COARSENING THE CULTURE
On the same day as the second No Kings March, October 18th of 2025, Donald Trump posted a video of himself on Truth Social, a venue he owns. Depicting himself wearing a golden crown, he flew a fighter jet labelled “King Trump” dumping shit over people in Times Square. Needless to say, no previous president had ever done anything so crude. He has continued this behavior to today. The night before his 80th birthday on June 14th of this year, he posted an image of the Obama Presidential Center as a garbage can surrounded by a homeless encampment. Conditions worsened on the actual day with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) event that he staged in front of the White House. I have never agreed with the neo-conservative Bill Kristol before, but I did over his remark about this. He wrote: “The UFC event captures something about this moment in our history. After all, it’s vulgar, it’s violent, it’s tacky, and it dishonors a place once thought worthy of care and respect. In other words, it’s Donald Trump.” The UFC fighter Josh Hokit made it even worse during his interview with Joe Rogan when he declared “I’m the man with the plan, the beast that’s ready to feast. You know what?....Michelle Obama is a man! Am I right America?”
This last vile remark manages to invoke racism, misogyny, and homophobia in just a few words. All of this prejudice and hatred has become standard during Trump’s presidency. To my shock and dismay, even a Women’s March Group ran ads saying “Fund a porta-potty for Trump’s birthday” while depicting a picture of a toilet with his face in the bowl.
Trump has always used extreme language, but it seems to be getting worse. In a description of “Communications” under the heading of “Dementia,” a medical website listed “Screaming, Swearing, Complaining, Constant requests for attention, Being negative, Strange noises (unwarranted laughter, crying), Inappropriate language (cursing, sexual advances), and Repetitive questions and sentences.”
Those of us unfortunate enough to have experienced loved ones with dementia know that our early reactions are to humor them and pretend such utterances never happened. Later we were forced to accept and confront them. But what about the president? Today’s New York Times ran a front-page story about the president’s health at 80, but relied on and concluded with his administration’s assertions that he was fine.
What, if anything, can we do about this? First, we need to be vigilant and call out abhorrent behavior when it occurs. Second, we must assert our own values and not lower our communications to his level. Here again, I think Minneapolis has led the way. After the dreadful killings there of U.S. citizens by ICE, they rallied in two ways. First, by creating local communities to unite people and shore them up. Second, by voting for their beliefs. Here in New York, our primaries are happening now. Nationwide, the mid-term elections take place in November. The Democratic party is doing a lot to ensure that these elections will happen, by enlisting their members to serve at polling places, refusing to let ICE be there, etc. What we the people need to do is enforce the power that our Constitution gave us in its first words: to vote for our beliefs and guarantee that they are carried out.