This column is (not) about Trump

Pictured above: Absolutely not Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Racist. Misogynistic. Xenophobic.

These are three words we often hear pertaining to Donald Trump, current Republican frontrunner as president of the United States. Since summer 2015, Trump continues to gain media attention from various outlets—not sure I’ve seen anything but Trump on CNN—as his numbers continue to rise throughout national polls.

What’s more interesting is how Trump himself continues to treat media outlets that seem to report “negatively” on him, regardless of whether it’s a news story, column or blog. On March 16, Mother Jones released a column titled “Donald Trump’s Media Enemies List.”

Among media outlets named are the Des Moines Register, The Huffington Post and Politico.

This is honestly a ridiculous move on Trump’s part, as his presidential campaign success has likely been because of the whole media circus that surrounds him.

Know what, though? Screw it.

I understand that I’m merely one columnist at one university student paper, but hey—these things start somewhere, right?

On that note, I’ve decided to stamp out any further conversations about the antics of Mr. Trump, because this media maelstrom’s only going to get worse before it gets better.

So in lieu of how this column was supposed to start, here are some fun tidbits about other topics.

Everybody loves cats. Well, not “everybody”—we shouldn’t use that cliché when describing entire groups of people.

Cat lovers cannot deny how cute, fluffy and affectionate their fuzzy little friends can be on a good day.

As for dogs, come on—they’re adorable. And they’re always so happy to see you when you get home.

In a surprising move that does not highlight crap that gives us cancer (for once), a WebMD feature titled “5 Ways Pets Can Improve Your Health” lists benefits from pets being “allergy fighters” and “date magnets” to being good for our hearts (literally), souls and minds.

Also, while we’re at it, let’s talk about some video games.

Did you know that Ralph Baer was the original “father” of video games? Though many originally granted the title to Atari Founder Nolan Bushnell for his work on “Pong,” Baer actually released his own home console in 1972. You can learn this and more in a book titled “The Ultimate History of Video Games,” along with other various retro game-related publications out there.

I’m not big on gardening myself, but I could always see myself getting into this someday. After all, who doesn’t want to grow their own fruits and vegetables from home? An Oct. 10, 2015 Guardian column titled “The best benefit of gardening? Mental health improvement” highlights a study from Bakker Spalding that found 88 percent of people who garden have seen an increase in their physical health, mental health and lowered feelings of isolation.

This is especially perfect since feelings of isolation appear to barrage us on a daily basis in the form of current presidential Republican front runner D—

Wait, no. That was close.

Look—the point I’m trying to make here is that said individual in question at the beginning of this column is only going to become as powerful as we make him (votes included).

Though just because someone does not choose to support something willingly does not mean that they aren’t still contributing to it on a completely different level (this column included, which is the last even remotely related to the “T” word from this writer … period).

If you watch videos that mock something that could turn out to be very, very scary, you’re still supporting it.

I’m going to stop talking about this at all and not let it gain any more traction whatsoever.

Because, in all honesty, it’s the best thing we could probably do right now.

We should stop giving these huge platforms to people who do not deserve them.

The opinions expressed in Bassinger’s column do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily barometer staff.

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