Two Weeks
How to Lie to Everyone
Before I was a pastor at my current church, I worked at a group home for three guys with developmental disabilities.
Great group of guys. Great place to work. Exhausting work at times, but it was terrific.
I became really attached to one of the guys, who in this article I’ll call Kevin. From what I was told, Kevin had the mind of around a two-year-old. He didn’t have much of a vocabulary. Over the years, the caretakers had been able to suss out about twenty different phrases he’d say and what those meant. Otherwise he’d mostly communicate by punching.
Kevin grew up in a pretty abusive environment. He learned that, in that environment, survival required being tough.
I read some pretty harrowing stories of him years prior hurting other people.
By the time I worked with him, Kevin was much more affable. He and I watched a ton of American Bandstand and listened to a lot of Elvis.
But he still had violent moments. I was punched a lot. Kevin didn’t know how to say “I’m done watching this show.” But he knew if he punched me in the arm, I’d change the channel.
He didn’t know how to ask when dinner was, but he knew how to punch me when it was 5 PM and he wasn’t eating yet.
Kevin liked to go out. He had a hard time walking, and social situations were tough for him, but he liked being out in public. He liked getting a Happy Meal at McDonalds and buying a few stuffed animals at Goodwill.
We couldn’t take him every day. We only really had the opportunity to take him once every month or so.
The problem was, if he asked to go out and we said “in a month,” he’d punch us.
If we said “tomorrow,” he’d want to leave immediately, and when we said, “no, tomorrow,” he’d punch us.
We found there was a specific amount of time that pleased him:
Two weeks.
Kevin asks for McDonalds? Two weeks.
Kevin asks to go to the movies? Two weeks.
Kevin asks for a specific thing made for dinner that costs far more than his budget and takes hours to cook? Two weeks.
When I was first told to tell Kevin “Two weeks” to any request that wasn’t going to happen for a while, I (because I’m insufferable and ask about everything) asked why.
My supervisor said “Two weeks is a ways away, but it sounds soon enough that waiting for it doesn’t feel excruciating.”
It seems there’s something psychological about “two weeks” that feels far-but-not-too-far-away.
I think about Kevin regularly these days, because someone else pulls the “Two weeks” move a lot.
Like, a lot a lot a lot.
Trump consistently uses “two weeks” in response to reporters’ questions.
“Iran was two weeks from a nuclear weapon.”
“Do you trust Vladimir Putin?” “I’ll let you know in two weeks.”
“I’ll let you know whether we decide to strike Iran within about two weeks.”
“We’ll have a deal within the next two weeks.”
“We’ll have a plan for Greenland in about two weeks.”
He responded with “two weeks” over a dozen times in May and June in response to questions about the war in Iran.
It’s become kind of a joke online. “Trump said two weeks! There he goes again!”
I don’t like to joke about it. It doesn’t make me laugh. It makes me angry.
Saying “two weeks” when you don’t mean two weeks isn’t avoidance, and it’s not answering honestly.
It’s lying.
I didn’t like doing it with Kevin, but I didn’t really know another method. Communication was difficult in that house.
I didn’t like doing it to him, and I don’t like it being done to me. To everyone.
I don’t like being lied to.
I don’t think it’s great when leaders lie to their people.
I understand that “two weeks” is effective.
But using it to pacify your fans is still deceit.
It’s lying.
The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about lying,
as does Commandment 9 (Exodus 20), Colossians 3, Ephesians 4, Matthew 15, etc, etc, etc…
Trump has a lot of Christian fans. I'm surprised more of them aren't upset about this.
Maybe this is far too small of a thing to be upset about.
Then again, being repeatedly lied to by the most powerful person in the world seems like a problem, no?