My mom and I used to tease each other with strange in-jokes.
One of my favorites is an old science nerd standby:
Two atoms are walking along. One of them says: “Wait a minute, I lost an electron.” The second one says “Are you sure?” and the first one says “Yes! I'm positive!”
So if I said something to her, or she said something to me, and the other one was looking for confirmation, instead of asking “Are you sure?” we would say, “Have you lost an electron?”
In a similar vein, when trying to get the truth about a statement where it was important to know the other one was telling the truth, we had another in-joke phrase.
If I asked her did she take her morning medicine and the way she said yes seemed fishy to me, or if she asked me whether I stayed up all night and I said no and she wasn’t sure I meant it, instead of saying “are you telling me the truth?” our phrase was “Are you lying like a Republican?” Sometimes this would be phrased as: “Did you take your pills mommy” and she’d say yes in an unconvincing way and I would say “You lie like a Republican!” and she’d say “no baby I really did take my pills!” Or she would ask, after being in the apartment alone all day, “What time will you be home?” and I would say “I’m leaving right now” and she would say “You like like a Republican” and I would say “No really I’m shutting off the computer and putting on my coat right now!”
“You lie like a Republican” was a joke, and it wasn’t a joke. It was a shorthand way of saying: be serious, this is not a time for you to lie to me because this is important and only Republicans lie that quickly and easily about things that are important. If I had been hedging the truth a little, when accused of lying like a Republican I would remember I was a Democrat (!) and revise and extend my remarks (!) as appropriate: “well, actually I just need to finish sending one email and then I’ll be coming right home I promise.”
Lately I have been thinking about that particular phrase as I have started using DJT as a similar negative example with respect to three things: sleeping, eating, and keeping commitments.
Those of you who know me well know that I keep odd hours and I am just as likely to be on the blog here at 3 in the morning as at 3 in the afternoon. I have been accused of not sleeping at all. I do sleep, but with strange irregular hours. I know it is a terrible unhealthy habit and all the medical professionals in my life tell me this regularly.
But since I heard right after the inauguration that DJT only sleeps 4 to 5 hours a night, a new phrase has entered my self-care routine: “No Trump Sleep!”
My doctor has asked me to track my sleep every night (in all seriousness, I am on a medication that has been interfering with my sleep). When I get less than 5 hours that is BAD because it is TRUMPSLEEP and I desperately want to avoid being like him in any way! And lately I have been able to go to bed earlier and/or get a few extra hours after the first time I wake up in the morning because I want to avoid hanging the “Trump Sleep” label on the day! Using him as a negative example is actually working.
His fast food habits have also been on my radar. There have been several stories about him eating KFC, Big Macs and fries, pizza, and we all remember the cringe-inducing Cinco de Mayo photo with the taco bowl. I have no sweet tooth at all but I can really get going on grease and salt, and i HATE having that in common with him!
I have not been to KFC once since I found out he liked it, and I used to go two or three times a month because there is one right at the place where I transfer from one bus to another when I come home on the T. I also have only had french fries one time since the inauguration and the whole time I was eating them I thought “I don’t want to eat this TRUMPFOOD!” I almost stopped to get a slice of pizza just last week and said, well, at least this isn’t one of the pizza chains owned by Forced Birthers, so maybe it’s okay, but then I talked myself out of that too. No! I’m going to go home and have a healthy meal including some fresh fruit and vegetables. I also track my eating as part of a nutrition program I am on and I don’t want to hang the label “Trump Food” on any of my meals!
Last but not least, I am pretty good about keeping my promises, but I have been known to cancel plans at the last minute because of a schedule crunch or some unforeseen thing that I probably should have anticipated or planned for. So I have been better lately about not making promises unless I am sure I can keep them. When I was younger I thought nothing of saying I would be somewhere and then just not showing up, figuring I wouldn’t be missed, or honestly not caring whether the other person was disappointed. I am horrified by that now, and am much more careful about not making “let’s do something sometime” promises that are easier to break because they are so vague. Let’s pull out the calendars and pick a time right now (which sometimes reveals that the other person was planning to be vague and pull out on me, which is eye-opening!). I also find myself thinking more about disappointing people in general, and telling myself “That would be a Republicon thing to do to disappoint those people who thought they could count on me. Not caring about other people’s feelings is a TRUMPHABIT and I don’t want to be like him in ANY WAY.
It seems weird and maybe even petty but I have found one small way to turn my loathing for everything he stands for into something that is having a positive effect on my life.
I am the one thing in life I can control. I can’t do anything about DJT being president, not today anyway, and I need to find ways to keep sane and keep myself together in the meantime. I need to be healthier and stronger for the coming fight which may take a while and require a lot of physical and emotional stamina.
So I am sleeping more and eating healthier. I am being more attentive to the needs of others, and I thought I was doing it before but trying to draw this intentional contrast with DJT is highlighting just how important it can be to people when you make just the tinest bit more effort to connect and appreciate and value them.
The flip side of this is at the same time I am going better, I also keep hoping he will continue with his bad habits and they with catch up to him sooner rather than later. Too many days of TrumpSleep and TrumpFood and pissing off the wrong people and disregarding the needs of the people who naively thought they could trust him is going to come crashing down on him and his life will be utterly destroyed. And it will be obvious he did it to himself and won’t be able to blame the Blue Team in any way.
Do I really want that to happen? I lost an electron. And I am not lying like a Republican.
ccc
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Mar 20: Is DJT a compulsive liar, or out of touch with reality? Five scenarios...
Mar 19: A budget is a moral document—a statement of public compassion
Mar 18: Ribbons: CBO scorers, Senate Intelligence Committee, Judge Derrick Watson
Mar 17: They know DJT is lying. Here’s one sad reason they follow him anyway.
Mar 16: Mick Mulvaney's ignorant, callous, evil, Republicon definition of compassion
Mar 15: Message Discipline—Pushback against Rcon talking points re DJT 2005 tax return
Mar 14: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points about Obamacare repeal
Mar 13: Culture, Civilization, Rural America, Working Families—the missing word is a “tell”
Mar 12: The Rcon definition of Christians is as wrong as the Rcon definition of Democrats.
Mar 11: Ribbons: A Day Without a Woman, Native Nations Rise, Voting Rights Act still lives
Mar 10: How to talk to people who have trouble understanding actions have consequences
Mar 9: Where’s the fire? The real reason Rs are trying to rush TrumpCare through Congress
Mar 8: Message Discipline 101: TrumpCare, RyanCare, GOPCare, DonTCare—what’s in a name?
Mar 7: How very hard it is for a woman to go a day without paid (or unpaid) work
Mar 6: Can DJT really be stumbling into the exact investigation we want?
Mar 5: How is it even possible that deplorables see a man of faith when they look at DJT?
Mar 4: Blue Ribbon Winners—Chris Hayes, Malcolm Nance, Cierra Fields
Mar 3: I’m glad Bannon, Conway, Carson, Sessions, Miller, et al. are in the DJT Administration
Mar 2: “In every major fire it always starts with smoke. And smoke is what kills you.”
Mar 1: Am I the only one whose skin crawled at the Carryn Owens BIRGing moment?
FEBRUARY
Feb 28: Spinspotting 101: Special Prosecutor for what? It’s so easy to answer that question
Feb 27: Spinspotting 101: I’ve seen no evidence because I haven’t looked for any evidence!
Feb 26: If Neil Gorsuch were a man of integrity, he would decline the S.Ct. appointment
Feb 25: True Blue Ribbons: Russia Flag trolling, Dixie Swastika grabbing, District Days demonstrating
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: Blue Ribbon Winners—Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
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