{"id":15162,"date":"2025-01-25T20:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T01:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=15162"},"modified":"2025-01-25T20:17:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T01:17:26","slug":"how-to-talk-about-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=15162","title":{"rendered":"how to talk about Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the phenomenons that I can\u2019t quite wrap my head around these days (nor years) <\/em>is how much people talk about Donald J. Trump. Love him or hate him, people like to talk about him. Reverence or repugnance, people still talk; they just use contrary words, share conflicting looks, and emote clashing convictions in their heads and their hearts. Trump talks a lot, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the reactions are so diabolically opposed to one another, for those of us who aren\u2019t votaries or vilifiers, sometimes it\u2019s challenging to know how to talk about him; we don\u2019t fit into either crowd, and unfortunately, there\u2019s a whole lot of if-you\u2019re-not-with-me-you\u2019re-against-me thinking going around. It\u2019s simply not that simple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One challenge is that the votaries and vilifiers are typically louder but not larger than all those who are somewhere in between. Let me define \u201cin between.\u201d It\u2019s not a case of false balance or the more colloquial bothsidesism; it\u2019s more that we don\u2019t agree nor disagree with absolutely everything and we also don\u2019t believe that the other option was absent of significant deficiencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the challenge then in how we talk about him is based in the varied perception of what he says. Journalist Salena Zito coined the variance for The Atlantic<\/em> years ago by saying, \u201cThe press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.\u201d I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m comfortable with the simplicity of that response, with my concern being that such provides too generous a cushion for both the lie and the joke. Granted, I\u2019m one who believes the majority of politicians lie from both parties; some just sound more eloquent in the act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be candid. Trump says some incredibly disrespectful things. Some things are absolutely preposterous. His extensive use of hyperbole oft seems like an art form, and there are ways he speaks both to and about people that are profoundly rude and inappropriate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump also isn\u2019t afraid to be politically incorrect. He frequently shares blunt explanations that cut through the ambiguous ideological-speak of the established parties. The fact that Pres. Trump hasn\u2019t been long tied to any establishment frees him from being beholden to the ingrained political perspectives and expenditures that have long passed the mark of prudence and good sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, with the new administration up and running, we are actively making many observations, following the encouragement of CNN\u2019s<\/em> CEO to avoid \u201cpre-judging Trump.\u201d We are attempting to discern what\u2019s true\/not, healthy\/not, scary\/not, wise\/not, necessary\/not, etc. This isn\u2019t always easy; the reporting isn\u2019t always trustworthy. Many media sources have long lost their objectivity, seeking instead to create either rage or idolization instead of actually report the news. We recognize then that this is a time that is deeply unnerving for some and exceedingly sublime for others. We will thus continue to seek out objective and accurate media, so as to proceed in the promotion of respectful dialogue. Remember, friends, the goal of respectful dialogue is to be sharpened by diverse thinking; it is neither to convince another to think like me nor judge the one of varied perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalist John Harris had an interesting take last week.<\/a> Harris is the founding editor of the left-leaning Politico <\/em>and former Washington Post<\/em> reporter. He acknowledged the noted contrast, giving new meaning to the word \u201cgreat,\u201d but not using it in a way that\u2019s necessarily stupendous nor good\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDonald J. Trump in his second inaugural address was everything his supporters hoped he would be: Breathtakingly expansive about his intention to reshape the vast federal government around his vision; raucously jingoistic in proclaiming that the country will do whatever it wants to advance its interests around the world; openly triumphal in asserting his belief that his survival from an assassin\u2019s bullet and his victory show he is God\u2019s chosen instrument to lead an American revival. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump was also everything his adversaries feared: Messianic in tone; lovingly protective of his grievances; wholly uncharitable to the people, sitting just feet from him under the Capitol Rotunda, who he defeated so convincingly. In one light, it was all quite familiar. But the second occasion of Trump taking the oath of office also put him in an entirely new light. For the first time, he is holding power under circumstances in which reasonable people cannot deny a basic fact: He is the greatest American figure of his era.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s quickly exhale:<\/em><\/strong> Great in this context is not about a subjective debate over whether he is a singularly righteous leader or a singularly menacing one. It is now simply an objective description about the dimensions of his record. He began a decade ago by dominating the Republican Party. He soon advanced to dominating every discussion of American politics broadly. Now, his astonishing comeback after his defeat by Joseph Biden in 2020 and the notoriety of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot makes clear there are certain things he is not and one big thing he is.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is not a fluke, who got elected initially in 2016 almost entirely because of the infirmities of his opponent. He is not someone the American public somehow misunderstands \u2014 as though Democrats and the news media have not spent 10 years forcefully highlighting the risks of his record and character. He is someone with an ability to perceive opportunities that most politicians do not and forge powerful, sustained connections with large swaths of people in ways that no contemporary can match. In other words: He is a force of history\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreat\u201d presidents, Harris writes, have the potential to become unifiers mostly in retrospect. They often divide \u201cthe nation before reuniting it on a new level of national understanding.\u201d As is no secret, we\u2019re pretty divided; there are so many issues, issues in which we struggle with comprehensive understanding, making solutions not so simple. The reality also is that we are not divided into two nice, neat, easily-explainable, different camps. We have a lot to learn from other people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looks like we\u2019ll have lots to observe and talk about. Lord knows it won\u2019t always be easy, but we will strive to do so respectfully, honestly and well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the phenomenons that I can\u2019t quite wrap my head around these days (nor years) is how much people talk about Donald J. Trump. Love him or hate him, people like to talk about him. Reverence or repugnance, people still talk; they just use contrary words, share conflicting looks, and emote clashing convictions in … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “how to talk about Trump”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15166,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15162\/revisions\/15166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}