<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="coverage_header_bar coverage_header_bar_story" style="text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(241, 96, 44); font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: bold; width: 944px; margin-left: 1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">act locally!</div><div class="region region-content" style="font-family: Lato, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="block-system-main" class="count-1 block block-system first last odd" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div id="node-1094499" class="view-mode-full node node-story clearfix=" about="/local-peace-economy/time-turn-trump-and-tune-your-community" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="headline"><h1 class="node-title" style="font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(26, 47, 90); clear: both;">It's Time to Turn Off Trump and Tune In to Your Community</h1><h1 class="node-title" style="font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(26, 47, 90); clear: both;"><div class="region region-content" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal;"><div id="block-system-main" class="count-1 block block-system first last odd" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div id="node-1094499" class="view-mode-full node node-story clearfix=" about="/local-peace-economy/time-turn-trump-and-tune-your-community" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="headline"></div><div class="teaser" style="font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 15px;"><div class="field-type-text-long field-label-hidden field-name-field-teaser field"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No matter where you live, there is something critically important happening right now that needs your support.</div></div></div></div><div class="story byline" style="margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 350px; float: left; font-size: 16px;"><em class="">By</em> <em class=""><a href="https://www.alternet.org/authors/valerie-vande-panne-0" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" class="">Valerie Vande Panne</a></em> / <span class="field-label-hidden field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" class="">Independent Media Institute</a></span></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></h1><h1 class="node-title" style="font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(26, 47, 90); clear: both;"><div class="region region-content" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal;"><div id="block-system-main" class="count-1 block block-system first last odd" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div id="node-1094499" class="view-mode-full node node-story clearfix=" about="/local-peace-economy/time-turn-trump-and-tune-your-community" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="the_body body_story clearfix" style="line-height: 25px;"><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">I am so sick of news. Aren’t you?</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">I’m sick of Trump’s face on the front page of every newspaper and magazine. I’m sick of turning on the TV and seeing him on every channel. I’m tired of my daily email from the Columbia Journalism Review having something about mainstream media and Donald Trump in the subject line. Every. Single. Day.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Of course, this is a mild exaggeration. But it certainly feels that way, doesn’t it?</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">That’s because Trump has been playing mainstream media like a great orchestra conductor since before most of the people reporting on him were even born.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Let’s take it back to 1984, when the New York Times published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/08/magazine/the-expanding-empire-of-donald-trump.html" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">this</a> adoring piece on him. On his marketing abilities, they <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/08/magazine/the-expanding-empire-of-donald-trump.html" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">wrote</a>:</p><blockquote class=""><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">“'Donald Trump is the Michael Jackson of real estate,' says Mr. Fischer. 'We've been dealing with him since he was 16. He was an old trouper at age 25.'</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">“His success also derives from his marketing skills. 'I want to bring a little showmanship to real estate,' Mr. Trumps says…</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">“How do you sell a one-bedroom apartment costin[g] as much as a line item in the Department of Defense budget? 'You sell them a fantasy,' Mr. Trump explains.”</p><div class="in_content_ad_container ad_8" style="width: 300px; height: 250px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); float: left; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px;"><div class="in_content_ad_container ad_8" style="width: 300px; height: 250px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); float: left; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px;"><div id="proper-ad-alternet_content_3" style="min-width: 300px; min-height: 250px;" class=""><iframe id="proper-ad-alternet_content_3-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" style="overflow: hidden; border-width: 0px; width: 300px; height: 250px; vertical-align: bottom;" class=""></iframe></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/local-peace-economy/time-turn-trump-and-tune-your-community?src=newsletter1094526#report-ad" data-aid="proper-ad-alternet_content_3" class="call-modal report-ad" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">Report Advertisement</a></div></div></blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">The man is, basically, a carney. P.T. Barnum would be in awe. Longtime Village Voice writer and author Wayne Barrett wrote extensively on Trump, going so far as to name his 1991 book <em class=""><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Greatest-Earth-Downfall-Reinvention-ebook/dp/B01ECUXPIM/?tag=alternorg08-20" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth</a></em>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">The problem—one of many, of course—is that Trump is also president of the United States. But he is still acting like a carney.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Do you know how to get a carney to shut up?</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">You stop going to his show.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">That is—seriously—the only way to get rid of him. What happened when “Celebrity Apprentice” received poor ratings? Being careful not to offend Trump by using the “c” word (canceled), NBC simply stopped producing new episodes.</p><div class="in_content_ad_container ad_13" style="width: 300px; height: 250px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); float: left; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px;"><div class="in_content_ad_container ad_13" style="width: 300px; height: 250px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); float: left; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px;"><div id="proper-ad-alternet_content_2" style="min-width: 300px; min-height: 250px;" class=""><iframe id="proper-ad-alternet_content_2-iframe" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" style="overflow: hidden; border-width: 0px; width: 300px; height: 250px; vertical-align: bottom;" class=""></iframe></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/local-peace-economy/time-turn-trump-and-tune-your-community?src=newsletter1094526#report-ad" data-aid="proper-ad-alternet_content_2" class="call-modal report-ad" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;">Report Advertisement</a></div></div><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">And that’s what needs to happen with this awful season of “Trump White House.”</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Give the show poor ratings. Change the damn channel and watch something else.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">But don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend everything is hunky-dory.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Consider: There are literally thousands of media options. Do you really need Facebook or CNN or Fox or MSNBC or ABC to tell you what is going on in the world?</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Or A1 of the New York Times? The Times doesn’t even cover what’s happening in <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/jill-abramson-ex-new-york-times-editor-the-narcissistic-nyt-is-making-horrible-mistakes-needs-a-course-correction" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">its own backyard</a>.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">No matter where you live, there is <em class="">something</em> critically important happening right now, in your own community—and it’s probably not happening on A1, or CNN.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">It might be a worker’s strike, a garbage incinerator, toxic waste, heavy industry, Amazon, police brutality, undrinkable water, school bullying, mental health issues, homelessness, hungry children, veterans, unconscionable prisons… the list goes on. There is absolutely something happening, right now, in your community, that if you paid attention to it and started to take small actions toward resolving, might actually change your life, and the life of your community, for the better.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">You might even feel good, logging off Facebook and getting involved, one-on-one, in your community.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">And there’s <em class="">a lot</em> happening there.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">It might even involve the Trump administration, or the EPA or DOJ or ICE. But I guarantee the solution to those problems will not be found by breathlessly watching every tweet, or every so-called break in the never-ending “Russia Scandal!” season one.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">After all, the “Russia Scandal!” show isn’t scheduled to end any time soon. With ratings like this, there is no way it’s going to be canceled.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">And every moment spent watching “Trump White House” or “Russia Scandal!” is going to guarantee a season two. Worse, it’s going to distract you from being able to understand what’s happening in your own backyard, and taking action on it.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class="">Don’t let Trump, and mainstream media, do that to you or to your community. Change the channel, get involved, and watch what happens—in your own life.</p><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;" class=""><em class="">This article was produced by <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/local-peace-economy/" style="color: rgb(241, 96, 44); text-decoration: none;" class="">Local Peace Economy</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute.</em></p></div></div></div></div></div></h1><h1 class="node-title" style="font-family: museo_slab500, sans-serif; font-size: 40px; line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(26, 47, 90); clear: both;"><div class="region region-content" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: normal;"><div class="count-1 block block-system first last odd" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div class="view-mode-full node node-story clearfix=" about="/local-peace-economy/time-turn-trump-and-tune-your-community" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" style="position: relative;"><div class="story byline" style="margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 350px; float: left; font-size: 16px;"><span class="field-label-hidden field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field"><span class="field-items"><div class="headline"></div><div class="the_body body_story clearfix" style="line-height: 25px;"><div style="margin-top: 5px; text-align: center; font-size: 10px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" class=""><br class=""></div></div></span></span></div><div class="story-date" style="float: left; margin-left: 20px; padding-left: 15px; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: rgb(204, 204, 204);"><em class="">July 20, 2018, 8:30 AM GMT </em></div><div class="authors_signup" style="clear: both;"><div class="item-list"><ul style="list-style-type: none; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" class=""><li class="first last"></li></ul></div></div><div class="top-tools" style="clear: both; padding-top: 15px;"></div></div></div></div></div></h1></div><div class="the_body body_story clearfix" style="line-height: 25px;"><div style="margin-top: 5px; text-align: center; font-size: 10px; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>