It’s taken a long time for me to muster up the courage to say this, but now more than ever, after enduring a prolonged and deafening silence on the matter, it is time for me to speak out: we need—no, must—talk about President Donald J. Trump.
I am exhausted by the malicious acts this man undertakes as the leader of the free world: consistent Twitter typos, incomprehensible haircuts, poor golf game. Yet no one calls him out. In fact, I haven’t heard a single person utter the words “President Trump” for the past four years. This is the President of the United States of America—where is the discourse? The thinkpieces? The protests? Convoluted street murals? It’s on all of us to lead an open conversation about President Trump, and it’s imperative we call out the institutions refusing to acknowledge him in any way, shape, or form.
Every day for the past four years, after watching MSNBC I tune into Fox News to get their side of the story. And every day, I am extremely disappointed at the stuff I see there. For the entire Trump administration Fox News has been playing reruns of The Golden Girls. I know all about the horny dream team of Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia, and their love for Burt Reynolds. However, it would be nice to know how we’re doing in the fight against ISIS once in a while—and unfortunately an ISIS plot point never arose during the entire seven-season run of The Golden Girls. So much for “fair and balanced.” It’s not just Fox News that hasn’t discussed the president—the liberal media is just as guilty for not covering Trump in this era. I open up The New York Times print paper every morning with my Americano coffee, the most American coffee. But just like Fox News, they haven’t been covering the administration. The entire paper is just Peanuts cartoons and feature stories about street rats. What does a street rat know about US trade relations with China?
The media aren't the only ones guilty, either. We, too, have turned a blind eye to the despicable actions Trump has taken right before our eyes these past four years. Take a moment to think about it for yourself. If his platform and current approval rating doesn’t cross your mind when you wake up in the morning, when you’re cooking dinner with your family, or when you’re engaging in sexual intercourse, you, my friend, are part of the problem. We’re all a part of the problem. While it may seem like an easy way out to turn off your brain and feign ignorance to all the happenings of this country and the world, I promise that taking an active role in our country’s current events will ease your mind and soul. Can you imagine what it’s like for people who have absolutely no idea what’s going on in our world? Those poor souls! My heart breaks for all the things they don’t have the pleasure of knowing. In a country that thrives upon free speech and press, we should be thankful we have the resources to stay informed by consuming practically second-by-second updates!
And to think that this frightening lack of discussion comes during an election year. Electing our great nation’s president is without a doubt the most important decision Americans undertake every four years, right behind observing Leap Year. Yet we as Americans are scared to have the important conversations about our president with friends and family members. So, why aren’t we having them? Is it because those conversations with our parents turn into screaming matches? Is it because we don’t want to make Thanksgiving “awkward”? Is it because we’ll find out our best friends and co-workers are racists? No. It’s because we’re always on our damned smartphones! How can we have genuine, honest conversations about our nation’s leader with those closest to us when we’re so dialed in to our gosh-darned screens? Throw the phones away, unless it’s to educate your granddaughter with a video your aunt shared about Trump’s bleach-based solutions to cure coronavirus—the state of our nation depends on it!
An election year offers no better time to begin reviewing our incumbent president’s past four years of service. In the spirit of the democratic process, we should at least start easing into things by talking about President Trump once a week. So, I challenge you. I challenge you to go on Facebook. Read the news being posted and shared there. And finally, converse with your high school friends online about these very important political issues. They're the ones who have a wealth of knowledge to offer, who are all willing conversationalists, and likely know a good deal of inside information about the president. This is where it all starts. This is where the open dialogue begins, and where democracy ends.