American icon Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton died last week at age 80, after a brief battle with cancer. She was known for her philanthropy in addition to her music and acting. For decades, as one example, she quietly ran a program that mailed free books to children from birth to kindergarten, delivering more than 332 million books.
Her humility showed up in both smaller and larger moments. Parton once entered a Dolly Parton look-alike contest just for fun, without telling anyone who she really was. She piled on extra makeup and bigger hair, and lost to a contestant who judges thought did a better impression of her. And then, when nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Dolly only reluctantly accepted, stating, “I just didn’t think that I had done enough in the rock world to be considered… when there were so many great rock artists that are not even in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.”
Contrast this with Donald Trump. Despite persistent inflation that is a major issue for voters, Trump repeatedly makes wildly false statements like “the economy’s the greatest economy we’ve ever had by far.” Modesty has never been part of his personality.
Likewise, Trump has drenched the Oval Office in gold trim and gold-plated ornaments, calls this tacky makeover the”best ever” and claims that “foreign leaders freak out when the see the quality and beauty.” Trump also wants to build a 250-foot gold-topped “triumphal arch” in DC, and got his hand-picked National Capital Planning Commission to give it preliminary approval. When asked by a reporter who the monument was for, Trump replied: “Me.”
One potentially effective way to resist Trump is specifically not to match this energy. Where Trump inflates his ego, we can deflate ours. Where he demands credit (even for things he didn’t do), we can wave it off. We can certainly avoid collecting participation trophies and naming things after ourselves. In short, we can be humble and modest, like Dolly Parton. Obviously, some of us already live our lives this way. Others might be helped by a gentle reminder.
This action can also get noticed. California Governor Gavin Newsom offered a small preview when podcaster Katie Couric asked what he does about being “ridiculously good-looking.” Rather than lean into the compliment, Newsom shrugged it off: “You don’t have to like me. Or maybe you like a slick person. I don’t know. Whatever. It’s okay.”
Another potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, offers a similar self-deprecating style in postings and speeches. Rather than shy away from questions about his weight, he leans into them, naming a campaign ad ‘Think Big’ and joking over childhood photos of himself as a heavier kid: ‘I’ve been thinking big since the very beginning.'”
This matters politically, because most people don’t falsely crown themselves ‘the greatest’ or commission monuments to themselves. A politician who jokes about his own weight or waves off a compliment feels more like someone at the next cubicle. Indeed, Trump’s boasting keeps colliding with what voters actually experience: his approval rating has sunk to 32 percent, with voters now trusting Democrats over Republicans to handle the economy for the first time in about a decade. Every “greatest ever” claim invites a direct comparison to ever-increasing grocery bills, gas bills, insurance premiums, and rent checks.
If we can all be more humble and modest like Dolly Parton, we can become everything Trump refuses to be. Then we won’t just resist Trump and expose him as a small, insecure figure. We might also make our world a little better place.
Photo by Alejo Castillo, used under Creative Commons license. https://tinyurl.com/3fj4jy7u
