Chicago Sun-Times

FOOD FOR THE SOUL

- Email: nsteinberg@ suntimes. com NEIL STEINBERG

Maybe we’re doing this whole Trump thing wrong. Maybe liberals— horrified, rapt, gazing fixedly at each new jaw- dropper through latticed fingers, only tearing our chalky faces away from the endless slow- motion train wreck to grab each other hard by the shoulders and screech, “Can you believe this?”— have fallen into a rut.

Shock gets old. OnMonday, President Donald Trump lied that former President Barack Obama never called families of fallen soldiers. On Tuesday, trying to wriggle out of that lie— or sincere delusion, what does it matter?— Trump askedwheth­er Obama called Gen. John Kelly after Kelly’s sonwas killed in Afghanista­n in 2010, using his chief of staff’s personal heartbreak as a tissue to blot the mendacious froth from his own lips.

And by the time you read this, Trump probably will have sailed off into newterrito­ry with some unimaginab­le false tweet, callous remark or cruel policy. Mustwe flinch at each one? Maybewe need to step back, breathe, take a break, consider the big picture. Yes, this is an ordeal. We’ve also sailed off someplace strange and have to live there for the foreseeabl­e future. Exiles in Crazyland. Everything this president says is still important, but not in the traditiona­l, reflect- reality sense of importance. It’s important in the yet-more-evidence ofunfitnes­s sense. But who really needs more evidence? At this point, either you get it or you don’t. I certainly get it, and bet you do too. If you don’t, well, instead ofwriting to me in all caps shouting howmuch you don’t get it, consider this: Just because you don’t perceive something doesn’t mean it’s not there. Can you get that?

For thosewho graspwhat’s happening, a ball- peen hammer on our skulls, a thought: This nightmare is also an opportunit­y, a chance to be better people ourselves.

What shouldwe do? Nurture your own non- Trump reality. Because otherwise he can poison yourwhole life and you’ll go mad, and there’s too much of that already.

Work at making your non- Trump existence richer. I did something recently that I’d never done inmy entire life, and Iwould bet fewof you have ever done it or even contemplat­ed doing it. Imade English muffins. Longtime reader Don Lennie sent me a batch of English muffins years ago. Theywere really, really good. I meant towhip up a batchmysel­f, but who has time? So years passed. Then recently he wrote me, signing his email, “The English muffin guy.” And I realized that I had been negligent.

The process took about five hours, including two long breaks for rising. I’d say itwas a full 90 minutes of effort, from securing the yeast, gathering the ingredient­s and utensils, mixing, kneading, rolling, cutting, setting out to rise and cleaning the floury, dough- crusted kitchen. Finally— who knew?— frying the rounds on a griddle. English muffins are fried like pancakes. More cleaning. Wrapping the bounty.

Soworth it. Lennie said he got the recipe from the Cincinnati Enquirer in the 1970s and has been perfecting it ever since. They taste so good, fresh and flavorful, with hints of cornmeal and awhisper of yeastiness. I ate some, froze some for later and gave a fewto grateful neighbors.

Life can be better thanwhat we’ve got, butwe need towork at it. There’s not muchwe can do about the president. He’s unfit, probably unwell, and until Robert Mueller lays out his treachery in stark detail, we’re stuck with him. Maybe even afterward. Anything is possible, in theworst sense of the term.

But also in the best sense of the word. You aren’t stuck with the mediocremu­ffins sold in stores. You can make your own fresh, fantastic muffins. It’s permitted. I believe now is a time to make our own reality, to keep track, certainly, of the pickax strikes at our national foundation. But filtered. Becausewhe­ther you are serene or disturbed, happy or anguished, itwon’t take a second off of the daily disaster, the hourly horror unfolding inWashingt­on. The president is not changing, and his supporters cannot change. Butwe can change. In fact, we have to.

 ?? | NEIL STEINBERG/ SUN- TIMES ?? Columnist Neil Steinberg made English muffins froma reader’s recipe.
| NEIL STEINBERG/ SUN- TIMES Columnist Neil Steinberg made English muffins froma reader’s recipe.
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