Can We Get A Lot Less Hate And A Lot More Sleep?

​At 1:52 in the morning, the president of the United States posted this on his social media account:

"Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!"

At 1:52 in the morning, the president of the United States could not go to sleep until he got the final word in on the demise of a late night talk show comedian.

I can sadly imagine it. This final show weighing on him all day long. Our president planning to wait up until this final show was over, just so he could share the words he'd been obsessing over sharing all day long.

A president dying to get in the LAST words on the matter....

If these were thoughts about any one of you reading this post, my thoughts would be, whatever.

You do you.

But this is the president of the United States. Many would argue the most important leader in all of the world. And, at a time when many of us out here are facing significant domestic challenges related to decisions of this president.

I don't get how THIS isn't a bigger issue for EVERYONE.

If any of us would wake up this morning and read a 1:52 a.m. post from our boss ranting about a late night tv host, we would show up to work today a little uneasy about the kind of leadership we'll be receiving.

If any of us would wake up this morning and read a post from a family member at 1:52 a.m. ranting about a late night tv host, we would be concerned about them - or, the opposite, write the post off as crazy grandpa being crazy grandpa again.

Any of us parents would have GIANT concerns if our kids were on social media all hours of the night, no matter what they were posting.

But to me, these posts from the president tell me a WHOLE lot more than what's on the president's mind at two in the morning; it tells me what's in his heart.

And that is vengeance. Hatred.

That's the problem. Because I would argue NO position in the world needs at its helm more a mind that is clear thinking, strategic, logical, and rational than the office of the president of The United States of America.

Research will tell you that sleep deprivation significantly impairs the part of the brain responsible for judgment, impulse control, planning, empathy, and rational decision-making.

Further, research suggests that revenge-oriented thinking activates emotional and reward-related brain systems rather than systems associated with long-term reasoning and problem-solving. A continuous desire for vengeance narrows perception, increases threat sensitivity, and reduces the ability to consider broader consequences. (I teach this often to people hard-wired toward hatred and vengeance because of traumatic experience in their lives.)

And so today, when we are all on the receiving end of consequences associated with countless decisions made at the highest level - not the least of which is a war in Iran - am I really supposed to see it as inconsequential that the president of the United States was up well past midnight lying in wait to spew hatred toward a late night talk show host?

Because again, this isn't a president who spewed hate, it's a president who WAITED UP into the wee hours of the morning to do so.

And this is a pattern; not a pattern of president's social media use, but a pattern of his heart.

This is a president, more than any president in my lifetime, who is fueled by vengeance.

Revenge.

Hate.

There have been a lot of presidents from my past who have made decisions that I didn't think were in the best interest of me and others. Decisions I strongly disagreed with. But never have I wondered if that was because those presidents were completely distracted and misguided by their hate for others.

I don't have any idea WHO the answer is to all of this.

But I do know WHAT it is.

And it starts with far less hate and a lot more sleep.