Here are some topics to avoid at your summer picnic

race in Ohio that your friends might enjoy hearing about. For a minute or two. On the other hand, you could skip over Paul Manafort’s trial, given that there will be another one next month.

Wait, a second Paul Manafort trial?

Yeah, they’re just doing tax evasion and bank fraud now. Still have to get through money laundering.

Is there going to be more testimony about the ostrich coat? Or was it lizard? Or python? I honestly did not know people wore any of these things.

This is one part of the trial you could definitely discuss over a bottle of wine on the back porch with the cicadas chirping in the background. Did you even know they made jackets out of pythons? That they were so awfullooking? Is there any kind of snake you think would be better suited for men’s outerwear? So a little Manafort ... Conspicuous consumption, yes. Cyprus bank accounts — maybe not until the weather cools. And in the meantime, avoid entertaining visitors who are lobbyists for thuglike Ukrainian dictators.

This could be harder than you think. It appears that half the people in American politics were making money off Ukraine, including one of Bernie Sanders’ top advisers. When your guests arrive, just drop the name ‘‘Viktor Yanukovych’’ and see if anybody twitches.

This is making me nervous. I think I’m just going to go play golf.

Sorry, every single thing about golf is now the beginning of a political discussion. Did you know the president thinks Robert Mueller has a conflict of interest because he resigned his membership at a Trump golf course in a fight over fees?

It doesn’t sound like it actually happened, but you can move from that right on to the question of how Trump got the money to acquire 19 golf courses in the first place ...

A party is sounding better. Could I invite Chris Christie? I always thought it’d be interesting to invite Chris Christie to something. It’s your house. Rudy Giuliani? Don’t go overboard. Ignoring Rudy Giuliani is sort of the definition of a vacation.

Whatever happened to Giuliani anyway? Didn’t he used to be — not crazy?

We haven’t been really sure about his mental balance since the day, long ago, that he called a news conference to announce he was separating from his wife before he told the wife in question. Now he’s getting divorced again — perhaps that’s a trigger.

Even in the best of times there are certain subjects that tend to send good citizens into a state of stupor. So I would avoid, say, the future of John Kelly. Or soybean prices. Or anything involving Congress, which happens to be on vacation all month.

And I can ignore the elections?

Well, except for the one in Ohio. Republicans spent a fortune trying to protect a seat that hasn’t been Democratic since ‘‘Thriller’’ was a new album. But when it comes to the rest, even Trump says he won’t be out campaigning every day until September.

Pardon me, did you say the president is planning to be out on the road making campaign speeches for Republicans every day for two months?

To be fair, he actually said ‘‘six or seven days a week.’’ So there will still be at least 24 hours available for governing.

Do you see why you need to be judicious in bringing this stuff up during people’s vacation? Somebody could wind up throwing a barbecue spit at you.

Now that I think about it, that’s how I ruined Thanksgiving.