I am calling for a one-day ban on speaking the name of "Donald Trump." No joke. (Well, it has to be something of a joke when you reference him, but I am serious about this.) Mark the day - Friday, June 17. I have arbitrarily picked that as NUT Day - "No Utterance of Trump" Day. That gives social media time enough to spread the word and is close enough that I may just be able to hold it together until then...
A therapist I know (OK, you got me - my therapist) says she's noticed a noticeable uptick of late in patients complaining of a Trump fixation. They say they are obsessed with him. They say they are riddled with anxiety, catastrophizing (one of my favorite words and one of my least favorite afflictions,) and finding every conversation gravitating towards Trump like one of the Millennium Falcons in the grip of the Death Star's tractor beam. References to the late days of the Weimar Republic are catching up with us all. We may not be able to recruit the Legion of Lemmings - the GOP, the NRA, and the KKK - but that leaves plenty to work with. Get on it! You know you need it as much as I do.
Besides, there is plenty of historical precedence for such a movement. Classical history and literature are rich with names that could not be spoken. Who could forget the Three Stooges (funny how they come to mind thinking of Trump) and how the mere mention of "Niagara Falls" by Curly triggered a violent reaction in Moe - "Slowly I turn...step by step..." Then there's Harry Potter and his ilk who had He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, referencing the dark Lord Voldemort. And other historical references far too numerous to mention. (I am learning from Trump how to turn ignorance into evidence.)
I am not wedded to the name - "No Utterance of Trump." I could live with "National Sanity Day," or maybe "Enough Fruitcake Day." I don't really care what we call it, I just know that enduring endless days of marinating in Trump Mania is bad for the nation's psyche - and mine.
You psychologists out there- you specialists in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - CBT - (Clear the Brain of Trump) - I appeal to you to weigh in and help us reframe our thoughts on this very special day, when we may escape the chants of "Make America Great Again," and all the grainy footage of the Nuremberg Rallies that run in our minds, and help us remember a time when a not-so-great-America used phrases like "Give us your tired, your poor." Could we not spend the day reading Good Republicans like Lincoln - "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday" - or Dwight D. Eisenhower, who, in helping to save the world, accomplished nearly as much as Trump - "Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy." (He can be forgiven for the use of "either," never having met Mr. Trump.) I feel pretty comfortable in saying that both Lincoln and Eisenhower would have supported a day free of the man.
Yes, it's just a day but hopefully, in the aftermath of the election, no such declaration will be needed. In that case this will all just be good practice for living in a world where deep pockets, loose marbles and big mouths are not mistaken for presidential stock. And if I am wrong, and it's Donald's hand on the Bible next January, (horribile dictu) well I'm guessing Prozac sales will go through the roof, the passport office will be overwhelmed, and our allies and enemies will be all forgiveness and forging new alliances in the hope of surviving the incoming fusillade of ego and willful ignorance.
So one day, that's all I ask. One day free of him, one day when everything is not upside down, when humility is again seen as a virtue, and when our coins will be stamped "e pluribus unum," not "every (white) man for himself." How about it?