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)

1. Differentiate: “Here’s what I believe; here’s how I’ll behave with people who don’t.” Lower reactivity without softening values.
2. Don’t feed triangulation: stop using enemies (or cable hits) to regulate anxiety; address conflict directly.
3. Quit court-parenting: the judiciary can’t keep mediating fights legislators won’t touch. Demand work, not theater.
4. 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.
Hosted by board-certified psychiatrists and mental health pros with backgrounds in military, media, and systems thinking, we break down the psychology behind politics, culture, and public dysfunction.
Smart. Funny. Clinically sharp. Slightly buzzed.

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Shrink The Nation — On the Couch With America.