Sorry, What Was That?
For a looming moment on January 30th, Donald Trump will be called upon to address the country and sum up the state of the union that we all call home. A betting woman would put money on him devoting large portions of this speech to how wonderful tax cuts are, how beautiful the military is, how corrupt the media, how weak Senator Schumer, how cold it is in winter, how I really need to do the dishes after dinner tonight, how I think there’s still laundry in the —
Sorry! I drifted off. We know exactly what he’s going to say, down to the very last sequential adjective. It’s going to be a lot of lying and a lot of “Okay?” It’s going to be a wholesale waste of our time.
Open Hearts, Closed Ears
Several brave Members of Congress – so far predominantly people of color – are boycotting Trump’s State of the Union speech, because they too know exactly what’s going to happen. They know he’s going to manage not to say anything overtly racist for half an hour, and a lot of people are going to yap about how he isn’t a racist because all he did was dog whistle. They know he’s going to bumble through some words about #metoo that don’t directly call for the end of the Sixth Amendment. They know it isn’t worth their time.
If you are also already over what promises to be a lukewarm exercise in papering over the vast fissures this administration continues to widen daily, consider taking the following action in the days leading up to the speech:
- Thank the Members of Congress who are taking a stand and boycotting the speech.
- Petition other representatives to follow their example. Then, petition them some more.
- Take part in the fourth annual People State of the Union, where people participating in our actual democracy will come together to share their stories about living in this great nation. These stories will be woven together into a poem.
- Reclaim your time. Do literally anything other than watch him, comment on him, or engage with him. Join me in catching up on the dishes and laundry I was daydreaming about at the start of this piece. Walk your dog. Take your neighbor some coffee. Catch up on IEB Newsletters of the past. Deprive our nominal leader of the attention that sustains him.