WISE MEN SAY, ONLY FOOLS — Strange Things Happening Every Day

Last week, several of my Facebook friends posted “Some Wise Advice Circulating,” a set of rules for resisting the Trump Administration. The rules are sometimes attributed to Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., although she hasn’t claimed authorship (see link below).

Although I’m certainly down with the general spirit of the list, there are a couple of the points that don’t make sense to me. Maybe some of my wise FB friends can tell me what I’m missing.

I don’t understand the Lord Voldemort Rule: “Don’t use his name; EVER (45 will do).” He who must not be named is obviously Donald Trump. Oops, I just broke the first rule. I’ve heard people argue that because Trump is such a narcissist, he believes that any publicity as good publicity. According to this theory, if we avoid using his name, we can deprive him of the oxygen of attention that he thrives on.

Except that President XLV clearly does NOT see all publicity as good publicity. He is the most hyper-sensitive politician this country has ever seen. Criticism drives him nuts. Good lord, even insufficient praise drives him nuts. Why not keep the pressure on?

The other reason I don’t like the first rule is that it reminds me of the superstition about saying the devil’s name for fear of invoking him. And speaking of the devil, when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus didn’t refer to him as Fallen Angel #1. Jesus called him out by name (Luke4:8): “Get thee behind me, Satan.” There’s a similar story, centuries older, in the Buddhist tradition. When the demon Mara tempted the Buddha, the Buddha simply said, “I know you, Mara.” Neither Jesus nor the Buddha were reluctant to say the name of their adversary. Trump’s a bad hombre, but he’s not in the same league as Satan or Mara. Maybe I’m overlooking something, but I can’t think of a good reason not to use Trump’s name.

The third rule – “Do not argue with those who support him--it doesn't work,” makes a certain amount of sense, although I think that formulation oversimplifies the nature of Trump’s support. I’d put it this way: “Distinguish between hardcore Trump supporters and those who may have voted for him reluctantly and are now experiencing buyer’s remorse. Ignore the former and attempt to persuade the latter.” I’ll write more about that soon.

The fourth rule is: “Focus on his policies, not his orange-ness and mental state.” I agree that it’s important to keep the focus on the impact of Trump’s (and his Republican enablers’) policies, and that his skin color and hair are silly distractions. Remember that Hillary Clinton did a pretty good job of pointing out Trump’s character flaws. As a strategy, it didn’t work last November, and it probably won’t work in 2018 or 2020. Nevertheless, I continue to believe that Trump’s mental state is intimately connected to his policies. In my view it’s not only fair, but actually important, to point that out. I would rewrite the fourth rule to say “Don’t waste your time on personal insults aimed at Donald Trump. Instead, focus on the negative impact his policies are having on our citizens.”

To be continued. In the meantime, here’s a link which contains the full list of “Wise Advice”: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/08/a-word-of-advice-from-martin-luther-king-jr-s-daughter-resist/?utm_term=.7f441dad6fd6