How Yelling At Donald Trump On Twitter Is Keeps Me Sane

But I'll never follow him.

By Rebecca Jane Stokes — Written on Feb 03, 2017

Photo: WeHeartIt

When I was a little girl, I loved to watch the news with my dad.

He would get home for work, and while my mom made dinner in the kitchen he and I would sit together and watch the headlines.

I liked the quality time with my dad and everything, but the real appeal was watching him vent his ire on any political talking head who he disagreed with.

"GO TO HELL, STEVE" he'd yell with a smile when a news anchor (presumably named Steve) said something stupid.

"Can you believe this?" He'd ask me in mock outrage, and I'd just laugh.

My dad was like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills and I was his loyal and bemused Sancho Panza.

His own dad did the same thing when watching the news, but it wasn't fun to watch my grandfather do it.

Probably because he meant it.

Probably because his politics were so conservative that before I even fully knew what I believed I squirmed with discomfort during his own political rants.

I never thought that watching my dad and my grandfather one day I'd be doing exactly the same thing.

I don't watch the nightly news, but it's not because I'm not trying to stay informed.

Media has changed a lot since the days my family raged at the television, and now most of my hollow ranting is directed to the internet.

In particular, it's directed to Donald Trump's Twitter account.

I'm a progressive liberal and the days since Donald Trump's inauguration have been really hard for me to process and understand.

I think it's really important that we all do our best (as citizens and human beings) to try and understand the views of others.

I think the media's tendency to ignore fly over states definitely contributed to the shock of Trump's win.

And a lot of us are feeling an incredible amount of stress and maybe even depression at his election.

We need to listen to people we disagree with, even when it's hard.

That said, I'm having a difficult time engaging with Trump supporters these days in light of the actions he has taken since he was made President.

Some folks I know begged that we give Trump a chance, see if he would be as bad as folks feared.

I kind of got that.

After all, the guy is a liar who says what he needs to say in order to get what he wants.

To that end, it wouldn't have been surprising if he had won the presidency and then ditched all of his campaign promises.

But no.

Here we are fighting for the rights of immigrants, terrified about the coming wall, fearful that at any moment war could erupt.

I've been doing my part.

That doesn't just mean protesting it means talking, it means organizing.

And I feel fine when I'm doing these things when I'm staying active.

But it's at night, it's when I have time to think that I panic, that I become hopeless, anxious and angry.

And what do I do when that happens?

I tweet at Donald Trump.

Don't it get it twisted, I don't follow the guy (I take that shit very seriously).

But the way I see it, if the President is going to continue to use Twitter the way he did prior to being elected, then it's my right as a citizen to perpetually put his ass on blast every time he lies about something, threatens someone, or tacitly implies that racism and sexism are totally a-okay.

I'm not an idiot.

I know he's not reading my tweets.

I know if he did, he'd just block me at the most.

I know he isn't going to read my words and think "she's right, I need to step down or at the very least reconsider every single thing I think and believe."

How I Found Inner Peace By Yelling At Donald Trump On Twitter

But I'll never follow him.