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In the category of: I’d love to be a fly on the wall in this house.
George Conway heads group against Trump
In the category of: At least someone can explain it.
There’s a perfect German word for America’s perpetually enraged culture
Streitsüchtig describes our politics perfectly. We are addicted to conflict, and it’s only getting worse. The addiction is not endemic to any one spot on the political spectrum, nor is it confined to unreasonable reactions to Trump’s more reasonable moments. And as long as it remains, I struggle to see a scenario in which we return to any semblance of the political normalcy many say they desire.
What makes our streitsüchtig state so insidious is it really does have biological similarities to addiction. When politics gets a rise out of us, it triggers the same fight or flight response real danger can engender. Our bodies experience the same heightened levels of the hormone cortisol. And when we feel we’ve won an argument, our brain self-rewards with more hormones, adrenaline, and dopamine. They create “a feeling any of us would want to replicate,” writes Judith E. Glaser at Harvard Business Review. “So the next time we’re in a tense situation, we fight again. We get addicted to being right.”
In the category of: Stress brings out the worst in everyone.
Trump Is Rage Tweeting Again, Which Means That Robert Mueller Is Getting Closer
Every criminal and ice-cream deficient kid has used the tactic of whataboutism, even though no mom in the history of mom-ing has ever said, “You know what? That’s a good point. Since your sister is as bad as you are, I think you deserve ice cream too.” Nor has any FBI agent ever said: “Well, since you brought it up, I’ll stop investigating your attempt at subverting democracy and check for the emails again.”
All of this indicates that Mueller is getting close and well, Mueller better hurry up as Congress isn’t trying to protect him and all signs are looking like the president is gearing up to shut him down.
Hopefully, our toddler president will get his ice cream just desserts.
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