I guess I should start by saying this is not a blog. Nor is it what one might call a column. It’s an experiment of sorts to see if there’s something in between those two.
Andrew Sullivan starts his Madness of King Donald essay with three sentences that also describe what I am trying to do with my True Blue Report. It’s just my experiment to see if I can write something every day that adds a little something to the general discourse, helps me to vent, and leaves a record of how one person responded to the cray cray we find ourselves in since inauguration day 2017.
That said, it’s hard to know how to feel about the open discussion going on now with respect to DJT’s mental state. It was always funny/not funny, and now it really is just plain not funny.
The Madness of King Donald is definitely worth reading (consider yourself warned about the truly horrifying photo of KAC that appears halfway through) for the masterful way Sullivan lays out the observations so many of us have made about whether DJT is “all there” or not. The lies. The backtracking. The gaslighting. The denial of obvious reality. The matter of fact tone makes it all the more chilling:
[W]e already live in a country with markedly less freedom than we did a month ago. It’s less like living in a democracy than being a child trapped in a house where there is an abusive and unpredictable father, who will brook no reason, respect no counter-argument, admit no error, and always, always up the ante until catastrophe inevitably strikes.
And Al Franken managed to remain calm while saying “this is not the norm”:
*
Roundtables on cable news shows ask the question and then back away. They come close to acknowledging everyone is in agreement that the emperor has no clothes, but then the six minute segment is over and it is time for a commercial break.
Keith Olbermann restrains himself and promises he will not yell in his very intense special comment on the “sanity crisis”, calmly repeating Something. Is. Wrong. With. Him. But he is not getting mainstream traction.
Is there anyone anywhere who can sound the alarm?
I just heard about a change.org petition signed by over 22,000 mental health professionals calling for DJT to be removed from office:
We, the undersigned mental health professionals (please state your degree), believe in our professional judgment that Donald Trump manifests a serious mental illness that renders him psychologically incapable of competently discharging the duties of President of the United States. (click the link if you are a mental health professional and want to sign the petition yourself)
Thousands signed this petition in spite of the so-called “Goldwater Rule” (explained here by Sherry Amatenstein), a voluntary professional code that for more than fifty years has discouraged mental health professionals from diagnosing public figures they have not personally examined.
The Catch-22 is, once you have personally examined someone, that kind of makes him your patient, and then you can’t reveal your diagnosis because you can’t violate his privacy. So unless DJT has a personality transplant and becomes the kind of person who would 1) agree to a psychiatric evaluation and 2) agree to have the results published to reassure the public, the world has no way to get an official expert opinion about whether the man in possession of the nuclear codes is in his right mind.
And yet we are all walking around like this is normal. Honestly, it’s kind of draining. There is a strange combination of tension and numbness about the way everyone is just agreeing to stay calm about this.
I suppose there is nothing to be gained by screaming THIS GUY IS CRAZY COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY DON’T YOU SEE IT WHY DON’T YOU SEE IT WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING BEFORE HE BLOWS UP THE WHOLE WORLD THAT COULD REALLY HAPPEN YOU KNOW AREN’T YOU WORRIED ABOUT THAT I AM WHAT THE FRAK ARE WE GOING TO DOOOOOOOOO
I get those moods and then I pull back from them because I will not allow myself to live in fear and/or be driven over the edge by someone who deserves pity instead of the presidency.
Frankly, the only thing that comforts me, besides writing my daily diary, is my faith in the power of political comedy. Right now the masters of political satire are working overtime to do their part for the mental health of the nation. The Fool has traditionally been the only one with the reckless boldness to speak truth to the powerful. And the Shakespearean Fool speaks the truth to the audience, affirming that yes, we are seeing what we think we are seeing.
So maybe our last best hope is the Saturday Night Live approach. As countless fictional lawyers have done to countless hostile witnesses, as Perry Mason did to someone in almost every episode, as the Tom Cruise character led the Jack Nicholson character in A Few Good Men, we might dare to dream that someone will goad DJT into a definitive outburst that would make it clear even to the most deplorable of his supporters that he is unhinged and needs to go.
That the hook on which I choose to hang my hope.
Yes we will demonstrate: we will call and write and show up at town hall meetings and use the tactics in the Indivisible resistance manual to put pressure on our congresscritters. They do need to be reminded that they work for us, that the power of the Blue Team is formidable, and persuade the ones who are hiding behind a big DJT win in their states that we outnumber them.
But at the same time we can also hope that Alec Baldwin or Kate McKinnon or Melissa McCarthy or John Oliver or Stephen Colbert will be able to get under his skin and provoke a blow up bad enough to persuade Paul Ryan to take action. (But not one so bad that it gets people killed...)
In the meantime, do whatever you have to do to stay calm.
There are lots of good clips on YouTube to keep everyone occupied.
Keep laughing to keep from crying.
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Feb 12: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: Blue Ribbon Winners: Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: Blue Ribbon Winners: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: Blue Ribbon Winners: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense