look at that...
DeleteRed has been preoccupied with a lot of life (and some death) to post much over the last couple of months, but will be getting back in the game over the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteWoohoo! Seriously, you really have your pick of things to write about at the moment.
Delete