Shrink The Nation The Shutdown, MGT Defection and Non-Legal Tender: Because You're Not Crazy, This is Nuts!
We’re evolving the show: no lecturing from a leather chair, more real psychology in real time. The country’s back on the couch and we’re putting the headlines through the clinic: identity, projection, shame, power, and why everyone’s nervous system is fried.
This week’s case files
- Shutdown as strategy: what used to be “govern, then win” has turned into purity testing and performance. We map the family-systems version (acting out, emotional cutoffs, triangulation) and the real-world cost, especially to military families and readiness.
- Fight-Fight-Fight coin: a commemorative, non-legal tender Trump coin as transitional object. Souvenir psychology 101: when policy stalls, people reach for teddy bears with ideology stamped on them.
- MTG breaks ranks: Marjorie Taylor Greene trains fire on GOP leadership while preserving the “untouchable father” fantasy. Low-differentiation party dynamics in the wild. Post-policy politics, now with brand management.
Prescriptions (usable, not performative)
- Differentiate: “Here’s what I believe; here’s how I’ll behave with people who don’t.” Lower reactivity without softening values.
- Don’t feed triangulation: stop using enemies (or cable hits) to regulate anxiety; address conflict directly.
- Quit court-parenting: the judiciary can’t keep mediating fights legislators won’t touch. Demand work, not theater.
- Representation upgrades + local engagement: expand voice where outcomes are real; reward leaders who de-escalate.
Comic relief, because you need it:
- A 15-point stretch before moving the moral goalposts.
- National nap time for Congress until someone uses “I feel” without yelling.
- The Patriots Emotional Support Animal Act: therapy bald eagles, or googly eyes on a rotisserie chicken if logistics get tight.
Bourbon roll call: Old Crow vs Evan Williams, both bottom-shelf, both discussed with more honesty than Congress brings to a CR vote.
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Shrink The Nation is where America lies on the couch — and we pour the bourbon.
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Shrink The Nation — On the Couch With America.