Stop feeding the Narcissist-in-Chief
The best way to manage a narcissist is to ignore him. That’s exactly what everyone should do to our Narcissist-in-Chief, Donald Trump.
Yes, I just suggested ignoring the President of the United States of America.
The Donald’s narcissism and childishness are well-known. Yet politicians and reporters keep engaging with him as if he were a responsible, well-functioning adult. These same people then seem bemused and frustrated, surprised, even, when he fails to live up to those expectations. They discuss, analyze, and debate each crazy, misleading, exaggerated, and childish statement. Why do they give credence to his lunatic utterances?
Politicians feel they should continue behaving as proper, mentally healthy adults and approach The Donald as if he were one too. When he acts like a fool, they can maintain that they, at least, weren’t the problem. They were being adults. They were following protocol. They were treating him with dignity and respect and doing the right thing, even if he didn’t return the favor.
This may be fine for members of his own party, who back his policies and fear the ire of his voters. But Democrats oppose most of what he does and aren’t getting any votes from The Donald’s adoring fans anyway.
How well is this working for them? Does The Donald actually listen to Democratic politicians, other than to mock them? Does he consider what they have to say? Does he change anything he does based on their input? If not, why do they continue engaging with him?
It’s time for them to stop. What’s the point of responding to his ridiculous, outrageous Tweets? Returning his calls? Visiting him at the White House? All these things only serve to legitimize him, and we’re well past that. The Donald has shown an incapacity to behave like a responsible or rational adult. He’s debased the office of the President already. There’s nothing Democrats can do to make it less dignified than it already is. Now is the time to shut him down, to isolate him, to knock him down to size, by ignoring him.
Democrats in Congress* should unfollow his social media. They should stop responding to his Tweets and public statements. Stop saying his name in public, or even referring to “The President”. They should stop answering his phone calls, or returning them. Stop responding to his emails or letters. Decline invitations to the White House or anyplace else where he currently is. (Better yet, simply don’t respond to the invitation.) They should pretend that he doesn’t exist. That the Presidency is a position that is currently unoccupied. White House personnel should also receive the silent treatment.
Instead, Democratic lawmakers should focus on advancing their policy positions. They should save their criticism for other adults in government. Republicans in Congress are fair game, as always. So, too, are cabinet secretaries and their departments. Who cares if The Donald espouses a zany position or crudely disparages others? A damaging policy should only receive comment or criticism when Republicans in Congress support it or when executive departments try to carry it out. Commenters could refer to a disagreeable action as “the result of a Presidential Executive Order” if that’s how it originated. But that’s the closest they should come to ever mentioning The Donald or his job title. When reporters ask about something The Donald said, Democrats should say: “I’m not interested in talking about that; here’s what I’m interested in talking about.”
This will work far better than engaging with a madman. It will drive him nuts. It will isolate him. Once the Democrats stop dignifying The Donald’s statements with responses, covering them will no longer be an echo of covering him. No more free press for the lunatic in the White House! It will become more obvious how absurd The Donald is when nobody responds to his madness.
This will also isolate the Republican legislators and cabinet secretaries. Without The Donald as a lightning rod, they will become the ones defending his repugnant policies and ludicrous statements. They are vulnerable in ways he is not. They can be backed into corners and embarrassed. And since he has no loyalty to them, they can be separated from him. Made to wonder if it’s worthwhile to remain in his corner. It’s time to force the Republicans to take over the job of arguing with him and trying to reign him in!
The one exception to this is when investigating Donald Trump and his enterprises. Congress can still dig for corruption, fraud, money laundering, sexual assault, witness tampering, and treason. America needs to know what kind of criminal is sitting in the Oval Office. And in that context, naming the crook is appropriate, though dignifying him with his job title is not.
The media should also stop reporting on The Donald’s utterances, on Twitter or elsewhere. They feel it is their responsibility because he is The President, whom they must cover. But they also have a responsibility to report what matters. By now the only thing that matters about The Donald is that he’s mentally unfit for the job and a danger to America. So the appropriate daily reporting on him should go like this. “The President continued to show alarming signs of mental instability, dishonesty, and narcissism. The White House gave no word on when he will begin treatment for his condition. Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress debated an important bill.”
How much longer can politicians and the media maintain this charade? The fiction that anything is normal or healthy about this toxic, unstable, ignorant, and immature man occupying the Presidency? It is time to stop giving him the platform to do more harm than he already has. It is time to treat him with the respect he deserves (little or none). It is time to put the Narcissist-in-Chief in his place, by taking away his source of attention. It is time to treat him like a patient with a grave mental illness, not an adversary. Democratic politicians should shun him and the media should ignore him. To do anything else is to legitimize his sickness and its plague on America and the world.
*Except Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
