Trump is President: Keep calm, but your hair is on fire.
The world won’t end, though it might suck for a while.
**Note: This article examines Trump’s effect from a POV that is:
• Fact-based
• Interested in the social collective
• Symbolic
• Reviews historic resilience
Donald J. Trump is our President….fuck.
As a musician, I do not want to watch 4 years of the “walrus”, that double-fist-jerking motion dance he does anytime music is played. You know the one I’m talking about.
But really my dread is that as a public speaker, I understand the importance of language and its effect on people. Words are the candlelight to the cave of our psyche, and this guy has historically poured gasoline all over the cave walls. He’s called women ‘pigs’, ‘ugly’, diminishes them by his opinion of their looks, and at least 84 other things. He’s generalized Mexicans coming across the border as ‘murderers’ and ‘rapists’. He managed to deliver a two-fer by telling John R. O’Donnell, the former president of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino “I have black guys counting my money… I hate it…. The only guys I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes all day.” And that “Laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that”. Not to mention always attacking anyone who disagrees with him, instead of realizing he could be wrong, or that people see life differently.
But what is most effectively poisonous to our society is his inherit Trickster Archetypal style of talk, a framework where he speaks broadly or in absolutes, and then negatively, which leaves room for interpretation… so:
1. His supporters fill in the blanks with their distrust for people not like them (some call that hate, I call it fear-based assumptions).
2. His opponents lose their shit because of what it insinuates.
3. Then he can back out anytime and say, “I didn’t say that”.
4. Leaving us divided.
This trick is OLD. Over a thousand years ago the Yoruba culture in Africa told the story of “Eshu”, who walked between two villages with a hat painted blue on one side and red on the other. Later that night two men from each village brought up the man and started to fight over the color of the hat. The fight spread to their respective villages. After a while, Eshu was found and he showed them his hat stating, “Spreading strife is my greatest joy”.
I’m always blown away by how many times I see myths recreated in life. The “Trickster” archetype is a figure that usually makes us question and often shift the choices that we took for granted. (Look at how many Republicans supported Kamala, like Dick Chaney. Darth Vader himself got up from his Haliburton funded lair which probably had someone tied up to some train tracks and voted for her.)
It’s also an umbrella title with many sub characters under, such as “The Jester,” “The Comedian”, “The “Clown”. Considering Trump paints his face in bronzer, and colors his hair red, it’s not a stretch to guess where he lands. Take this info as you please, but know this is part of a long story in human history, from Hermes in Greek history to Sacha Baron Cohen. So, Trump may be a blip, but how do we limit the damage of his time in office since that blip is important to our lives in the here and now?
This is where the beauty of Democracy comes in because the more I learn about the self-righting mechanism of America, the more I realize we are bound for more and more resilience, thus transcendent evolution. We have 3 branches of government comprised of over 500 disagreeing politicians, so we don’t make stupid decisions quickly, so we will have more time to intervene. Of course there are downsides to this (like everything), but here I’m shining a light on the power that will still rest in us: the People. And considering the record number of new registrants and early voter turnout, it’s safe to say we understand that WE have the ability to limit the damage done by this man and his supporters. Consider the following options:
• Start getting interested in your local laws and representatives. A simple call to your elected official can bring much change. Also, you can download a PDF of ANY law brought to the floor or passed, upload it into ChatGPT and ask it to summarize it in simple English for you.
• VOTE with your money. Small businesses and companies that support your beliefs. I use this site to find companies that care for their employees in pay, health and equality, make sure their shareholders have good intentions, and are working towards cleaning the environment
• Download the app “Goods Unite Us” for a list of the companies and which party their dollars go to.
• Let go of your cynicism. It’s boring and it’s limiting you. Click this link here to all the amazing progress we have in the world today, sourced and data given. Let this inform your thoughts and actions.
• Share this article with the data and your findings with others. We REALLY can do this together.
This is going to be a long 4 years; you know it and I know it. But a silver lining from this crazy divisive man is that we got to see a woman stand up to him, maintain her integrity and bring people together that otherwise wouldn’t have. If each of us can personify that in our daily life, then she was only the beginning.
That is how you make America great.
