“You Can’t Gaslight a Grocery Receipt” nails it: no talking point can erase what people feel at the register. Reality > spin. Hopkins cuts through the noise and shows why lived experience always wins.
HK JANE, exactly. And...that’s the part no consultant deck can wish away.
You can bend perception.
You can delay judgment.
You can even fog the inattentive...for a while.
But...the register doesn’t care about talking points.
People don’t believe an economy...they experience it. And when there’s a gap between what leaders SAY.... and what it FEELS like to swipe the card...lived experience always wins that argument.
That’s why these rallies have a CEILING. Spin works...until it collides with rent...groceries... insurance...and the quiet math people do in their heads...every week.
Appreciate you seeing it...and saying it out loud!
I FEEL your frustration, Audrey...believe me. On the surface...it looks like political malpractice.
But...here’s the uncomfortable truth: a lot of Democrats are still operating...as if facts automatically persuade. They assume that if the data is good enough...the argument will land. That’s how POLICY people think...not how human beings actually DECIDE what they believe.
There’s also a deep fear of “sounding negative” or “looking partisan,”....which leads to caution where clarity is needed. So...instead of hammering the obvious...“If it still feels expensive, you’re not crazy”...they hedge...contextualize...and explain. When you're explaining...you're usually losing.
The result is silence...where validation should be.
Politics doesn’t reward restraint in moments like this. It rewards people who name what others are feeling....OUT LOUD.
Until Democrats fully accept...that persuasion starts with EMOTIONAL recognition...NOT rebuttal...they’ll keep leaving the most obvious openings on the table.
When you're dehydrated, you don't give a DAMN about the details of what happens to the filtration rate of your kidneys. You want someone to recognize your condition...and give you a DRINK.
And that’s exactly why “You Can’t Gaslight a Grocery Receipt” lands...because it says what people already know...but don’t hear acknowledged...nearly enough.
YES to everything everyone has said on this thread, and to Jack. It’s really not complicated. It can be made to feel that way, and that surely hangs some folks up.
Rae, you nailed it. It isn’t complicated...unless someone NEEDS it to be.
Most people understand their own lives just fine. They know when things are tighter. They know when the math stopped working. And...they don’t stay confused for long...when what they’re told...doesn’t match what they’re living.
All I’m really trying to do...is name that gap OUT LOUD...because once it’s named...the spell breaks.
I appreciate you being part of the conversation...and saying it plainly. I'm glad you're here!
I had an appointment with my primary doc shortly after the election. When I voiced concern (actually I was screaming) he told me that my life as I knew it probably would not change much. Uh, Doc, you're full of shit.
Yeah, but only once or twice a year. Since he's primary it's like getting an audience with the Pope. I don't think we knew how bad it would get that early on. I could be wrong. He's from Canada. I'd go back if I were him.
A lot of what’s happening...right now...is a shell game...and shell games only work...as long as people are rushed...distracted...or made to doubt their own judgment.
Once someone slows down...and says, “Wait… not here,”...the illusion starts to crack.
That’s really all I’m arguing for steadiness. Paying attention. Trusting what your own life is telling you instead of what someone who layers so much stuff in gold...it makes you want to puke... insists you should be feeling.
And...yes...holding on to the receipts. Not as a metaphor...but as a reminder that reality keeps its OWN records...whether anyone wants to acknowledge them...or not.
Thanks for being part of the conversation, Alexa... and staying grounded in it.
“They experience the quiet, low-grade anxiety of swiping a card and bracing for the total.”
Or the tense moment to see if they’ll get the “transaction declined” message which is a fairly polite way to put it, compared to the more accurate “yer screwed, bro”. And I now see this happening with what seems like comparative regularity.
I’ve also noticed grocers are getting a lot better at rearranging stuff in the hope that hapless shoppers won’t notice how much the food chain is struggling. Reminds me of the Covid days, only with no real end in sight. Produce seems to be taking a huge hit, both quality and availability of stuff that used to be plentiful staples. I think your bouncy brain theory is right, so many people just figure it’s just the holiday rush and drive on. I have no idea what retail is like. I don’t do much retail anyway but this time of year usually sends me into hiding until mid-January.
Randy, that “bracing for the decline” moment...is exactly it....and you’re right, the polite language doesn’t BEGIN to cover the reality of what that FEELS like.
What’s striking...is how normalized that anxiety has become. Not as a crisis moment...but as background noise. People don’t panic anymore; they tense...they wait...they adjust.
That, alone...tells you something fundamental has shifted.
You’re also spot on about grocery stores. Rearranging shelves...shrinking variety...masking gaps...those are classic stress signals in a supply chain.
We saw versions of it during Covid...but then...there was at least a SHARED understanding that something abnormal was happening. Now it’s quieter...more diffuse... and easier for people to explain away as seasonal or situational.
That’s where the “bouncy brain” comes in. Most people don’t want to believe something is structurally wrong...so they accept the easiest explanation available...and keep moving.
Not because they’re foolish...but because stopping to really reckon with it...is exhausting.
Retail this time of year has always been rough...but what’s different now is that the strain doesn’t lift when the calendar turns. It just hums along underneath everything.
Appreciate you noticing it...and naming it. That’s how these things stop being invisible!
You're most welcome, Elizabeth. Yes! The TRUTH is at the grocery store. I hope reality takes a BIG bite....and then shakes the hell out of its head. Not out of vengeance...but as a potential, "Hey...WAKE UP!"
Great explanation Jack. If your kids are starving and you can’t get to work cause got car was repossessed no amount of BS is going to help. We are too far out to blame Biden…
Amen to that, Teri. No...a starving kid can't eat a lie. In fact, if it were to ever be accomplished...I'm sure that child would need their stomach pumped at the local ER.
People live in the golden age who spend $50 million on their wedding, spend $400 million on baroque ballrooms and splash gold on every surface in the White House so that it resembles a whore house not a palace. People live in the golden age who are promised a trillion bucks if they show up for work.
For the rest of us, reality is choosing the cheaper brand of milk, the sack packaged cereals, and the tougher cuts of meat. And for some, like a mother in New York begging for help to give her children a Christmas, or families wondering how they will keep their insurance when the plant closes next month are at the edge of disaster.
Sue, that’s exactly right. “Golden age” depends entirely on where you’re standing.
If you’re spending tens of millions on a wedding...hundreds of millions gilding ballrooms... or promising a trillion dollars to people who already live insulated lives...sure...things probably feel pretty great.
But...that’s not the America most people wake up in.
For most families...reality is the quieter math: cheaper milk...bagged cereal...tougher cuts of meat. It’s deciding what gets skipped this week...so something more urgent can be covered.
And for too many...it’s far worse than that. It’s a mother begging for help to give her kids a Christmas. It’s families...staring at a plant closure notice...and wondering how long their insurance lasts once the job is gone.
That’s why rhetoric has limits. You can declare a golden age from a podium...but you can’t override lived experience. People know the difference between prosperity they hear about...and stability they actually feel.
And that difference...is where politics eventually collides...with reality.
“You Can’t Gaslight a Grocery Receipt” nails it: no talking point can erase what people feel at the register. Reality > spin. Hopkins cuts through the noise and shows why lived experience always wins.
HK JANE, exactly. And...that’s the part no consultant deck can wish away.
You can bend perception.
You can delay judgment.
You can even fog the inattentive...for a while.
But...the register doesn’t care about talking points.
People don’t believe an economy...they experience it. And when there’s a gap between what leaders SAY.... and what it FEELS like to swipe the card...lived experience always wins that argument.
That’s why these rallies have a CEILING. Spin works...until it collides with rent...groceries... insurance...and the quiet math people do in their heads...every week.
Appreciate you seeing it...and saying it out loud!
#HoldFast
-Jack
The grocery receipt is among the purest forms of honesty. God help us.
TRUTH, Jan!
#HoldFast
-Jack
I cannot understand why the Dems are so lethargic and unwilling to hammer the obvious?!
I FEEL your frustration, Audrey...believe me. On the surface...it looks like political malpractice.
But...here’s the uncomfortable truth: a lot of Democrats are still operating...as if facts automatically persuade. They assume that if the data is good enough...the argument will land. That’s how POLICY people think...not how human beings actually DECIDE what they believe.
There’s also a deep fear of “sounding negative” or “looking partisan,”....which leads to caution where clarity is needed. So...instead of hammering the obvious...“If it still feels expensive, you’re not crazy”...they hedge...contextualize...and explain. When you're explaining...you're usually losing.
The result is silence...where validation should be.
Politics doesn’t reward restraint in moments like this. It rewards people who name what others are feeling....OUT LOUD.
Until Democrats fully accept...that persuasion starts with EMOTIONAL recognition...NOT rebuttal...they’ll keep leaving the most obvious openings on the table.
When you're dehydrated, you don't give a DAMN about the details of what happens to the filtration rate of your kidneys. You want someone to recognize your condition...and give you a DRINK.
And that’s exactly why “You Can’t Gaslight a Grocery Receipt” lands...because it says what people already know...but don’t hear acknowledged...nearly enough.
#HoldFast
-Jack
Thanks Jack,there’s more of us than them,who don’t believe any of his bullshit! HOLDFAST!
That's exactly right, Mary...and that's an important fact to keep reminding everyone; especially those...who might be feeling a bit down in the dumps.
#HoldFast
-Jack
YES to everything everyone has said on this thread, and to Jack. It’s really not complicated. It can be made to feel that way, and that surely hangs some folks up.
But not most of us, and not for long.
Thanks, Jack.
#HoldFast
Rae, you nailed it. It isn’t complicated...unless someone NEEDS it to be.
Most people understand their own lives just fine. They know when things are tighter. They know when the math stopped working. And...they don’t stay confused for long...when what they’re told...doesn’t match what they’re living.
All I’m really trying to do...is name that gap OUT LOUD...because once it’s named...the spell breaks.
I appreciate you being part of the conversation...and saying it plainly. I'm glad you're here!
#HoldFast
-Jack
I had an appointment with my primary doc shortly after the election. When I voiced concern (actually I was screaming) he told me that my life as I knew it probably would not change much. Uh, Doc, you're full of shit.
Damn, Jan. Yeah...put that in the "Stupidest sh*t a Dr. ever said to me" column.
#HoldFast
-Jack
He should have known better. Are you still seeing that doc???
Yeah, but only once or twice a year. Since he's primary it's like getting an audience with the Pope. I don't think we knew how bad it would get that early on. I could be wrong. He's from Canada. I'd go back if I were him.
Thank you, Jack, for sharing the questions few ask and promptly or instantly forget true answers.
The shell game moves forward yet sheeple still believe they will win. Learning the game, so saying ‘not here’ is a natural response.
Let that straw man go, continue to stay steady and hold on to those receipts!
Alexa, I appreciate that...truly.
A lot of what’s happening...right now...is a shell game...and shell games only work...as long as people are rushed...distracted...or made to doubt their own judgment.
Once someone slows down...and says, “Wait… not here,”...the illusion starts to crack.
That’s really all I’m arguing for steadiness. Paying attention. Trusting what your own life is telling you instead of what someone who layers so much stuff in gold...it makes you want to puke... insists you should be feeling.
And...yes...holding on to the receipts. Not as a metaphor...but as a reminder that reality keeps its OWN records...whether anyone wants to acknowledge them...or not.
Thanks for being part of the conversation, Alexa... and staying grounded in it.
#HoldFast
-Jack
“They experience the quiet, low-grade anxiety of swiping a card and bracing for the total.”
Or the tense moment to see if they’ll get the “transaction declined” message which is a fairly polite way to put it, compared to the more accurate “yer screwed, bro”. And I now see this happening with what seems like comparative regularity.
I’ve also noticed grocers are getting a lot better at rearranging stuff in the hope that hapless shoppers won’t notice how much the food chain is struggling. Reminds me of the Covid days, only with no real end in sight. Produce seems to be taking a huge hit, both quality and availability of stuff that used to be plentiful staples. I think your bouncy brain theory is right, so many people just figure it’s just the holiday rush and drive on. I have no idea what retail is like. I don’t do much retail anyway but this time of year usually sends me into hiding until mid-January.
Randy, that “bracing for the decline” moment...is exactly it....and you’re right, the polite language doesn’t BEGIN to cover the reality of what that FEELS like.
What’s striking...is how normalized that anxiety has become. Not as a crisis moment...but as background noise. People don’t panic anymore; they tense...they wait...they adjust.
That, alone...tells you something fundamental has shifted.
You’re also spot on about grocery stores. Rearranging shelves...shrinking variety...masking gaps...those are classic stress signals in a supply chain.
We saw versions of it during Covid...but then...there was at least a SHARED understanding that something abnormal was happening. Now it’s quieter...more diffuse... and easier for people to explain away as seasonal or situational.
That’s where the “bouncy brain” comes in. Most people don’t want to believe something is structurally wrong...so they accept the easiest explanation available...and keep moving.
Not because they’re foolish...but because stopping to really reckon with it...is exhausting.
Retail this time of year has always been rough...but what’s different now is that the strain doesn’t lift when the calendar turns. It just hums along underneath everything.
Appreciate you noticing it...and naming it. That’s how these things stop being invisible!
#HoldFast
-Jack
Great work Jack! The truth is at the grocery store! Reality bites MAGA in the face! Thank you! ❤️🥰👍
You're most welcome, Elizabeth. Yes! The TRUTH is at the grocery store. I hope reality takes a BIG bite....and then shakes the hell out of its head. Not out of vengeance...but as a potential, "Hey...WAKE UP!"
#HoldFast
-Jack
Great explanation Jack. If your kids are starving and you can’t get to work cause got car was repossessed no amount of BS is going to help. We are too far out to blame Biden…
Amen to that, Teri. No...a starving kid can't eat a lie. In fact, if it were to ever be accomplished...I'm sure that child would need their stomach pumped at the local ER.
#HoldFast
-Jack
This is true Jack.
#HOLDFAST
Teri
People live in the golden age who spend $50 million on their wedding, spend $400 million on baroque ballrooms and splash gold on every surface in the White House so that it resembles a whore house not a palace. People live in the golden age who are promised a trillion bucks if they show up for work.
For the rest of us, reality is choosing the cheaper brand of milk, the sack packaged cereals, and the tougher cuts of meat. And for some, like a mother in New York begging for help to give her children a Christmas, or families wondering how they will keep their insurance when the plant closes next month are at the edge of disaster.
Sue, that’s exactly right. “Golden age” depends entirely on where you’re standing.
If you’re spending tens of millions on a wedding...hundreds of millions gilding ballrooms... or promising a trillion dollars to people who already live insulated lives...sure...things probably feel pretty great.
But...that’s not the America most people wake up in.
For most families...reality is the quieter math: cheaper milk...bagged cereal...tougher cuts of meat. It’s deciding what gets skipped this week...so something more urgent can be covered.
And for too many...it’s far worse than that. It’s a mother begging for help to give her kids a Christmas. It’s families...staring at a plant closure notice...and wondering how long their insurance lasts once the job is gone.
That’s why rhetoric has limits. You can declare a golden age from a podium...but you can’t override lived experience. People know the difference between prosperity they hear about...and stability they actually feel.
And that difference...is where politics eventually collides...with reality.
#HoldFast
-Jack