The pop psychology cant is that we despise in other people that which we recognize in ourselves.
Well, I despise President Trump to the extent that I hear myself whispering aloud as I wander around my house, "God, I hate that guy."
I've hated other presidents' policies before, but I never heard myself whispering about hating George W. Bush.
I'm thinking maybe something else is going on here. Maybe I recognize in President Trump something I loathe in myself.
I think I've hit on it. Trump is me, when I am at my worst.
Which, of course, I only allow myself to be when I am with my wife.
Not always, of course. But often enough that I'm confident she won't disagree with a word of this.
When I am with my wife, I sometimes behave like Donald J. Trump. And the "J." stands for jagoff.
1. Everything is obvious to me. If my wife asks me how she might go about handing a political problem at work, or a social dilemma with a friend, I don't even look up from the drink I'm making. I just blurt out the first advice that comes to my head, with an unmistakable air that tells her that any moron could have told her that. Duh!
2. "I never said any such thing." And even if I did, how mean-spirited and small-minded of her to remember it.
3. Her hyperbole is hysteria, my hyperbole is personality. (Hee hee!)
4. I want constant attention. I want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?
5. I totally recognize that she exists, which is why I never try to walk through her. But some days can she be a hologram, invented by me for me? (Just weekends, maybe?)
6. My life is so hard, nothing ever works out, it hurts so bad and there's no fucking reason for traffic at this hour. By myself, I can accept calamity with equanimity and win the race slow and steady. But when I'm with my wife, an unexpected breath of wind can set me to whining, as whatever misfortune that has befallen me in her presence fits neatly into the overarching married-person theme of, "Now look what you've done to me!"
7. And if she doesn't like it, I plead the Popeye Defense.
So I guess it's no wonder I hate Trump. And no wonder my wife hates him, too.
Maybe I ought to work on being less Trump-like more of the time. You know, be the change I want to see in the president.
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