Two weeks in, it’s already time for a slogan retread. “Make America Great Again” is quickly giving way to “Please Shut Up Now!” — without the please.
New petition signatures aren’t being counted on the White House website. The We The People page, where Americans can “speak directly to the government,” hasn’t been working since Donald Trump moved in. And no one’s answering the White House Comment Line. The rising zip-it call is being sounded from Trump Tower and the White House switchboard, all the way to Berkeley, Seattle and even Mar-a-Lago, pretty much anywhere the new president or his posse face criticism of any kind. Why be bothered with a bunch of whining critics? They’ll never have anything nice to say, anyway.
In his short time in office, Trump has rarely missed a chance to demand that someone else put a cork in it. After the Women’s March, he tweeted: “Was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote?” When campus protestors romped in Berkeley, he didn’t only threaten to arrest the lawbreakers. He vowed to cut off federal funds for the entire university. Maybe that’ll quiet ’em! In Trump’s America, silence from others is definitely golden again, just like a certain Fifth Avenue tower and a pair of Donald J. Trump Signature Collection Cufflinks ($100 plus $4.99 shipping on Amazon). Steve Bannon, the official White House id, really set the tone when he snarled that the media ought to “keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while.”
I thought there might be hope here. Then, I called (202) 456-1111, the popular White House Comment Line.
Turns out the White House Comment Line isn’t taking comments anymore. A recording said try a website or Facebook Messenger, though the White House Facebook page didn’t seem to be taking messages either. California Congresswoman Jackie Speier has a bill, the Phone the White House Act, cutting off funds to the Executive Office until the comment line is restored. “The president needs to recognize that his job also includes listening to all Americans, not just the echo chamber in the White House,” Speier said. How much longer ’til the president has an answer for her? Shut up now!
Trump’s America: Making America Shut up Again
