Sat down to have my morning cup of coffee with CNN, and within minutes, they interrupted the program and cut to Trump exiting Air Force One with Melania.
Why is this newsworthy? Now, I understand that a president visiting the Queen is something worth reporting. But an entire day of following him while he and his crooked entourage revel in the royal treatment? Especially after reporting that right before he landed, he started his twitter war with London’s mayor! Why are hearing about Ivanka’s new dress, instead of why the taxpayers are paying for her, and the rest of his non-admin adult children to attend.
As a country, we spend way too much time and energy trying to keep up with everything going on in D.C. Being outraged is exhausting, the cycle insane. Trump does his morning grab for attention via Twitter, the punditry spend the rest of the day dissecting and parsing, trying to find anything they can to get you to come back “right after this next break! …”
We need to know when to walk away. We the people need to stop feeding the cycle, give ourselves a break from the insanity—you understand. You can feel the difference when you go offineline for a few days and come up for air.
The long term solution is that the media needs to stop obsessing every minute detail and ignore him. Deny the attention he craves. One thing Trump understands is how to incite, so he does. Repeatedly the media falls into his trap. Stop sending reporters to the Rose Garden if he’s speaking behind a sign of “facts” that we can prove false. Stop covering his side commentary, giving a platform to announce new childish nicknames for House leadership and 2020 hopefuls.
And more than anything—do not cover his rallies! It amplifies messages of hate, and does the work for him. If I wanted to attend a Trump rally, I’d attend a Trump rally. I don’t need you to tell me what evolution in the QAnon saga I missed, then have a nine-person panel break it down in the next news cycle.
We need to turn off the TV and focus on the problems that affect our local communities—put D.C. on pause this election cycle, tackle some problems we might actually be able to influence and fix. I actually have a hell of a lot more in common with my conservative next door neighbor than a talking head on cable news.
That’s why I’m running to represent Virginia House District 64 this November—to find solutions to the issues that matter most to my constituency. I will stand up for rural Virginians who get overlooked when D.C. and Richmond try to distract us with things that don’t matter.
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