It’s Time For A Curtain Call
If you really want to cancel Donald Trump, you need me. You don’t just need my help.
You need me. Admit it. It’s okay. I’ve been involved in so much major disruption recently, my name rings so many bells it’s giving people concussions, panic attacks, and they are breaking out in hives like Kristi Noem.
I can’t cancel Donald Trump without you, though.
Recognize Novelty, Not Quantity
There has never been an article titled “How To Cancel Donald Trump” until this one.
You’ll find op-eds denouncing him, podcasts complaining about him, millions of people professing to be against him – and yet not a single piece of indexed thought ever bothered to ask: how do we actually get rid of this guy’s presence? For good.
That should tell you something.
None of the senior-most Democrats in America have ever done anything substantial to stop Donald Trump. Chuck Schumer only has words. No actions. Hakeem Jeffries only has words. No actions. Cory Booker has a lot of words. But also, no actions. AOC, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Jamie Raskin, and the rest of the usual cast haven’t taken any action to oppose Donald Trump.
Don’t Deny the Truth, Especially When It Hurts
You can try to deny this. It may frustrate you to read. But you know in your heart and your mind, this is true.
These people I listed above are play-fighers. They don’t think or act like they actually want to see Donald Trump no longer be a name that is in the news. For example, Barack Obama was recently in the news making a very limp wrist statement about Donald Trump. Then Obama won’t be an active news story for a while.
Even if Trump tried his hardest to get attention, he could still fail. The headlines could read, “Donald Trump Pathetically Failed to Get Attention Today,” instead of repeating whatever nonsense he wanted you to print.
Think about this: if all these powerful people are supposedly against him…why does he still dominate every camera, headline, and news cycle?
The simple answer is: he pays for press releases in all the major news wires.
That’s it. It’s not because he’s interesting. It is not because he’s newsworthy. The sole and only reason he is in the news constantly is because he puts himself in the news constantly. Don’t believe me? Look deeper.
The Three Faces of Power
Hillary Clinton once said that politicians need to have both a public and private position. But in modern politics, there’s a third tier: the secret position – the real interest behind the mask. For some politicians, they operate in multiple levels or layers of secrets. Donald Trump is a person like this. He has to make secret deals, and secret deals for secret deals. Some people in his inner-most circle are not aware of all he is doing. That is something which became apparent with the fallout between Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
This is something that a lot of commentators claimed they saw coming. But at some point, people ignored those predictions and pushed the whole “co-President” narrative instead. Many in the news industry who originally predicted that Trump and Musk would fall apart forgot their own foresight and got swept up in promoting the lie that Elon Musk was really in charge.
Demystify the Power of Donald Trump
Donald John Trump is just a man. At this point, he has become a remarkable man, even though he never really was. That is part of his paradox. Many people might say that is a truly American story, that an unremarkable man could pay to become remarkable. That was not always the way. America used to be a place that even poor people could become remarkable by doing remarkable things. But that’s the power of Trump’s press releases. They manufacture remarkable events, by manner of his speech. That’s powerful.
But it’s also easy to stop.
Be Mindful, Not Mindless
It almost creates a kind of brainwashing.
The reason he does what he does often has a lack of resolution. You grab on to the best explanation you hear, even if it doesn’t make total or complete sense. That is usually when Trump and his friends are holding secrets. They think it’s funny to do things that the public doesn’t really know, even if they have the information in front of them.
Trump thrives in that secrecy. And worse: he uses the press as both a megaphone and a shield. He is not invincible. He is not clever. But he is protected by a system that he manipulates better than anyone else has. And it’s time for that to stop.
The Teflon Donald Myth
Trump co-opted the nickname “Teflon Don” from John Gotti, attempting to brand himself as some kind of gangster boss. As if Donald Trump is a guy who nothing sticks to. Meaning, even bad news is good for him somehow.
But in reality? He’s not coated in Teflon. There is genuinely bad news about him out there, like his inability to make deals across the world on trade. Trump may be coated in fake gold and real money, but he bleeds it constantly to keep his name on your screen. That’s the dirty secret of modern propaganda: it’s not ideology that earns airtime, it’s cold hard cash. He floods wires with paid press releases, buys placement, and hijacks attention. It’s not such a brilliant strategy.
It works because he has money. Or borrows it. Yet, all the money in the world can’t force you to write an article about it.
Don’t Deny the Truth
People in the media space know this is true. A lot of them don’t want to admit it because it exposes their own fake following. Journalists out here bought tens of thousands of followers years ago, forget they did it, and now pretend they are more popular than an indie rock band. Honestly, do you really think 2.5 million people follow him? Follow. Like, where he goes, they go. Not, clicking a button and occasionally seeing a person pop up on your feed. I mean, he says something, people think it.
Of course not. Obviously not. Look at how badly “Abundance” flopped. Ezra Klein’s book Abundance flopped so badly, you can look on his Twitter profile right now and see he has reverted to promoting a book he wrote by himself in 2020. Not the book he just released, co-written by Derek Thompson. Even though Klein still has the 2022 pinned tweet about the book that took him and Thompson somehow (3) years to write even though they admitted ChatGPT was a major influence.
The point here, is that following on social media is fake when compared to actual influence. The same is true for Donald Trump. We can make Donald Trump disappear just as easily as we could make Ezra Klein disappear.
Step 1: Stop Retweeting Truth Social
Let’s start with the obvious: Truth Social is not the truth. The dumbness of that branding unfortunately works, though, to create a sense of legitimacy. You may doubt that, but look at how seriously people take the things he publishes there. When in reality, it’s not an official channel – outside of his personal state media – which means nobody has to look at it. Some people may literally have as their beat, writing about what he posts there. If that’s you – cut it out – and get a real job.
Truth Social, as a social media venture, is an utter failure.
There is no way to spin it.
To Appear Smart & Strong, Trump Had To Invert The Meritocracy
There are less than 7,000,000 active users, and with most of those being bots, it’s basically a ghost town. That is a pathetic number. He isn’t even putting money into it to make it look like there is a lot of action there. The local groups are a joke. I had a profile for minute but couldn’t take it. Not because the content was inherently any worse than certain parts of Twitter or Reddit. But it’s a Twitter clone that doesn’t work as well, and the publishing is annoying. Trump is not even the most active voice on there.
It’s barely functional, mostly spam, and irrelevant. Nothing novel or unique happens there including Trump posting. He eventually needs Twitter or other social media to carry that message or nobody would care. He could basically just have Twitter and it’d be the same. So why cover Truth Social like it matters? It’s a failed experiment like so many other things Trump tries to do.
But with every mainstream outlet that republishes his rants?
It becomes a weapon. A delivery system. An extension of the federal government for a man who treats it like his personal newsletter.
Don’t share it, quote it, or amplify it.
If Trump posts something that sounds crazy, let it rot in the darkness.
Think about it, privately, to yourself. If you can’t figure it out, consider that it is over your head or under your feet. Either way, don’t feel you need to answer what it is until you confidently can say so. Otherwise you’ll end up publishing something that you have to defend internally, and just because everybody else also publishes it, doesn’t make it true. You’d be surprised how little people actually read of news pieces. It’s almost like we’re just publishing for Google to read. But believe me, Google reads.
Step 2: Slow the Hell Down
Trump’s team sends dozens of press releases a week. Maybe more. It’s an expensive venture, but it only works if the media rushes to publish. If you refuse to publish stories that are incomplete, easily disproven, or things of that nature, we do not need yet another story about Trump lying. That’s not even news. Him being wrong or misleading? Not news.
So, stop rushing!
Sit on the story. Wait thirty minutes. See if it’s even relevant by the time your CMS loads. Let other stories come to fruition. Let time reveal the grift until it is unmistakable.
This administration thrives on chaos. But only when they control that chaos. Look around you. They are not just out of control, like out of our control. They are now out of their own control. The fake opposition is being replaced by real opposition. Fractures are being exposed within both parties. Trump was in control of both parties before.
He’s not anymore.
By simply pausing, we slow down the show. We cause bottlenecks in his manipulative strategy. We give the public room to breathe, and time to think. Then things break down. That’s what I’ve been doing since before Trump even took office. It’s working.
Step 3: Find The Truth Between Oddball Overlaps
Trump was literally at a construction site – on the White House lawn – putting up a massive flagpole while he is also preparing the country for war with Iran. A man hours away from bombing a sovereign nation was also… breaking ground for a prop?
That juxtaposition is the scandal.
The press didn’t need a quote. They needed a clock.
It perturbed a lot of people in the press.
For some, it’s evidence of Trump’s ego. Of course it is. But he announced this flag pole months ago after impeachment articles were introduced on him that he had no control over. It (announcement of the flag pole) was designed to distract from the impeachment possibility. Yet he must have had this event on the books.
Trump Only Cancels Common Sense
Not sure why he didn’t just cancel the flag pole event.
For whatever reason, the illusion of a man in control of everything around him, is over.
Same with JD Vance: he joined Bluesky the same day he was in the Situation Room about Iran. Think that was a coincidence? It wasn’t. It was either planned and tone-deaf, or chaotic and sloppy. Either way, it reveals the truth: these people care more about clout than consequence. That is terrifying, sad, and ultimately, a problem that we can easily solve.
It’s actually a mechanical breakdown. This demonstrates, beyond any bluster or boasting and rhetoric, Trump is deteriorating. His team is falling apart. That is possibly why he accelerated the conflict with Iran – using Israel as a proxy – because Netanyahu does not suffer from the TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) syndrome. That also explains that Netanyahu and Israel were probably involved with things like Trump’s supposed assassination of Soleimani. Outsourcing his war-fighting to Israel is not exactly the strength of command we were led to believe Trump had.
A quick side note about that.
Trump’s military parade was a sad display, not a terrifying fascistic propaganda show. It had some scary undertones related to the corporatization of our military. But that is an entirely different (critical, but aside) issue. But just think about how Trump negotiates compared to how Netanyahu does. They are allies, but Trump is not the tough guy.
Trump is actually the “good cop” in that relationship.
Step 4: Cancel the Whole Show
You can’t cancel Trump without cancelling The Donald Trump Show.
And you can’t cancel the show without shutting down the characters:
- VP JD Vance
- The Counterfeit Cabinet
- The PAC operatives.
- The Twitter grifters.
- The hanger-ons feeding off proximity (Stephen Miller, Tom Homan types)
If their content isn’t getting traction without ad buys or fake followers, that’s the point.
Let them wither in the algorithm like everyone else.
This isn’t censorship. This is choosing what to signal boost.
Canceling doesn’t mean silence – it means a collapse of relevance.
Let more valuable voices rise and be heard.
Let the audience rediscover value again.
Step 5: Newsworthiness Should Be A Meritocracy
Trump’s news operation already is state media. You just didn’t realize it, because it’s also a publicly traded company. Or you think of it as something to mock. Which it is.
But, Truth Social is being turned into official government policy before our eyes and that is insane. And the media plays along. Both sides. Most of the time, personally, I only ever see screen shots of Truth Social posts from Trump – shared by so-called liberals – claiming it’s appalling to them.
Conservatives might comment on it, but generally it’s being promoted to me with rage-bait. If those people out there are doing that thinking it’s slowing him down or something, they are very wrong.
But let’s be clear: Trump is not newsworthy simply because he exists.
He is only newsworthy if you choose to carry the story.
You’ve heard the old joke “this meeting could have been an email.” A lot of Trump stories could have been an email, that you delete. What’s the worst thing that might happen? Trump declares an official war on Iran (we’re already in it) on Truth Social and you don’t include it in a news story about the Iranian leader’s response. The public would get that we are at war, and if they wanted to or needed to find what Trump had to say about it – they can find his comment themselves.
Think about it.
The amount of stories written about a tweet or post, that the public could find if it actually got popular enough. Too often it’s the news industry itself that makes things viral. Not the other way around. So, cut Trump off before he takes over.
Step 6: Stop Asking Questions. Start Making Statements.
Why are reporters still asking Donald Trump questions?
He lies or does “the weave.” Then he’ll insult all of our intelligence.
Ask yourself: If you don’t trust him to answer truthfully, why ask him questions?
Why not make statements instead?
- “America is now at war with Iran.” Let that hang there in the air. See what he does.
- “There are impeachment articles in the House.” See if he denies it. Say nothing.
- “There are no tariff deals with foreign nations.” Watch him call you “fake news.”
Donald Trump saying “MSDNC” isn’t funny anymore. It’s old news. Like stale potato chips. Just put them down. Don’t consume his content. Imagine it’s moldy food. Give the people some solid whole foods. Don’t feed them Donald Trump’s synthetic trash.
Let him flail. Let him freak.
He should have to chase reporters. Make him beg for coverage.
And if the White House bans you for it? Good.
That’s your cue to investigate – not retreat. I’m sure it’s a very prestigious feeling to be in the White House or on Air Force One. But in the end, it’s just a government building and a plane, respectively. If the President can order strikes via social media, his office is not all that important. So stop being star struck by an elderly billionaire.
Let the new journalism model be this: You do not get rewarded for proximity. You get rewarded for clarity.
If What Bleeds Leads, Let Donald Trump Bleed Out
Trump’s power isn’t in ideas. It’s in saturation.
He floods the zone. You know that. But you don’t know how it works functionally, so you can’t stop it. You don’t know how many people pretend to want to stop him but really want to get paid off him. That’s how he is able to hijack the airwaves. But you have the power to stop him.
He can only control the conversation by being the conversation.
You may think a negative story about him will hurt him. It won’t. The thing that hurts him is not having any stories about him. That’s when things in private and secret get planned. Eventually he needs to become the possessive object of a story. Not the subject. But he needs a real opponent, and not a war lord in the Middle East.
The Donald John Trump Show only continues because you watch it.
Cancelling Donald Trump is easy.
The solution is elegant and brutal:
Let him bleed. He will keep flooding the news wires with garbage. Don’t print it.
Let him scream into the void of his underperforming app: stop following along.
Make him waste his money chasing headlines that no longer land. He doesn’t earn attention – he buys it. And when you stop selling out so cheap, you’ll realize just how boring, lame, typical, and unimpressive he really is.
Let Donald Trump cancel himself, with no stage left to stand on.
