Using your best toddler voice, say with me

Like many Americans and non-Americans, we are long past weary of the relentless lying and posturing words and actions of the former president. To me, long before he ran for president he was not known for truth telling. In fact, as Rick Reilly said in his book “Who’s your caddy?” about his stories caddying for golf pros and celebrities about twenty years ago, “Donald Trump cheats at golf right in front of you.” He makes no bones about.

That is as good a metaphor for his routine sales schtick he uses to mislead the American people. His lying and cheating are OVERT. He does it right in front of you. And, it is his modus operandi learned over many years of practice. In fact, in Cassidy Hutchinson’s book “Enough,” she said Trump did not mind being called a liar – he minds being called a loser.

Yet, when caught in a lie, sin or crime, we know it is never his fault. His mantra is to deflect blame or accuse someone else. His excuses are very much like a toddler’s when his hands are found in a cookie jar with crumbs on his face. So, in your best toddler voice mimic Trump’s excuses:

”I didn’t do it.”

“They just don’t like me!”

“They don’t want me to win.”

”They stole it from me. I won by a long shot!”

“It is all unfair. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

”She’s not my type.

”I didn’t sleep with her.”

Now, repeat them again honing your best toddler voice. This is what Trump sounds like to me when he offers his tiresome excuses. As for his sycophants and spineless rationalizers, I need to figure out a voice for them. I am thinking of a bully’s yes men (or should I say boys?) on the playground. They are around until someone punches the bully in the nose and he whimpers away. In Trump’s case, it is usually a strong and intelligent woman who does the punching.

These women get vilified for speaking the truth to the former president. Yet, they are like his Mommy saying now Donald, tell me the truth – you did eat the cookies, didn’t you? Now, wipe the crumbs from your face.

Friday free form – recognizing those mistakes

Happy Friday all. I thought I would throw a few random musings down in free form on this Friday. In no particular order:

• I watched a great movie whose title was uttered by a prescient boy with a debilitating immune disorder. He said you are “more beautiful having been broken.” He was sharing this with a new female friend who he sensed was sad. Its poignancy and pertinence to the plot was profound. Think about this line as it applies to all the screw-ups, errors or misstatements in your own lives. We learn more from failure than success.

• This self-awareness is important for self-improvement. If we don’t acknowledge our mistakes, then we never learn from them. One of the best teachings by the former president is what we should not do – not recognize that we messed up and blame others for our transgressions. This is what a toddler would do. “I didn’t do it” is uttered with his hand in the cookie jar. It is not what a more mature person should do.

• I don’t think I have enough toes and fingers to count all of my mess-ups. Thank goodness for erasers, backspace and delete keys. In fact, it would be great to have a life oriented “undo” button. Handling a break up poorly – undo. Saying something hurtful to a loved one – undo. Passing along a rumor that may be untrue – undo.

• I wonder if ol’ Putin wishes he could press the undo button. For such a control freak, who used disinformation to build the impression that Russia is stronger than its adversaries, to make the horrible mistake of invading and failing to execute in Ukraine is telling. Russia’s economy is not large enough to support the military spending of its aspirations and the Ukraine president called the bully’s bluff and said “I am not going anywhere.” Russia has made some inroads but has also been fended off and is now viewed as a pariah.

• Speaking of undo buttons, ol’ Boris got a vote of confidence, but the celebration is muted because of the closeness of the vote. He was fortunate to recognize he would benefit by calling Putin on the carpet for his invasion. Everyone needs a foil. Had he not been able to do so, Johnson may have been on his way out. He may still get there, but he should learn some lessons from this about lying, cover-ups and poor decisions. The question is will he?

That is all for now. Key lessons. Our mistakes make us better, not worse, unless we choose to ignore them. In that case, they can be an anchor.