The leader of the free world—the very world that is the hallmark of democracy, is an intelligent, well-spoken, comfortable-in-front-of-a-camera man. Although, I think I may have my tense wrong: “is”?
(insert good transition) I watch a lot of late night television-- mostly political satire. I’m a news junkie, but when the news is only ever labeled “breaking” (or more accurately crushing [my soul]), I need to turn to my late-night hosts to tell me the truth I already know from the conduit of their hilarious liberal mouths, allowing me to shake my head in despair with a smile on my face.
I regularly watch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. (Read: I have one friend). They recite monologues and stories during every show (at least somewhat) centering around the Trump news of the week, day, hour minutesecondmillisecond because it.never.stops. It’s exhausting. Judging by a lot of the YouTube comments on these videos, it’s apparently just as exhausting to listen to these hosts talk only about the notorious DJT and anything related. (Also, people don’t like when you break your monologues up into ten videos). But their jokes keep me sane, and I admittedly tune in partially for the Trump recaps. We used to be much more worldly during Jon Stewart's reign, but alas, Trump is not worldly so we cannot be either (Nambia?).
I don’t know about the rest, but Colbert and Meyers were asked recently if they would ever want to interview the 45th president, presuming that because they are so decidedly critical and unapologetic in their joke-telling they couldn’t possibly want to spend and waste any more of their time talking to a guy who turned into a pumpkin once at midnight and never went back. Both said yes, of course, because after all, he is the president! :)
I feel narrow-minded. I feel petty. I feel…presidential? I know I wasn’t asked, but I would not like to meet the president. I would not like to talk with him. I would like to politely raise my voice and talk at him just to…deflate. But it might be easier to call Tom Brady. To be blunt, I am so disappointed in Trump all of the time. Not because I had high expectations of him, but because he isn’t treating the presidency as a job or the people (everywhere) as his priority. I pity the people who voted for him, not because they were fooled into thinking he understood them and related to them, or because they “feared” Hillary even more, but because they went through the hassle of voting for him only to have to battle assumptions that they’re racist and sexist and xenophobic and islamophobic and every other “-ism” and “-phobic” in the English language. Just kidding though, because these are largely justified assumptions, so mostly I'm jealous of their ability to dissociate from reality (a dream!). (And of course, it’s undeniably worse to be the victim of any “-ism” or “-phobia”). Yet, many people who voted for him are scared that they won’t make rent or have enough money in their paycheck to feed themselves and/or their families. Some people probably voted for him because of the intolerance he doesn’t discourage. Unless it’s intolerance of Christianity or himself, because hatred doesn’t matter until it is personalized. Hatred is “tolerable” until it targets you for what the colour of your skin is, what your gender is, where you were born, the religion you do or don’t believe in, or who you love. Tolerable doesn’t mean right, or okay, but it also doesn’t mean wrong enough.
Distastefully I type: our president is a man who is told what he wants to hear, or what people think he wants to hear-- a man who speaks to audiences he knows will agree with him wholeheartedly about “bringing clean coal jobs back” and “locking her up” and “building the wall.”
The coal jobs are promised with good intentions but a short-term outlook. Solar and renewable energy offer far more job availability than coal will ever be able to in the future. It is an overhauling change, but it is an efficient, economically sustainable and viable one. But I know he’s gone and pulled America out of the Paris Climate Agreement, so at least it won’t matter when the coal industry continues towards its steep decline because we’ll all be underwater and on fire at the same time. How poetic.
I would not like to meet the president because being president does not automatically make you respectable. Being thoughtful, empathetic, and having respect for other people despite or because of your differences makes you respectable. And our president has none of those traits. He is not representative of my values or beliefs. He is not a fair leader for all Americans—citizens or not. He is a 70- year-old man living a life saturated in fantasy. He is ugly and sensitive. His mouth, that articulates the English language with much difficulty, looks like a butt hole.
I would not like to meet the president. I say I would talk at him with a raised voice. Unlikely I would even have the opportunity, but if I did, would I take it? Perhaps, if I met him I would politely smile and shake his small hands and pretend I’m very happy to be there in his holy presence—but only because hypocrisy is humanity's anchor. Underwhelming, isn’t it?
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