Forget vacation. Forget staycation. The porno youtubenew American summer getaway is a Tr*mpcation.
On Monday August 1, I committed myself to this challenge on Twitter: Take a much-needed break from the exhausting showboat of a GOP presidential candidate until September. Don't read any news about him; don't engage on Facebook in any discussion about him; don't even say his name. (Hence my use of the asterisk in "Tr*mpcation.")
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It's hard to avoid seeing or hearinghis name, of course. Few people can do that in this media-saturated world, especially not when they work in the media.
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But clicking through to the story? Lingering on yet another social media discussion taking place in the shadow of his picture? Paying attention to the TV news? Opening the newspaper, when I can find one? Getting riled up by his offensive antics yet again, for the umpteenth time? That, I figured, was on me.
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August is the depths of what the British media calls the silly season. It's a month when little news tends to happen and all sorts of unsavory publicity seekers rush in to fill the vacuum. I don't need a crystal ball to tell you now that Tr*mp is going to be the silly season on steroids.
Seeing him spend the last day of July disparaging veterans, lashing out at fire marshals and lying like hell about the debate schedule, likely in order to get out of it -- that for me was the last straw.
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I was Tr*mped out. You probably are too. But even after one glorious Tr*mpless day -- 24 hours in which I felt my blood pressure drop and suddenly discovered I have tons of time on my hands -- I'm here to tell you there's a short-term cure.
The long-term cure for this publicity-seeker, of course, will arrive on Nov. 8, the day we all hopefully inoculate ourselves and achieve herd immunity. (Because yes, dear Dr. Jill Stein, vaccines do work when we all use them.)
In the meantime it's clearly a great idea for as many of the herd as possible to rest up and remember what a Tr*mp-free world looked like. One month of this and you'll be totally energized to help bring about yearsof this.
Don't worry about being complacent in the face of probable fascism. You need the mental health break. He'll still be there, working from the same playbook -- say the stupidest thing you can think of, reap the attention, then deny you said it or meant it -- come Sept. 1.
There is, of course, some vital and important investigative journalism being done on the guy; I recognize that it isn't all the churn of the daily cable news cycle. If you're worried about missing out on some of this vital news, I'll publish a roundup of the best stories from the month when it's over. That way, you may actually find yourself better able to take in the actual news without the constant daily blather getting in the way.
Your full attention and engagement will be required after Labor Day. For now, chill.
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What are you still reading this for? Get to the beach, grab a book -- anything but politics. Pick a neglected hobby. Find the quiet in your soul. For the sake of us all, let yourself be defined by anything other than your outrage and anger.
There's still just enough time to make the summer of 2016 the summer of something else and -- at least for another 30 days -- deny that patently ridiculous, highly unstable, dictator-loving, tax-hiding, weirdly lecherous, morally and corporately bankrupt racist son of a bullying billionaire slumlord the oxygen of publicity he so desperately craves.