I Don't Necessarily Want to Blog About Donald Trump But I Feel I Have To Or I Will Go Insane
The reception was overwhelmingly positive when I put out The Weird Accordion to Al, my massive 2020 guide to “Weird Al” Yankovic’s life’s work. I sold thousands of copies of the book, as well as its coloring book spin-off, The Weird A-Coloring to Al.
That is VERY difficult to accomplish when you go the independent route. Some “Weird Al” Yankovic fans despised it with the proverbial white-hot burning passion because my take on an artist they love and revere (and, full disclosure, hired me to write his Coffee Table book and then wrote the introduction to The Weird Accordion to Al and blurbed The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Joy of Trash) differed from their own.
Most of the criticism directed at The Weird Accordion to Al centered on several references to Donald Trump.
These mentions enraged readers to the point that they took to Amazon to write one-star reviews about how I ruined a book with potential by needlessly and distractingly dragging politics into what should have been an apolitical celebration of a national treasure.
Many of these angry eviscerations were written by Trump supporters who did not appreciate me speaking disparagingly of their God, but some of the pans were from people who professed to hate Trump or at least to have voted against him who nevertheless felt I sabotaged my book by reminding them of someone they’d like very much to forget.
It got so bad that I went to the unusual extreme of removing every Trump reference from the book. I did a quick cost-benefit analysis and decided that whatever point I was making by discussing Trump wasn’t worth turning off so many readers.
I finally understand how the Amazon critics who gave the book one star despite sharing my political beliefs felt. That’s because I’m feeling something strangely similar now.
In the aftermath of the presidential election, I posted two blog posts to process something terrible that had just happened. I did not write the articles because I wanted to argue about the election with readers.
I almost NEVER want to fight. I am conflict-averse. Few things appeal to me less than arguing with people on the internet. I’m not sure anything good can come of it.
I didn’t even want to discuss Harris’ loss. It was too raw, painful, and new.
I wrote those articles because it was cathartic to do so. I wrote those blog posts because, emotionally, at least, I had to. I couldn’t hold back all the pain, frustration, and disappointment. I had to let it out.
Here’s the thing: I don’t want to hear about Donald Trump. I don’t want to see his face. I don’t want to hear his voice. I don’t want to see him on the news. I don’t want to hear about him.
I know that I am not alone. My wife, for example, does not want to hear me talk about Donald Trump. She does not want to think about him more than is necessary.
My ten-year-old son talks about Trump all the time because that monster casts as long and deep and menacing a shadow over his childhood as Ronald Reagan did mine, although Reagan looks like the world’s smartest, most reasonable Marxist compared to Trump.
I love my son, but I don’t want to talk about Trump with him any more than my wife wants to hear me complain about the twice-impeached thirty-four-time felon.
I understand why some devoted readers would prefer Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place to be a politics-free zone or at least a Trump-free zone.
They’d prefer I write about bad movies and trash culture, but I’ve always been political. I volunteered for Michael Dukakis when I was twelve years old. Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place has always been political, and this blog has always been political. I cannot count the number of blog posts I’ve written about Trump, but it must be in the hundreds.
I don’t necessarily want to write about Donald Trump, but I NEED to. It’s a way of keeping myself sane in crazy-making times. It may not be much or make any kind of a difference, but it’s something, and right now, I feel like I need to be doing something,
However, I understand and share readers’ exhaustion and disgust with the man and his movement. That’s why I try to find a balance. I don’t want to write about him too much, but I feel that writing about Trump is part of my duty as a writer and citizen.
I hoped that we were over Trump. We’re not. I’m not sure we’ll ever be over Trump. When, or rather if, he dies, his worshippers will turn him into a God, an American messiah.
Like everyone else, I’m trying to make the best of a very bad situation.
Nathan needed expensive, life-saving dental implants, and his dental plan doesn’t cover them, so he started a GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-nathans-journey-to-dental-implants. Give if you can! It’s Christmas, after all, the most