This morning, I gave CNN yet another chance, and again I was disappointed (though certainly not surprised). A panel of giggling journalistic professionals pondered whether Trump the campaigner turned president-elect would somehow change when he actually becomes president, granting him yet another extension of time in which to become somebody he has never shown himself to be. Everybody weighed in -- on the impulsive, illiterate, and incredible tweets, on the master cabinet builder's glitzy Trump Kremlin, USA, on his unrepentant insults and his public discrediting of U.S. intelligence and security. The pros' consensus: he sure is different.
Different. As in vive la difference. Or dare to be different. As if the prospect of a White House filled with folks who are no doubt looking forward to a few celebratory toasts with Uncle Vlad (if he can take a break from killing children) is simply a point on the spectrum of normal. Vanilla versus chocolate (no racist implications intended).
I'm not a journalist, and I suppose I cannot imagine what it feels like to try to remember everything I learned in journalism 101 while covering a career con-man who was cunning enough to win the presidency on an electoral technicality by knowing exactly whom he could con with promises of great fortune and assurances that this land is their land and he will help them take it back from all those other folks who have stolen it. And all the while keeping ratings up. Exhausting.
Nope, I'm not a journalist, but I'm a person who has made a fair share of mistakes, and I'm a friend and a mother who has handed out advice freely about dealing with folks who tend to make life unbearable. Let's just call those folks different, for argument's sake. My advice: you cannot change their behavior, but you can certainly change how you react to them.
So yes, a crass, bullying, self-interested, self-aggrandizing, race baiting (I didn't say racist), woman groping, impulsive buffoon who will stop at nothing to win and then stop at nothing to turn the presidency into yet another profit generating business venture is certainly different. Some might say scary, even terrifying. Certainly, a majority of those who voted said no to the con, and the continuing protests are a testament to the fact that this is not a new normal, and should not be treated as such. I prefer chocolate ice cream, but I can tolerate vanilla. Just don't ask me to eat arsenic.
Journalists: This is not simply different. This is horse shit, and should be treated as such.
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