Trump is making a mess of American values

Trump is making a mess of American values. Is it true? No. He seems to be clarifying and strengthening them for a majority of Americans.

How do I feel when I believe the thought that Trump is making a mess of American values? Same old helpless and hopeless, furious and desperate. The future seems so bleak. I get overwhelmed at the thought of four more years. I lose energy and the willpower to do anything. I want to zone out and give up. I'm not present with my husband or my kids. I'm lost in a black place in my mind.

What do I get out of holding onto this thought? I get to be right. I get to make “them” wrong. I am large and in charge, though that is a completely exhausting way to be.

Can I see a reason to drop this thought? Yes. I can't know it's true and it's exhausting me to hold onto it.

Who would I be if I could never think the thought that Trump is making a mess of American values in these early days of his administration? Again, more peaceful, curious, open. Noticing what uncharted territory we are in and wondering what happens next. Calm and grounded in my life. Focused on the things that I can do here and now in my day, and with the energy and enthusiasm to do them.

Turn It Around:

Trump is strengthening American values. Well, look at all the protests and support for immigrants! We are clarifying our values with every executive order he issues. To look more deeply, what do I even mean by “American values?” That sounds jingoistic and his protectionist trade policies could fit right in with that, so sure, he's strengthening American values by trying to protect American workers from competition overseas.

I am making a mess of American values, or my thinking is. Yes. I'm angry with so many of my fellow Americans over this presidency, based on whom they voted (or didn't vote) for. That's anti-American, anti-democractic. I am trying to invalidate their votes. (Aha, I see where my voter-suppression thinking is coming from!)

Trump is making a mess of American immorality (going for the opposite of values.) Well, yes. He's showing us ego at its worst. Our ego. Our American sense of entitlement. Of overvaluing ourselves. He is showing us the end game of ego and believing our thinking, and it's not pretty.

Donald Trump is ruining the country already.

Donald Trump is ruining the country already. Is it true? Yes. Can I absolutely know he is ruining the country already? No. Maybe he's dismantling an old way of being so that something new can be created. Maybe he is playing a destructive but necessary change agent.

How do I feel when I believe the thought that DT is ruining the country already? Immensely frustrated, fearful, helpless and enraged. The tension in my chest and across my arms is tremendous. I feel like lashing out at all the things and people I cannot control, most of all him. I am closed down. I resent the people who voted for him or for third party candidates, or who didn't vote at all. I resent the Republicans who gerrymandered and voter-suppressed. (Republicans gerrymandered and conducted voter suppression, is it true?) (Hell yes. Crap, I really have to do this one.) I am angry at a huge chunk of my fellow Americans, and that is painful. Very painful. I terrify myself with the story of the future that I tell. I feel trapped. I lose touch with any happiness, joy, peace, beauty or delight. My sense of humor is gone. Everything is dimmed by a blanket of depression. It is a terrible thought with no hope.

Can you see a reason to drop the thought that DT is ruining the country already? Yes. It causes me a lot of suffering.

Who would you be in these early weeks of his presidency, if you simply couldn't think the thought that Donald Trump is ruining the country already? I would be much more peaceful and curious. Open, observant. Wondering what might happen next. Open to possibilities that aren't bleak. Taking care of myself. Being gentler with others.

Turn It Around:

Donald Trump isn't ruining the country already. No, he's doing things very differently than any other recent president, but that doesn't mean it has to end badly. The country is still running. In fact, it seems to be more compassionate and caring.

Donald Trump is fixing the country already. Okay. Well, lots of people are standing up for love, justice and compassion and that's a good thing. Maybe the TPP was going to be a bad deal for the average American worker. Maybe all the other executive orders will result in a better world, either because we are motivated to stand firmly and in great numbers against them, or because some of them end up helping us economically.

My thinking is ruining the country already. God yes. I can put us into nuclear war pretty quickly with my thinking.

My thinking is fixing the country already. Yes, when I see it clearly, and question it, I can liberate myself, and by projection, everyone else.

Trump Shouldn't Pander to his base

Donald Trump shouldn't pander to his base. Is it true? Yes, he won already and they are frightened racists. (His supporters are frightened racists.) Can you absolutely know he shouldn't still pander to his base? No. Maybe they need to be heard and encouraged before they can move out of whatever angry, resentful place they are stuck in. (Donald Trump's supporters are angry and resentful. Is it true?)How do you feel when you believe the thought that DT shouldn't pander to his base, and you read that he is shouting at the Australian PM over refugees? I become furious, outraged. I want to break things and I wish actual harm on him. I shout at him in my head. I feel helpless and it's a sickening feeling. I lose all sense of perspective about what is my business and feel outraged that I can't control something that is completely not my job to control. I am blind to the life in front of me, the puppy on my lap, the cozy house. I create a nightmare and blot out all awareness of the lovely moment that I live in, the world still running as it should around me.

What do I get out of holding onto the thought that DT shouldn't pander to his base? I get to hate his voters who got the president they wanted under whom the majority of Americans must now suffer (The majority of Americans will suffer under Donald Trump. Is it true?) I get to continue to see DT as petty, wrong, small and illegitimate.

Can you see a reason to drop the thought that he shouldn't pander to his base? Yes. Arguing with what is is painful. I don't want to feel helpless and sickened.

Who would you be, in this news cycle, if you couldn't think the thought that Donald Trump shouldn't still be pandering to his base? I would be calmer, more open, more curious. I might wonder what he is doing, instead of assuming he's looking for accolades from the people who voted for him. I might consider that there is some other, more strategic reason to be behaving so unusually. I would feel more compassionate towards him. I could imagine him trying to be a man of his word, trying to live up to his campaign promises. I would be less uptight about the possible consequences of his actions, when I don't label them as “pandering” or “base” for that matter. I would trust the rest of the world more, to see through his bravado, to not take it personally. I would be less certain that his actions were harmful and illegitimate, and that would be more peaceful.

Turn it Around:

Donald Trump should pander to his base. Yes, it's called fulfilling your campaign promises. Being honest and delivering what you said you would deliver. It is in fact, the honorable thing to do. He doesn't have to be doing it out of approval seeking, but out of a belief that it's the right thing to do. He was elected on a clear platform and he hasn't deviated from it yet. That's honest, at least.

Donald Trump isn't pandering to his base. He's doing what he pledged to do. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I shouldn't pander to my base. Yes, my basest assumptions and judgments. I'd rather be right than allow that Trump might be less than awful. I shouldn't believe everything I read about him in my newsfeed. I shouldn't continue to paint him as the antichrist.

I should pander to my base. Yes. What is my base? To be kind, compassionate, think the best of others. I should do that here, with Trump and with his supporters. Stick with my base, stay in my business, and live the way I think he should live.