Cleaning house

January 23, 2026.

I don’t know about you. But it’s been tough finding motivation this new year. Usually January rolls around and winter cleaning sets in. What’s spring cleaning for most people is January cleaning for me. Once spring is here, I don’t want to be inside.

Last year I managed to injure myself while deep cleaning and could barely walk for a good month. So perhaps part of the na—aaah this year is remembering last year. But I don’t think that fully explains the doldrums.

Because I’m recognizing it’s not just me. It’s not just you. Exhaustion from the barrage of crap we’re dealing with isn’t something that sleep cures. We cannot exercise away the bombardment of unconstitutional behavior that our president lavishes upon the citizenry. It’s nonstop.

We figure out how to defend against Venezuela, only to be hit with Epstein. And then Minneapolis. And then killing an unarmed woman. And then Epstein again. And then Greenland. I don’t have to explain this to you. You’re co-living it. Disinformation commingled with brazenly unconstitutional acts mixed with armed occupation of peaceful localities blended with irrational speech together with an emperor who not only has no clothes but is butt ugly.

We pick ourselves up, only to be blown apart by another fire hydrant of sewage.

Sunday as I contemplated my sweet little house—my sweet little not-clean house—it got to be too much. As my mother and mother’s mother and mother’s mother’s mother before me, I keep everything tidy. Kitchen and bathrooms are ship-shape. But vacuuming, dusting, mopping…

The heaviness finally overwhelmed me.

So I pulled out my purple Shark and vacuumed the downstairs. Pulled things away from the wall to capture dust bunnies. Even swept the rugs. But no mopping, no dusting.

I felt immediate relief. Was it deep cleaning? Of course not. However, doing that one task inspired me to wash throw rugs. Which in turn motivated me to take on another small chore, and another, and another.

Not all on the same day! I washed rugs on Tuesday.

I’m not sure this fully applies to us collectively. At least, not yet. Until core issues are resolved, the bargeloads of crap will keep coming. People like Marc Elias and Jack Smith can handle one catastrophe at a time, apply the rule of law first here, then there. As brilliant as they are, even they cannot perform a deep clean in the current environment. They’re merely applying tourniquets to prevent the nation from bleeding out.

Even so, this message seemed important to write.

Once the current regime has been removed from power, we will want to undertake an immediate and thorough deep clean. Purge the nation of the shame that has accumulated—not just since January 2025, but since January 2016. Strip the fake gold. Rebuild the East Wing. Restore separation of powers and take our power back. Impeach faithless judges and legislators. That’s just for starters!

Yet: We will likely find that the trauma inflicted on the United States of America will continue to paralyze us, even after perfidious persons are banished from DC. When that happens, we will need to pull out our purple Sharks and vacuum one single room. Every act of restitution and restoration will energize us, will help us keep going.

The disaster occurred because we did not see that our foundation was cracked and rotting. Healing will come only as we rebuild from the ground up.

Postscript #1: I intended to post my “Separation of Powers” essay last week once the Senate voted on S.J.Res.98. After Josh Hawley defected (surprise, surprise), the GOP has stalled the promised vote on procedural issues. In other words, they’ve effectively killed it.

That taught me not to wait on promised votes. The essay will appear this weekend (unless this winter storm causes a power outage). Update: Yea! It's here! Our crumbling foundation: When separation of powers fails.

Because checks and balances inherent in “separation of powers” is central to our American rule of law. Obliterate separation of powers and the foundation collapses. Cure that, most everything else follows.

Postscript #2: Reminder in November 2026 that this month's Blue Wave is the beginning, not the end. Our real work starts now

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