Don's Basement: Flag Day 2017: A Day (nearly without Trump)

June 14 was Donald Trump's 71st birthday. It was also the 240 birthday of the United State adoption of the Stars and Stripes. I celebrated by "tuning out" any coverage of the President.

The "tune him out" concept did not begin with me.

2011: GLAAD posted a story about Rosie O'Donnell NOT staying at Trump Chicago.

From 2011 GlAAD POST

Jeffrey Roberts Balloon Pigs over Trump Chicago

2016: Maria NYC started on online petition aimed at CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, and ABC to "Tune Out Trump." Her call to action: Let's commit, from now on, to turn off our TVs, or change the channel every time any of the news media, begins to broadcast Donald Trump.

Despite the excellent analysis (albeit questionable syntax) regarding then candidate Trump , "It is dangerous because this man is running for the most powerful job in the world, and only by poisoning minds, by dividing us, is how he'll conquer, come election day, the petition only garnered 78 signatures.

2017: Author/Blogger Cyndi MacMillan suggested 50 movies to watch instead of the Inauguration.
My favorite of her choices. The Birdcage.

My twist to the campaign was to contrast Flag Day with Donald Trump's birthday.

While I had the concept several months ago, I did not have a very advanced campaign to ignore the President and honor the flag.

The campaign consisted of the following:

A Twitter Hashtag on December 5, 2016

#tunehimout June 14 is Trump's bd. Ignore him for the day. No media at all. Don't mention his name. Deprive him of attention.
— Don Shearn (@donsbasement1) December 5, 2016

A FACEBOOK Post on June 13, 2013

Don Shearn

June 13 at 5:25pm

FACEBOOK friends. Tomorrow is June 14. Flag Day and the birthday of Donald Trump. I am going to tune him out tomorrow. No New York Times. No NPR. No MSNBC. Or Rush or Hannity. My fondest wish is that next year at this time he will not be the president.
I am sorry for the late warning but anyone who posts something about the President may possibly get a demerit.
Good luck and Happy Flag Day. By the way, the which we are commemorating was adopted by the fledgling United States in 1777. 240 years ago on June 14.

I did not issue any demerits for Trump FACEBOOK postings because of the last minute nature of my request.

However, I did get a push notification (Washington Post report on possible obstruction case) on my phone from a certain actor/playwright in Michigan. But she gets a pass because she went to kindergarten with me.

Here is what I had to do avoid in order to accomplish "tune him out" day:

The Gym: Their TVs are set to CNN, Morning Joe, and CNBC (but not Fox News)

The Chicago Tribune or the New York Times (online).

NPR

Chris Mathews on MSNBC