Stop Bullying Donald Trump

Writing about politics isn’t really my thing. I was raised on the belief that politics and religion (and not even so much the latter) are two topics that you do not discuss in polite company, and until recently I abstained from politics and political discussions altogether.

Until, like many people, the 2016 election rolled around.

Let me start by saying that I dislike Donald Trump just as much, if not way more than, the next guy. Donald Trump is the epitome of every backwoods, toxically masculine male that I met growing up, who taught at my high school and consistently favored boys simply because they weren’t girls. Donald Trump is the man who hears a discussion about the rights of women (not to mention minorities) and immediately turns a deaf ear because those problems will never affect him. Any push in the right direction for women is seen by them as a regressive backlash towards “men’s rights.*”

*If you truly, genuinely believe men’s rights is a real issue, to quote Leslie Knope, “You’re ridiculous, and men’s rights is nothing.”

Donald Trump is a constant reminder to me that I live in a nation where I was raped by a man who Honest to God didn’t know what he was doing to me was even wrong. Who later told me he hadn’t realized I didn’t want it because he was so caught up in how much he did. Donald Trump is the ever-present voice in my ear reminding me that logic and reason have lost this round to a bully with a loud voice and an absolute apathy for whether the things he says are reasonable, let alone true. He cares for no one and thinks of no one other than himself.

But that doesn’t give you the right or the excuse to bully him.

I’m not talking about his policies. I’m not talking about his plans to build a wall which Mexico “will (not) repay us for.” I’m not talking about his overzealous Twitter presence.

I’m talking about his looks.

Stop bullying Donald Trump’s physical appearance. Stop calling him a “pumpkin” or an “oompa loompa.” Stop making fun of his tiny hands or his double chin or his hair or his skin tone. Stop making jokes about the way he looks.

Stop stooping to his level.

Stop debasing yourself to the level of bullying a man based on his physical appearance when there is so much more about him worth your mockery.

Why?

Because we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard than him. We have to hold ourselves accountable for the things we say about the ones we dislike, especially in our efforts to teach others to judge one another by more than physical appearance. We cannot, in good faith, protest the horrific, unjust, foul, neanderthalic things that our President has said while turning around and making underhanded jabs of our own.

I’m not saying it’s not gratifying. I’m not saying I don’t derive a guilty pleasure from seeing the innovative and surprisingly catty lengths to which people have gone to express their disapproval of him through a stab at his looks; I’m saying that if we want to prove we’re better than the bully, we ourselves have got to stop bullying.

If you want to protect the safe spaces of yourselves and the individuals who need them, then you must practice what you preach in regards to how we address our issues with one another.

When it comes to situations where you seek to rise above an oppressor or oppressive figure, as unfortunate and truly unfair as it is, the burden of “being the bigger person” falls on your shoulders.

It is up to you to stand taller, to hold your chin high, and to turn the other cheek. Even when they say things that hurt you. Even when they say things that offend you. Even when their words make you want to scream — you cannot stoop to their level.

One more time for those in the back — YOU CANNOT STOOP TO THEIR LEVEL.

If you want to protest Donald Trump referring to women as “fat pigs,” you cannot turn around and call him names without your words in protest losing any and all weight. Again, I know it’s tempting. I know it feels so good and I know it feels like justice, but it’s not. There are so many better things to mock when it comes to Trump that bringing up his physical appearance no longer comes across as funny but rather catty and mean.

Consider the campaign, when Donald Trump spoke to an audience at a rally about how when Hillary Clinton walked in front of him, he “wasn’t impressed.” Consider the outrage and injustice we all felt hearing him reduce his political opponent to her appearance. Don’t be like him.

Instead of wasting your breath to ridicule the man’s looks, why not use your words to talk about the real issues, the ones that matter and the ones that are going to have an impact over the next four years.

Instead of talking about his hair or skin or hands, why not discuss:

• The fact that he used “draining the swamp” of lobbyists as a platform staple throughout his campaign and just named Ken Nahigian, who until November was registered as a lobbyist, to head his transition team.
• The fact that his pick for Secretary of Education, the ever-impressive Betsy DeVos, knows less about education than I do, and I dropped my education major after 5 semesters. Oh, and don’t forget that her family’s charity has also given money towards a center that promotes conversion therapy. And that she reported that 17 years’ worth of tax records citing her as the Vice President of that very same charity was a “clerical error.” I could go on.
• The fact that he has bragged how his position as a celebrity allows him to sexually assault women as he pleases because “[he] can do anything.”
• The fact that he bragged about trying to seduce a woman who he knew was married.
• The fact that he collectively refers to the black community as “blacks.”
• The fact that he’s bankrupted four businesses and views it as a “tremendous thing” and a “very good job.”
• The fact that he would “certainly implement” a database that would keep track of all Muslims in America.
• The fact that he discredited Meryl Streep’s voice in political recourse because of her connection to Hollywood, forgetting that he was once a reality TV star who rubbed shoulders with the very same people over whom he’s now claiming political experience.

Stop looking for ways that you can poke fun and ridicule, and start looking for ways that you can use your anger and your disgust constructively.

I am not telling you not to ridicule Donald Trump.

I’m asking you not to stoop to the level of bullying the bully.

In the words of the wholesome role model to women everywhere and former First Lady Michelle Obama, “When they go low, we go high.”

You have a voice; use it to talk about the things that matter.

Originally published at mollylaurencarl.com.