Hard to escape Donald Trump since his return to the White House. The omnipresent politician is constantly emerging in the news, always on the lookout for a new standard to break or a new soap opera to add to the reality TV of its presidency. How to get away from the 47th “potus” this summer? Two analysts whose job is to keep their eyes on Washington give us their advice to get.
The founder of the Chair Raoul-Dandurand and the current president of his observatory on the United States, Charles-Philippe David, may have cultivated his passion for the American Republic until it becomes one of his most eminent specialists in Quebec, he also needed to escape from time to time to flee a news that looks like a “missing nightmare”, to paraphrase the French writer Gérald Klein.
“Donald Trump’s first mandate stimulated me: I decided to write two books on him,” said the regular in radio-Canadian waves. The second election of the most unusual American president in recent history gave him the cockroach – and the irrepressible desire to go where Donald Trump was not. “It put me a little on the ground and I decided, rightly or wrongly, to leave very far this winter to force me to pick up. »»
After eight years to cover the presidency, then the tribulations of Donald Trump under Joe Biden-his judicial setbacks, his scandals, the two attempts at the assassination perpetrated against him-it was out of the question to initiate the return of the triblion of the White House without first taking a step back and a little rest.
The trip is also part of the Arsenal of Valérie Beaudoin, an analyst invited to regularly comment on American news on Cogeco and RDI waves. “I left for a week after the election because I was downright emptied,” she says. “It’s constantly with Donald Trump, there is no more lull during the year and you have to have these little weeks to get. »»
No internet, no notifications
The south guarantees successful escapes, and the cruise too, since in full ocean or in the middle of the Caribbean, cell reception sometimes makes its own. So much the better ! An eclipses internet connection can be the best ally of those who aspire to no longer hear about the Lord of Mar-A-Lago.
Remilling your phone or (at the very least) mute your notifications can also avoid news overdose from the south.
Valérie Beaudoin is also a point of honor to no longer have her cell phone at hand at meals with family. “Before, I always kept it next to me in the event of the last hour,” she says. “It is in my resolutions to no longer have it on the table. Each Sunday, she also “religiously” agrees a day away from American news.
“It allows me, honestly, to keep a healthy mind in the current context!” She says. “People do a lot, a lot of anxiety about what’s going on in the United States. They say it’s going to be civil war, they are afraid to go to the country. During the first mandate, there was a little voyeur side against Donald Trump. Today, the situation stresses people much more because it upsets everyone. »»
Charles-Philippe David also sometimes leaves his cell phone behind him. This is a way of fleeing the American frenzy, capable of catching it even in his holidays. “I forget my phone or leave it in the hotel room,” he explains. “I admit that it is sometimes a little a missed act: it avoids me to feel guilty to move away from it!” »»
Obliged to follow the pace of a presidency which rarely raises the foot of the accelerator, Charles-Philippe David also needs time to rest. ““ Breathlessness ”is an understatement when it comes to American politics! I no longer count the number of times I got out of my vacation to respond to TV, emergencies, the assassination attempt by Donald Trump, the withdrawal of Joe Biden from political life, etc. I was in the Madeleine islands last year, when he resigned: my cellular rang almost on the tarmac of the small airport. »»
The benefits of nature
A lover of cycling, it is the head in the handlebars that Mr. David succeeds best in emptying his mind. “For me, it is the ideal sport to get all this,” says professor and author. “I really like to make the green road and pedal all over Quebec. »»
The founder of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair also likes to take the trails that sink into Quebec nature, where Donald Trump, his declarations and his golf games rarely disturb him.
“Nature, in times when it brews in life, is of great help,” says Charles-Philippe David. I overthrow the expression a little in my own way in a healthy spirit in a healthy body “. For me, if you want to keep your mind healthy, you absolutely have to keep your body. Going to nature can just help! »»
He is not the only one, in Quebec, to seek the virtues of a stay in the forest or in the mountains to escape from American news. The Société des Establiques de Outdoor du Québec noted an unusual increase in reservations from March, a craze that the organization attributes to the turmoil caused by the tariff war launched by Donald Trump.
Nature answers “above all [au] Need to take down, to forget for a while the baby who vibrate and who sound, to just weigh on pause and breathe through the nose a good blow, “according to the spokesperson for society, Simon Boivin.
A ride in kind also presents the opportunity, he underlines, to conquer new landscapes, a climb at the same time, and to remember that “we are still lucky, in Quebec, to have access to all this”.
