Trump is Brilliant. We Have to Be Smarter

We have to be smarter. Yesterday Trump settled 3 civil lawsuits for fraud regarding Trump University for 25 million dollars. That’s a big news story, and it very quickly grabbed the headlines. That evening, Vice-President elect Mike Pence went to see Hamilton and was roundly booed. After the play, the cast delivered a very civil message to him, explaining that, as a diverse group of people of color, sexual orientation, and gender, the prospect of a Trump presidency made them nervous. The next morning Trump tweeted

The internet went crazy. The outrage was like gasoline on a brush fire. The Trump fraud settlement story quickly faded from memory. People were understandably outraged. By the afternoon though many people began to realize that they had been had.

A long string of stories started to hit the web from outlets like Vox, Think Progress, buzzfeed, and GQ that made it clear it was a brilliantly played move to distract people.

We need to learn to respond rather than react. When the Klan announces a victory march, and Trump remains silent, we have to figure out how to respond. One reaction might be to protest angrily. We need to be smarter. We need to send a message to the world that we won’t react to hate with rage. Trump is the master of rage. He uses it like a magician to blind his audience so that he can pull off his elaborate tricks. If we can let go of our rage, and instead respond to his actions with calmness, we can reveal his tricks in action. It seems like everyone figured this out quickly. My friend Young Jean put it this way.

From now on, whenever he does anything provocative, I’m going to ask myself, “What does Trump not want me focusing on right now?” We can’t let this guy keep winning.

We all need to be asking ourselves this question. So when the Klan comes to Raleigh on December 3rd, let’s have a plan of action that won’t give them gasoline for the brush fire.