The Narcissist Who Stole Our Attention

25 Oct The Narcissist Who Stole Our Attention

As Donald Trump slithers down his slippery slope of self-destruction, he continues to command constant attention. Not just in America, but all over the world.

True, we are living though an historic moment in the evolution of democracy, one pundits and historians will be analyzing for decades. But every day of this preposterous presidency has dominated our news cycle with yet another headline on the shocking shattering of norms, focusing our attention on one person.

How did this happen? How is it that any one person, POTUS or not, has this much power? How can decades of foreign policy that worked with the Kurds as allies who helped combat ISIS be turned around in less than 24 hours, via a midnight Tweet?

How can it be that one man can effectively dismantle the EPA and turn the clock back on climate change, appoint lifetime Supreme Court Justices who could reverse Roe vs. Wade, impose tariffs that bankrupt our farmers and alienate our trading partners, who can put children in cages and steal money from the Pentagon to build a wall, install unqualified family members to positions of power without security clearances, and steal an election through Russian interference, and we’ve been powerless to stop it.

This is not a democracy, it’s a monarchy. And while the sleight of hand magician distracts our attention, the bullshit in the China shop is breaking everything we hold dear.

If Hitler taught the world a lesson, it was that a dangerous dictator can commit unfathomable atrocities if not checked in time.

If Trump is teaching us a lesson, it is about the fault lines of a democracy that allow one man’s decisions to rule so much of human society, with the lengthy and uncertain process of impeachment as the only way to stop it. And even if impeachment can bring us the sigh of relief we’ve been longing for–still dubious given the Republican enablers in the Senate–what then? What’s to stop yet another would-be exploiter from driving a truck through our supposed checks and balances?

The Swiss, for example, have a one year term for their presidents, who are elected by a six member council. The President has no more power than any other member of the council. Some Swiss citizens are barely aware of who is president at a given time.

As a population, we are largely raised toward obedience and loyalty. That creates a fascination with someone who flouts these values. It is time to take our attention back, and put it on the issues that really matter.

Unfortunately, as long as we have a top down winner-rule-all system, that attention will be on “who” is in the White House, rather than “what” is really going on. We are a personality oriented culture. Even in the Democratic debates, there is more attention on “who” won the debate, than “what” solutions were proposed that could actually solve our problems.

Attention is our investment. Wherever it is paid, we reap its rewards–or its costs. It is the nature of narcissists to monopolize attention to the detriment of everything around them. And like a black hole, it sucks everything in and gives nothing back.

We instead need our attention for the things that really matter: the 85 environmental regulations that have been overturned, the increasing point of no return on climate change, the fact that there are more guns than people in America, our decaying infrastructure in bridges, highways, and water systems, or that for the first time in decades the average  life span is getting shorter, to name just a few. We need our attention for our local communities, for our families and loved ones, not to the constant political soap opera.

Above all, let’s put our attention on what kind of world we want to build, what’s possible at this incredible time, and the future we want to create together. Because that’s the kind of attention that can reap the rewards we want and need.

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