Stop dehumanizing Trump
He’s not a “convicted felon.” He’s “justice-involved.”
Jeffrey Denny
Good people respect all people, even bad people.
In fact, like dogs, there are no bad people. Their victims might disagree, but people who do bad things are victims too — of nature, nurture, circumstance, society, the media, social media, technology, the Deep State, or something else altogether.
So it’s insensitive to label so-called “perps” for what they’re dealing with. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, everyone is dealing with something. So everyone needs to indulge everyone’s DSM-5 thing, even if they’re exhibiting narcissistic grandiosity.
In any case, we need to adopt empathetic “person-first” language, describing what a person has or does rather than ascribing it to who they are.
Like, don’t say “diabetic.” Say “person with diabetes.” Or don’t say “the homeless.” Say “person who is unhoused” even if said person doesn’t care what advocates tell us to call them.
We should always use person-first language in any situation.
· Don’t call stereotyped pirates seizing booty on the high seas “peg leg.” Call them “persons of prosthetic limbs carved from shivered timbers who love unhealthy versions of popcorn.”
· Don’t call the awesome Gen Z urban pierced tatted performative retro-Goth baristas that hate you while serving your bespoke coffee drink “baristas.” Call them “ocular-rolling persons who can’t even while expecting 20% iPad tips for taking your order.”
· Don’t call elite privileged Ivy League college student protestors for Palestine “pro-genocide Hamas and Trump useful idiots” or “tragic nincompoops.” Call them, “poor dears teaching America and their 1% capitalist parents who fund their $400,000 degrees in social justice about the latest Mideast crisis.”
· Don’t call TikTok stars who fight regulation to protect children and national security “self-serving.” Call them, “Entrepreneurial freedom fighters for mesmerizing children with videos of dancing and singing, puppies and kitties, and beautiful ‘influencers’ teaching them they’re ugly if they don’t purchase certain fast fashion and costly skincare products.”
· Don’t call AI “the end of the world as we know it” like it’s scraped from the internet from R.E.M. AI says to call AI “the best thing that ever happened to me” like Gladys Knight and the Pips that AI definitely didn’t scrape.
· Don’t call EV advocates “climate forward.” Call them “persons who care so much about Earth they’re willing to suffer range anxiety and turn off the a/c in sweltering heat when stuck on the Jersey Turnpike for hours with no available charging stations in the vicinity.”
· Don’t call wealthy old-school family values country club Chamber of Commerce Catholic or Presby Trump Republicans “Republicans.” They’re “persons who are willing to sacrifice their traditional American family values for tax and regulation freedom; i.e., further riches.”
· Don’t call me “a terrible horrible no good very bad writer whose opinions are stupid and ‘humor’ isn’t remotely funny.” Call me a “person who writes this dreck for fun so go piss up a rope if you have one.”
Even a former president convicted of 34 criminal counts, with 54 pending, deserves respect for their personhood.
The Fortune Society (“Building people, not prisons”) says, “Individuals with justice system involvement are not defined by their conviction history. The words we use to reference people should reflect their full identities, and acknowledge their capacity to change and grow.”
Can’t agree more.
So don’t define Donald Trump by his crimes and misdeeds. As Gandhi said, “Hate the crime, not the criminal.”
So instead of hating Trump:
· Hate that he raped a stranger and further victimized her with defamation.
· Hate that he cooked the books to hide hush money payments to a porn star to fool voters and protect his election as President of the United States.
· Hate his high crimes and misdemeanors against America including abuse of power, obstruction of Congress and incitement of insurrection.
· Hate his three more criminal indictments for conspiracy and racketeering to overturn an election, stealing and concealing sensitive documents, and obstructing federal agents.
Like Nixon, Trump is not a “crook.”
It’s hurtfully insensitive — on both sides — to lump Trump with poor urban nonwhite, nonbillionaire repeat offenders and recidivists.
Many people believe in Trump, from everyday white Americans who demand law, order and justice against minorities, especially poor and immigrant, to Republican Party leaders, the U.S. Congress, and tired poor huddled masses of oil industry CEOs yearning to breathe free from climate regulations.
Let’s respect Trump’s difference from the poor “justice involved” urban youth. Especially those who accept justice, admit their guilt, express remorse, seek forgiveness and work to rehabilitate to change and grow.
Trump instead stood up for the downtrodden and put the system on trial. He fumed and groused during the proceedings, slammed the prosecutors, judges, juries and verdicts, and pledged revenge and retribution against the entire U.S. justice system as soon as he’s put back on the street. Specifically, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Open your mind and heart to Trump’s humanity.
You wouldn’t put down Cujo, the Stephen King horror dog, just because he terrorized a Maine village, right? So stop putting down Trump just because he’s rabid, aggressive and destructive to our entire nation.
Stop doing violence to his agency. Honor his personal truth that the Deep State is out to get him because he was out to get the Deep State, and he’s fighting for you.
As humanists, we share a duty to recognize and respect every person’s humanity, dignity, agency, identity, choices and right to shape their lives as they feel fit.
So stop calling Trump a danger to America. He’s a person who is a danger to America.
Jeffrey Denny is a person of writing in Washington, DC.
