GQ seems to have picked up a nasty little habit of publishing hot steamy garbage on a weekly basis, and this week’s feature on Thanksgiving is no exception.
Joe Berkowitz’s recent article, “It’s Your Civic Duty to Ruin Thanksgiving by Bringing Up Trump,” suggests reopening the “wound” left by last year’s election and making it a living “hell” for anyone who supports the president.
Berkowitz recalls how he was forced to dine with a few Trump supporter friends last Thanksgiving and it was a terrifying nightmare. This year, he suggests being far less civil to any relatives on the Trump Train.
“This year, if you’re headed home to a household that still thinks a sex-offending game show host in rapid cognitive decline was the best choice for a president, it is your civic duty to filibuster Thanksgiving,” he says.
Berkowitz argues it’s acceptable to crash the American tradition of Thanksgiving for the greater good — ironic since he seems to hate Trump for his “wreckage” of “norms and values.”
“Any parents still riding the Trump Train at this point have thereby signaled that nothing is sacred,” he writes, with zero factual evidence to back up his claim.
His suggestions for ruining/filibustering Thanksgiving are three-tiered: “Don’t show up,” “Show up and be kind of an a**hole,” and “Scorched earth,” which basically advises eager beavers to duplicate conservative behavior (e.g. ordering Papa John’s, “the official pizza of the alt right,” and making light of recent sexual harassment allegations by refusing to be alone in a room with your mom). How sensitive. What a champion for the downtrodden.
At a certain point he loses sight of what he’s writing about and suggests appropriating a Jewish tradition: “Insist on setting a place for Robert Mueller, the way Jews do for Elijah on Passover.”
Classy.
To say that Berkowitz is writing all of this with tongue in cheek would be far too delicate. He’s writing this with head in sand or a 2×4 shoved up the rear.
You can’t call Trump a xenophobe, then rip coal miners and MAGA hat wearers in Asheville, North Carolina, because they make you feel uncomfortable outside of your New York City bubble. You can’t complain that “nothing is sacred” and then reminisce with “nostalgia” about how Thanksgivings used to feature conversations about “where you were on 9/11.” You can’t erroneously criticize Trump for calling Nazis “very fine people” and proceed to trivialize the entire Jewish faith.
If you can’t respect the democratic process and need a filibuster to get through this Thanksgiving, stay home. Matter of fact, leave the country. You’re an embarrassment to the Pilgrims, anyways.