Summary

The author of the article advocates for not following or engaging with Trump's Twitter activity, arguing that it is emotionally draining and does not contribute to meaningful action or change.

Abstract

The article titled "No, I Didn’t Hear About the Latest Trump Tweet" expresses the author's personal choice to ignore Trump's tweets and the surrounding outrage. The author believes that Trump's tweets are designed to inflame and do not provide new information, as they consistently reflect his platform of hatred and fear. Instead of engaging with the negativity, the author chooses to focus on joy and meaningful action, such as donating, voting, and educating oneself and others. The author argues that this approach is not only self-preserving but also more effective in combating Trump's policies and rhetoric than spreading his tweets and contributing to the cycle of outrage.

Opinions

Trump's Twitter presence is seen as a source of negativity that detracts from the author's quality of life and is intentionally provocative.
The author feels that staying informed about Trump's tweets is not necessary and can be harmful to one's mental health.
Engaging with Trump's tweets, even to express opposition, may inadvertently spread lies and harmful rhetoric.
The author emphasizes that there are more productive ways to resist Trump's policies, such as voting and supporting organizations that fight against his actions.
By choosing not to follow Trump on Twitter, the author is not ignoring reality but rather focusing on positive and informative content that aligns with their values.
The author believes that Trump uses Twitter to bludgeon his audience with his impulses and that this strategy relies on provoking outrage and a sense of helplessness in the public.
The author prioritizes spending their emotional energy on joyful and educational pursuits rather than on the constant rehashing of Trump's statements.

Twitter Teardowns

No, I Didn’t Hear About the Latest Trump Tweet

And I don’t think outrage is worth staying up to date with

“Have you heard — ?”

“Did you see — ?”

“That tweet said — !”

“Where you there when he — ?”

Let me stop you right there: no, I did not see the tweet, I did not read the article, I did not listen to the interview. I did not watch the video where he said that horrific thing, and I ignored the soundbite where he announced that atrocious development.

Why? I don’t follow Trump on Twitter. When someone retweets him, I scroll past.

My perhaps controversial opinion is that it is not necessary to follow or keep up with Trump on Twitter, and it can be actively harmful to do so. To me, my Twitter timeline is precious. It’s a place for me to blissfully scroll, see new ideas, and bring a bit of joy into my life. The accounts I follow are interesting, funny, and inspirational. One defines words, another offers advice. They all bring something to me and my life.

Trump? He does not give; he only takes.

I Don’t Want to Ignore Reality

Whenever I tell people I ignore Trump on Twitter, I often get told I’m ignoring reality. Somehow, by actively choosing not to participate in his dumpster fires and tweetstorms, I remain dangerously unaware of his latest move, unequipped with the knowledge I need to fight back.

I get accused of putting my head in the sand, and I’m ominously warned that I’ll be caught off-guard by whatever his latest vitriol is.

But I don’t think that’s true.

Trump does not tweet to inform. He tweets exclusively and specifically to inflame. I already know I stand against him on every issue of importance. I already know I find his policies despicable, his lies intolerable, and his actions unfathomable. What I don’t need is to have that shoved in my face, again and again, at the whims of his furiously-typing fingers.

I stand against Trump, yes. But I don’t believe that seeing his tweets — or even worse, spreading his tweets, sharing awareness of his threats and disgust — is useful, or that it makes a difference. At best? We hear that he’s done yet another horrible thing. At worst? We spread a lie, an alternative fact, and expose more racist, sexist nonsense to people who frankly don’t need to see it.

He’s sensationalist on Twitter, and it’s by design. The more outrage he manufactures, the more retweets and comments and exclamations of, “Did you see he said that,” the better his strategy has worked.

I choose not to engage, and I’m not left helpless by this, despite my ignorance of what he’s said. Knowing every explicit nuance and detail of his verbiage does not help. Instead, I can fight. I can donate. I can vote. I can educate.

What I won’t do? I will not share or spread his voice. I will not fan his flames. I will not rant anymore to my mom about how awful things are because it does no good.

Nothing He Says on Twitter Is Novel

This is the crux of the matter for me. I already know where he stands on all his issues. I know his platform is built on thinly-veiled hatred, fear, xenophobia, and hunger for power. Every new tweet is not a revelation, but rather a reaffirmation.

Trump uses his Twitter account as a bludgeoning tool. There’s no nuance, no carefully-worded subtext. All he has is an instrument to share all his worst impulses, and the nature of Twitter is to repeat it to itself until the news cycle has passed and there’s another scandal to talk about.

And honestly? I don’t think it does any good to hash and rehash his latest tweet. I believe it’s useless. I might feel better preaching that he’s said something awful, I might feel smug for telling my friends about what horrible thing he last said, but it does no good.

And that’s what Trump relies on — to make people feel helpless, like nothing they do will stop him. We can talk about how awful his tweets are until the cows come home, but those tweets will keep coming.

I Don’t Have an Unlimited Capacity for Emotion

People forget the rule that grounds us all in common humanity: there are only 24 hours in a day. There is only so much emotion we can process until we become exhausted.

And honestly, I prefer to spend my time and my energy on joyful pursuits that energize and delight me, rather than rehashing for the umpteenth time that he’s a rapist who has the highest seat in government.

Every second I spend reading his tweets, retweeting his tweets, or even talking about his tweets, I am voluntarily giving him my time and energy. And for what?

For me, it’s more important to spend that time educating myself and others — what issues matter to me, which politician is most closely aligned with those, which organizations are best to donate to if I want to fight back. I retweet happiness and try to share joy, in the hopes that it will spread wider and blot out some of the darkness of my timeline.