British writer, talk show host, actor, and intellectual Stephen Fry has made an observation about the current obsession with the president. He believes that the 24-hour coverage and non-stop talk about current president Donald Trump may be actually exactly what he wants. Trump’s antics have become a show. There is a constant questioning by both the public and the media:
“What is he going to do next?“
Fry’s advice is we should perhaps stop talking about him, ignore him. In the interview with Tavis Smiley, Fry says that Trump, in his opinion, has an extreme narcissistic disorder. Fry says:
“In my lifetime there has never been a single individual on this planet who has been more talked about.”
Fry then suggests that Trump is like a balloon, and the more people talk about him, he just grows bigger and bigger. He does have a point. Trump has the world on the edge of their seats, every tweet he makes, every move he makes. It is a just like The Police song “Every breath you take,” except it is the media and the public that are seemingly obsessively stalking him, instead of a school girl.
Fry admits ignoring Trump could work, but knows that:
“…No one will do it.“
An Italian writer Luigi Zingales for the New York Times warned of a similar danger straight after the election last year, when he likened Trump to controversial Italian leader Berlusconi. The Italian politician was a hit with the media and had the same kind of circus surrounding him, from one scandal to the next. It was a form of national entertainment and perhaps the old saying “Any publicity is good publicity” took hold, as he held power from 1994 to 2001. Despite stories of Berlusconi engaging with underage prostitutes, he managed to hold power for a very long time. Zingales noted that when he was finally defeated, it was only by two men, and of their secret he said:
“Both of them treated Mr. Berlusconi as an ordinary opponent. They focused on the issues, not on his character.”
Perhaps this is the way forward. Many people are feeling ‘Trump fatigue’ and we certainly don’t want to manifest four more years of this man in power. The actual issues we need to focus on include; the environment, looking after the poor, decent health care, wages, employment, and hopefully world peace.
Let’s make it less about character and more about substance. We cannot let American politics become a reality television program.
If the law of attraction has an element of truth to it, we could be unintentionally attracting a whole lot more of him. If Trump’s ego is inflated by all of this attention, could cutting it off starve him?
Maybe we could start with a Trump-free day.
Watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KUIlj73Cyc&t=1s
Featured image via YouTube.
