I Don't Care

[Content Note: Lookism; fat hatred; disablism; white supremacy.]

I don't care that Donald Trump has unusual hair. I don't care that his skin is an unusual color. I don't care that he's fat. I don't care that he has a double chin. I don't care he's old. I don't care that he's been married three times. I don't care what he eats. I don't care about anyone's armchair diagnostics of his mental health, especially when said diagnosing is clearly just in service of disablist narratives.

I don't care that Steve Bannon is fat or scruffy or dresses like "a slob." I don't care that Kellyanne Conway is blonde, and I really don't care to hear misogyny spat in her direction.

I do care, very much, that Trump polices the way other people look. That he engages in fat hatred. That he audits women's femininity. That he slut-shames. That he ranks women and reportedly demeans men in his employ if they aren't good-looking and fashionable enough. That he mocks disabled people.

I care that Bannon values human beings based on their external characteristics and choices. I care that Conway engages in misogyny against other women, and bigotry of every sort.

All of Trump's bullying is inextricably associated with his authoritarianism. All of his administration's expressed and legislated bigotry is indelibly tied to its white supremacy and to the kyriarchal ideals that attend white supremacy.

I don't believe that engaging in the same garbage behavior that they do will mitigate or eradicate that behavior. To the contrary, it stands to legitimize it.

That is not an argument for not fighting hard, or even dirty.

You may have noticed that I am eminently capable of fighting hard, and sometimes dirty, against the Trump administration without ever mentioning any of the above.

To the contrary, it is an argument that we must fight in a way that does not simply replicate the very harm we're resisting.