As the son of a Republican, I’ve always identified with the children of Ronald Reagan’s second family. Patti and Ron Jr. are liberals who had to walk a fine line when their father was running for office. Patti tried to distance herself from the family business by using her mother’s maiden name, Davis.

Patti’s contentious relationship with her mother is the stuff of legend. She was briefly banished from the family for living in sin with OG Eagle Bernie Leadon. Her father tried to stay out of it, but he and his daughter were close, so she was brought back into the fold. It was bad for the family business.

Davis also a relationship with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson who knew something about the pressures of life in a famous family. But the Wilsons were small potatoes compared to the Reagans. The presidency changes everything.

Patti Davis is a writer and a pretty darn good one. The media is forever shocked that Ronald and Nancy Reagan’s kid despises Donald Trump. She’s always been left of center, but she loved her father, so she kept it on the down low when he was in office. Those shackles have long since been removed.

Davis has written four swell op-ed pieces for the NYT recently to which she brings the unique perspective of a presidential spawn. Here they are in reverse order:

• Her thoughts on her father’s complex and often contradictory thoughts about abortion.
• How gun violence changed her family.
• After QE2’s passing she wrote about the pressures of grieving in the public eye.

Her most recent piece contains the much-ballyhooed QOTD. Davis thinks that it’s time to ignore the attention craving former Oval One. She makes some good points but the best is a lesson her father taught her about dealing with bullies:

When I was about 8 or 9, I was bullied ruthlessly in school by a boy in my class. I faked being sick so I wouldn’t have to go to school, but my parents figured out that something was going on and my father came in to talk to me. I confessed to him that I was scared of my tormentor, and what followed was a lesson in the beauty of ignoring another person. He explained that bullies crave attention and that if they are ignored, they sort of deflate. He then showed me how frustrating it is to feel like you’re invisible, by ignoring me when I tried to speak to him. It worked. I returned to school, I ignored the bully and he gave up his attacks on me.

 

Donald Trump is like the abusive boyfriend or ex-husband who won’t go away. In that situation, one would take out a restraining order, but obviously we can’t do that with Mr. Trump. So how about not making him the predominant news story? I have noticed, to be fair, that he is a little less predominant, but let’s face it, he is still everywhere in the news. I understand that announcing his candidacy for president is news. But does it have to be a front-page story? Does the end of his exile from Twitter have to dominate the day’s coverage? Does every move he makes, every ridiculous statement he utters, have to be reported?

These are all good points. I try not to focus on all the stupid shit former President* Pennywise says or does. I’ve never been a masochist so I long ago stopped watching his rallies. I prefer NOT to write about him because Trumpism without Trump is on the horizon. That’s the important part of the tawdry tale of Trumpism.

It’s impossible to completely ignore the Impeached Insult Comedian but he *does* crave the limelight and demand center stage. Denying him the level of attention paid to him by the likes of Maggie Haberman is clearly desirable. No former president has ever received as much attention as this creep.

For my part, I’m going to stick to covering the legal cases against Trump and the political impact his movement has on the body politic. At least I’ll try.

The last word goes to Janis Joplin: