Now that Donald Trump has finally dropped the title 鈥減resident-elect,鈥� and is now 鈥減resident-full-stop鈥� of our neighbours to the south, the criticisms continue to roll in. Many of those criticisms are completely valid. Not only because there are plenty of things he prioritizes and believes in that I don鈥檛, but also because you鈥檙e not going to have a good leader unless you hold him to task and make sure he has feedback, for better or for worse, in every decision he makes.
聽Accountability is key, and considering some of the distasteful thins he has said he鈥檒l do鈥攁nd is in the process of doing鈥攊t鈥檚 imperative that he continues to get valid, loud criticism every step of the way.
Criticize his stances on what to do with health insurance, sure. Criticize the trigger-happy way he runs his mouth with abandon on Twitter. Criticize his misguided suspicion of the democratic system, with baseless talk of voter fraud, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Criticize what he says about women. Criticize the xenophobia, the belligerent stances on trade deals from the TPP to NAFTA. That鈥檚 all cricket. There鈥檚 plenty of ammo there.
But, his family? Slow your roll. Some celebrities have seen Trump鈥檚 personal life as something to sink their claws into, from Rosie O鈥橠onnell speculating about 10-year-old Baron Trump having autism, to the Saturday Night Live鈥檚 Katie Rich quipping that Baron Trump will grow up to be 鈥渢his country鈥檚 first homeschool shooter.鈥�
Where do we even begin to unpack Rich鈥檚 joke? I could start with the fact that with one tweet, Katie Rich figuratively gave the middle finger to anyone, anywhere who has been victimized in a school shooting鈥攚hich, considering it鈥檚 the U.S., means a lot of people. But I think the crux of the matter is: What business is it of yours, Katie?
I guess a lot of people thought the same way I do. Right after the inauguration, when it was certain there鈥檇 be plenty of eyes to see her tasteless joke, a petition was raised to the tune of over 38,000 voices urging Saturday Night Live to ditch Katie Rich. She was indefinitely suspended form her position as a writer for the show. Good riddance.
It鈥檚 pretty much the scummiest, laziest approach. Mocking a politician鈥檚 family, when he literally says or does something new every few days, that you can use as rhetorical ammo against him. I鈥檝e no problem with Trump being the butt of any joke, but here鈥檚 a bit of advice to all other aspiring comedians out there: 10-year-olds aren鈥檛 punchlines for your lame jokes.
Also making the rounds on social media is a proliferation of images, jokes, and memes focused on Melania Trump. These usually take the form of image macros, with a focus on her face and body language.
Everyone and their dog considers themselves some sort of a mind-reader and empath, creating narratives about how Melania is some neglected, under-appreciated trophy-wife, judging clips from the inauguration, mostly depicting her stone-faced or in some posture or position that makes it look like she doesn鈥檛 enjoy her husband鈥檚 company.
These narratives are predicated on freeze frames and judgments of how Donald and Melania appeared. They, unfortunately are shared by a scary number of people I would otherwise consider to be rational, on social media.
Anyone looking to freeze-frames from the inauguration where鈥擮h, heavens forbid!鈥擬elania is depicted not smiling or Trump is shown with his back to her for a second, to make some judgement about their relationship need to get over themselves.
Aside from these judgements being arbitrary and virtually baseless, the Donald鈥檚 relationship with his wife, or anyone in his family is鈥ait for it鈥obody鈥檚 business but their own. What is so difficult to understand about that?
Looking at photos and .GIF files, and judging something as nuanced and complicated as a relationship between two other people doesn鈥檛 prove anything but a person鈥檚 unwillingness to read and watch the news and find something worth criticizing.
I鈥檝e seen enough people make tasteless jokes about how Michelle Obama 鈥渨ore the pants鈥� in her relationship with Barack Obama, during his terms as president. Let鈥檚 not let the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction and not learn from how tasteless that was.
