How to Ghost Trump Without Upsetting Your Friends

(A Gen-X Survival Guide to Celebrity Turbulence)

By CommonX Podcast

Every Gen-Xer knows the feeling:

You’ve backed a celebrity for YEARS.

You’ve argued at barbecues.

You’ve posted the memes.

You may or may not have owned a questionable T-shirt.

And then one morning you wake up…and the news is like:

“Yeahhhh… THIS dude is in trouble.”

Suddenly you’re like:

“Oh. Cool. Guess I’m gonna… quietly… stop bringing him up.”

And here’s the truth:

This isn’t about politics.

This isn’t about taking sides.

This is about friend dynamics and avoiding looking like the guy who still proudly bumps R. Kelly in a public parking lot.

Because every generation has lived through The Celebrity Shame Spiral — and Gen-X might have the best examples in history. Let’s break them down…

1. The R. Kelly Rule

Every Gen-X’er knows EXACTLY where they were the moment it became socially illegal to play “Ignition (Remix)” at a cookout.

Do we all secretly agree the song is catchy?

Sure.

Will anyone admit it in a group setting?

Not unless they want to get side-eyed by the entire tri-county area.

The R. Kelly Rule is simple:

You can still remember the good times — you just don’t blast the playlist around your buddies.

This rule applies to EVERY celebrity meltdown, including…

2. The P. Diddy Clause

There was a time when yelling “TAKE THAT! TAKE THAT!” in the gym was completely normal behavior. Now?

You whisper it like it’s Voldemort. Diddy falls into the category of:

“I’m not throwing out the CDs… but I’m also not making eye contact with them.”

Every Gen-X playlist has a couple of Diddy tracks floating around like radioactive material — you just swim around them.

3. The Kanye Conundrum

Let’s be brutally honest: Half of us still love the music.

Half of us don’t want to get caught loving the music. And ALL of us are confused.

Kanye taught us a critical lesson:

You can be a genius AND extremely exhausting at the same time.

Ghosting Kanye in public while still keeping “Stronger” in your private gym playlist is now a universally accepted lifestyle.

4. The O.J. Effect

This is the final boss of awkward. You didn’t stop being a fan of O.J.’s athletic ability. You just stopped bringing him up.

Forever.

Always.

He is the permanent archive folder of American culture. This one trains you for the big leagues…

5. The Trump Twist

Now the whole point of this article…

You’ve got a crew of hardcore Trump bros.

You’ve laughed, argued, memed, and debated.

You’ve defended the guy harder than you defended your first car.

Then suddenly:

Court cases. Headlines. Weird interviews. Epstein lists.

Basically the cultural equivalent of watching your favorite band break up during a live show. So you’re stuck wondering:

“How do I pump the brakes without causing a friend-group meltdown?”

Here’s how…

How to Ghost Trump (Gently) Without Getting Your Friends All Fired Up

A) Switch the conversation to something universally masculine

• Trucks

• Hunting

• Dogs

• Boats

• “That one time someone almost died doing something stupid”

Men will IMMEDIATELY lock into these topics like ducks to breadcrumbs.

B) Use the Magic Gen-X Phrase:

“Wild times, huh?”

This phrase says nothing, implies nothing, reveals nothing — but makes everyone feel deeply understood.

C) Laugh instead of defend

If someone brings up the headlines, just chuckle and say:

“Bro, this whole world is crazy anymore.”

Boom. You’re Switzerland.

D) Keep the memes, hide the yard signs

The digital stuff lives forever. The physical stuff gets quietly… relocated to the garage. Not thrown away. Just… winter storage.

E) Claim you’re on a “news detox”

In 2025, a “detox” is the ultimate UNO reverse card.

Nobody argues with it. Nobody questions it. Most of your friends will say:

“Yeah bro, I should do that too.”

Detoxes are the new Get Out of Jail Free cards.

F) Let THEM speak first

This is the #1 trick. If someone asks your opinion, respond with:

“I dunno man, what do YOU think of all this?”

Then just nod occasionally. Men love hearing themselves talk politics more than they love being right. You walk away untouched.

G) The CommonX Wisdom: Real Friends Don’t Care

Here’s the beautiful truth:

Your real friends don’t care if you want to take a break from the chaos. You’re Gen-X. You’ve survived:

• Two wars

• Five recessions

• Grunge

• Crystal Pepsi

• Blockbuster late fees

• Limp Bizkit

• Y2K

• Dial-up

• MySpace

• And now… whatever this era is

Friendships like yours don’t fall apart over political vibes. They last because of:

• Loyalty

• Humor

• Shared trauma

• And the mutual understanding that we’re all just trying to stay sane in a world that has lost its damn mind.

Final Thought

You don’t have to renounce, unfollow, switch teams, or fight anybody. Sometimes you just need a quiet season. And that’s what ghosting is:

Not abandoning someone — just stepping back until the noise fades.

Gen-X mastered the art of the Irish Goodbye. This is just the political version.

The Lottery Delusion: Why We Love to Lose

By Ian Primmer CommonX | The X-Files Blog | November 12, 2025

I was standing in line at the gas station, watching a guy clutch his Powerball tickets like they were life support. His hands were shaking, eyes locked on the glowing jackpot sign — $512 million. Behind it, the Mega Millions ticker blinked even louder: $965 million.

The man didn’t buy gas. Didn’t buy a snack. Just the tickets. And in that moment, I couldn’t help but think: we’re all a little addicted to the dream.

The $2 Fantasy

Every ticket is a tiny prayer — a way to imagine a version of yourself that finally caught a break. For two bucks, you buy the right to daydream: no boss, no bills, no alarm clocks. But here’s the math that shatters that illusion:

• Powerball jackpot odds: 1 in 292,201,338

• Mega Millions jackpot odds: 1 in 302,575,350

• Expected value of a $2 ticket: roughly $0.82

That’s right — even if you won, the ticket was worth less than a cup of gas station coffee.

☠️ Reality Check: You’re More Likely To…

You’re 79× more likely to be eaten by a shark.

1,169× more likely to die from a falling coconut.

974× more likely to be killed by a cow.

And 19,000× more likely to be struck by lightning.

The truth? You’re more likely to become a movie star than to hit the Powerball jackpot. Just sayin…

The Psychology of Losing on Purpose

So why do we play? Because humans crave control — even fake control. Picking “lucky numbers” gives the illusion that fate can be hacked. The lottery isn’t about money — it’s about hope marketing, sold to people who’ve run out of better bets. And the house knows it. States make billions off tickets — and they call it “education funding.” It’s a slick way of saying the poor fund the schools so the rich don’t have to.

The Real Jackpot

If you’ve ever said, “I’ll be happy when…” — you’ve already bought the mental version of a lottery ticket.

The truth is, you don’t need to hit the jackpot to win. You just need to wake up, build your own luck, and stack your own small wins every day. Because out here in the real world, the odds don’t matter — the effort does.

Jared Ball: The Voice Breaking Through the Noise

Every once in a while, a voice enters the room and changes the temperature. Not by volume, not by theatrics — but by substance. Professor Jared Ball is one of those voices.

When he joined us on CommonX, it wasn’t just an interview. It was a masterclass in clarity, contradiction, accountability, and raw honesty. Ball talks like a man who has seen the system from the inside, understood its gears, and still chooses to challenge it — not for fame, not for followers, but because he believes in truth.

And that matters.

It matters in an age where information travels faster than understanding. It matters when algorithms reward outrage instead of integrity. It matters when Gen X — our people — are looking around the digital landscape and asking, “Who can we trust?”

Jared Ball is one of the few who can answer that question with his work, not his words alone.

The Genius Behind “I Mix What I Like!”

Ball’s podcast “I Mix What I Like!” is a perfect reflection of the man himself:

• unapologetically intelligent

• culturally grounded

• politically fearless

• historically aware

• creatively bold

The show doesn’t spoon-feed. It doesn’t pander. It challenges listeners to think, to interrogate narratives, to understand power, media, and culture from angles most people never see.

Supporting this show isn’t just supporting Jared Ball. It’s supporting critical thinking. It’s backing the kind of media that refuses to let anyone off the hook — not the government, not corporate media, not us as individuals.

This is the kind of content that makes people better.

A Conversation That Hit Home for CommonX

Our audience felt it.

We felt it.

Jared felt it too.

The chemistry was undeniable — two Gen X hosts hungry for depth, a guest armed with decades of research and lived experience, and a conversation that mattered. The episode reminded us why CommonX exists in the first place:

to explore the overlooked corners of humanity, culture, and truth with courage and compassion. Ball brought that out of us.

Honoring a Voice the World Needs

So today, we stand with Jared Ball.

We support his message.

We amplify his podcast.

We encourage our audience to seek out voices that challenge the mainstream narrative — voices that push us to think harder, dig deeper, and grow.

And in a media landscape built on clickbait and conformity, Ball’s authenticity is a rare and powerful thing.