I humbly submit this small request to members of Congress (and others):
Stop Tweeting Responses to “President” Trump’s Inane Tweets!
Since taking office, Trump has tweeted more than 37,000 times (that’s not a typo)! Every time a member of Congress responds, it only gives this man the attention he desperately craves. I don’t care if you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, religious leader, governor, mayor, current, former, running… whatever. Trump will continue his self-absorbed, pathological need to attack-respond to whatever you post in response to his tweets.
Even a majority of Trump’s own supporters agree that his tweets are wrong.
“…more than 3 in 5 voters,” Politico wrote last May, “62 percent, think Trump’s use of Twitter is ‘a bad thing,’ up from 59 percent a year ago.” Overall, “72 percent say Trump uses Twitter too much… And 57 percent say Trump’s tweets hurt the country’s standing in the world…”
If the polls from his own base have not altered Trump’s addiction to tweeting out his most moronic thoughts, how can you – a responsible member of Congress – expect to succeed against someone who has no self-control, and no sense of respect or responsibility?
If you haven’t learned this in the last 2 years, understand it now: this is a man who is emotionally and morally incapable of normal courtesy, civility and decency. He will attack the living and the dead with equal vehemence.
He has proven himself to be a petty man who not only lacks the most basic communication skills but has demonstrated that he is willing to attack any person, group, institution or organization that pops into his head while praising autocrats like Philippine leader, Rodrigo Duterte; Russian President, Vladimir Putin; North Korean Dictator, Kim Jung Un; Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (aka, Trump of the Tropics), and Saudi Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud.
You can’t compete with that level of craziness. It’s a waste of your time and a waste of taxpayer money, and it’s not why you were voted into office. Your job is to represent your constituents and the American people to the best of your ability. When you counterattack Trump with a tweet, you are demonstrating your worst impulses and lowering the standards of your office.
Want to exercise your check on the Executive Branch and call out Trump on domestic and foreign policy or other issues? Fine, do it in a media interview, preferably on Fox; more preferably on Hannity!
Your job is to focus on serious issues, work with colleagues, form consensus on a multitude of concerns and develop concrete steps to solve problems, hopefully in a bipartisan way.
So, the next time you feel the need to respond to a Trump tweet, consider this: how would you respond to a two-year-old; would you give them what they want, or would you ignore their whining and banish them to their room?
Banish Trump to the silence he deserves.
You’ve got nothing to lose and credibility to gain. Cheer a sports team. Take the family out to dinner…better yet, take a colleague from the other side of the aisle out to dinner, but…
PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, STOP TWEETING RESPONSES TO TRUMP’S TWEETS!
I thank you and the country thanks you.
