It's Time to Take Away the Keys

I try to minimize politics when I write to you each Wednesday morning, my faithful readers, but there are times when, as a woman and a journalist, I simply can’t.

The misogynist-in-chief has a long history of disparaging women in every crude manner imaginable, but there something more manic in the way he has publicly attacked female journalists over the last few weeks.

He seems less able to control his temper, lashing out with hair trigger rage and an angry finger jabbing far too close to their faces as he calls them “stupid”, “nasty”, and “piggy.”

His attacks are so offensive and so sophomoric that it’s easy to miss the essential fact that he is deteriorating.

Consider the evidence. The old guy regularly falls asleep in courtrooms and Cabinet meetings. When awake, his tirades have increased in frequency and intensity. His gait wanders. His countenance freezes. He loses his way in his own speeches, wandering into word salad as he struggles to find the thread.

Unfortunately, he displays none of the habits that help older adults stave off cognitive decline — diet, exercise, and sleep. Like a werewolf, he is up at all hours of the night, howling and spewing and ranting.

The rage inside me wants my colleagues to fight back when he insults them—to tell him off or leave the room.

Instead, they are doing what reporters should do.

They are reporting.

In a recent piece for Poynter, Kelly McBride addressed this issue.

“When powerful people bully the press, they’re really trying to silence the public…but if his victims report on this behavior—calmly and factually—they show audiences what’s at stake.”

McBride’s advice is to continue reporting on Trump’s erratic behavior. Write about it. Show it on TV. Put it on social media. Document it. Don’t make it the story, but don’t ignore it either.

So here I am, following McBride’s lead, along with a personal concern:

Grampa is no longer a safe driver, and someone needs to take away the keys before he kills us all.