The Napkin In Between
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The Napkin In Between
It's Been A Week…
Girl...idk. Trump has been back in office for a week & he's hit the ground RUNNING! In today's episode, we tackle the chaos of Trump's first week in office, reflecting on the disbelief and emotional turmoil it has unleashed. The episode explores not only the alarming rollback of civil rights protections but also the underlying motivations and personal vendettas driving these changes.
When reflecting on the things Trump has done so far, it made me think...what would a world where I was President look like? What executive orders would I sign? What changes would I make? Let's talk about G.U.R.L., centering women, & our monthly punch cards!
Join me in this episode as I try to navigate feeling overwhelmed, remembering to unplug & step away, & finding the small joys of the week.
Is this thing on? Hello, hello, uh-oh, another yapper with a mic. Ha ha ha ha. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Napkin In Between podcast. I am your host, Daijné Jones, and before we start this episode, I need you to do something with me. Okay, ready, Take a deep breath, because when's the last time you took a deep breath? Because, if you're anything like me, you have been holding your breath Because, bitch, every fucking day we wake up and it's something new.
Daijné:Every fucking day Trump is doing something, he's saying something, he's on some fucking bullshit and I literally. It's so bad. But every single day I wake up and the first thing that I do is check my phone, check the news what's he up to, what's going on? And while I feel like it's important to be informed and to know what's going on, it's equally, if not more, important to take a second and to be present and to center yourself and to do something that brings you joy or makes you smile or something good. And so I want to start this new thing at the beginning of every episode, where we talk about the peak of the week, and that is just something that I did this past week that made me smile, that kept me present, that kept me grounded because now more than ever we are going to have to figure something out to keep us grounded and present and makes us smile because, chile, this man has hit the ground running and unfortunately nothing is slowing him down. So the peak of my week was going to the movies with my roommate. We went and saw "One of Them Days, which is a movie starring Kiki Palmer. It is SZA's acting debut. It is produced by Issa Rae.
Daijné:I just love when black women no explanation needed. If you know what I mean, you know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean, you have not spent enough time with black women. Fix that immediately. It'll change your life, only for the better. I just love when black women" I was so funny, such a good movie.
Daijné:SZA is so talented. It is ridiculous. Her talent is like effortless. You know what I mean? Like she's just effortlessly talented. She effortlessly lies too. We need to figure that one out. Like that needs that needs to be addressed, but she's just effortlessly talented for that to be her acting debut. She killed it. She was amazing and, um, that had to be something that was like kind of scary, I would assume.
Daijné:For it to be your acting debut and for your acting debut to be alongside KeKe Palmer girl, I would have been shitting bricks. I would have been shitting bricks, but she was so good. Her and KeKe had so much chemistry. It was just amazing. And you know KeKe Palmer, she is just amazing, one of the best actresses she. I've been with her since. I feel like the first movie I ever saw her in was "Akeelah and the Bee. Like we grew up together for real, like that's my girl. I just feel like she has such good energy you know what I mean like she's one of those people that you could do anything and nothing with and no matter what you're doing. Like she would just make it a good time. So shout out to Kiki Palmer, shout out to SZA, shout out to Issa Rae. The movie was amazing.
Daijné:If you are looking for a movie to see, go see one of them days. It was amazing. And if you're looking for an activity to do, I I recommend going to the movies. Going to the movies is one of my favorite activities to do, both with people and solo.
Daijné:I am a huge proponent in doing things by yourself. I think it really helps you figure out who you are, your likes, your dislikes, what you're confident in, what you would like to be more confident in. I can understand, at least for me personally. Sometimes doing things by yourself can be a little bit daunting. I know for me personally, one of my biggest anxieties is being perceived or like feeling like people are viewing me in public. I always worry that, like people are staring at me or that I'm doing something that makes me look stupid, and I know that this is just my anxiety. I know that logically, most people are not worried about other people, especially in a city like New York, but the anxious brain isn't logical and it's not something that makes sense. You know what I mean. So something that I've tried to do in order to not be so anxious about being perceived is just doing things by myself. I feel like it really helps build confidence and it just helps you know who you are so that you don't even really care if people are looking at you or doing whatever You're just doing you and that's all that really matters.
Daijné:But one of the first things that I did by myself was go to the movies, because it's the perfect activity to do by yourself. Number one it's dark, so no one can see you. You don't have to worry about being perceived. Number two you're not supposed to have conversations at the movies, right? You're supposed to be quiet because everyone's watching the movie, so you don't have to worry about being social or, you know, striking up conversation with the people around you. You're supposed to be quiet. So if you are looking for activities to do by yourself, which I feel like everyone should be doing activities by themselves it really does help you understand who you are.
Daijné:Go to the movies great activity and go see "One Of Them Days, perfect movie, amazing movie. It'll make you smile. It made me smile. So I definitely recommend seeing one of the days. I just, I just love when black women period the end, that's it. I love when black women. But I think it's important again, now more than ever, to just do things that'll ground you and center you and make you smile and bring you joy. So I want you to tell me something what was the peak of your week. Please leave it in the comments and let's just let's just get some good vibes and good energy because we need it. Segueing into why we need it.
Daijné:What are we gonna talk about today? Trump man. He has been in office literally less than a week at the point that I'm filming this, and his first week has just been thing after thing after thing. I'm not even gonna hold you. I have tried to film this at least 10 times, no less than 10 times, probably more than 10 times at this point, and every time I start to talk about what he's done in his first week, I start to dissociate and I start to lose my train of thought and I forget what I'm saying and I can't finish filming, and I think that's a mix of a couple of things. Number one I genuinely can't believe the things that are coming out of my mouth. I can't believe that what I'm saying is true and he's done these things and it's only been a fucking week.
Daijné:I saw somebody say if you look at his presidential portrait, he looks like he is just on a rampage and is going to give us hell and bitch. He has dropped us off in the left labia of satan's wife's coochie. We are in hell, girl. We are below hell. We are. It is just like fuck and I like I'm in disbelief number one of what I'm even saying and how what I'm saying is true.
Daijné:And number two, I feel like I'm I'm grieving the loss of the presidential election and I feel like I haven't fully grieved that loss yet. And that sounds weird a little bit even to say that I'm grieving the loss of an election, but like that's, that's what it is. I'm grieving the loss of what could have been, what we could have been doing, the things that could have been happening right now, and I just keep thinking like what if? Just thinking about what could have been, I think about what could have been and I think about what is, and it is just like it makes me sad, it genuinely makes me sad of just thinking about where we are, because it feels like in 2025, we're still doing the same shit. It's just like the definition of insanity Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result and I feel like I am one of the sane people in a world of insanity and it's driving me crazy, like I'm on the verge of a menty b, especially with the way things are going like holy shit. He is on a rampage and in this last week I've been trying to make sense of it and try to understand, like why? Why is he doing some of the things that he's doing? Why would he revoke the equal employment opportunities executive order? Why is he rolling back DEI? Why is he targeting trans people? Why? Why is he targeting immigrants? And just like, why, what's? What's the goal, what is the point? And I genuinely believe that most of this is just like a personal vendetta.
Daijné:Donald Trump was 18 when segregation ended. Think about that. Donald Trump was 18 when segregation ended. In his most formulative years, he watched people tirelessly fight against integration. People closest to him I believe it was his father, his grandfather, probably both honestly were clansmen. They went to clans rallies. They were a part of the KKK. I don't know why, I'm saying were as if the KKK isn't still around. They they are still a part of the KKK, if not wearing the white hoods, they still have the same thoughts and ideologies. And so when you think about that, when you realize that in his most formulative years, he watched people fight to not have to integrate. And then he was 19 when Lyndon B Johnson signed the executive order for the equal employment opportunity.
Daijné:So in the brink of his adulthood, these non-discriminatory practices were being put into place and I genuinely believe that at some point or another in Trump's life he was passed up for an opportunity. Now I know what some of you are thinking Daijné, he's a millionaire, he's a billionaire. He could just buy whatever he wanted, or his dad bought him anything that he wanted and everything like that. And I, I get that. I, I genuinely do. But money can only buy you so much. At one point or another you have to rely on your own brain power to get you the opportunities that you want, and Trump has no brain power. His last two brain cells are fighting for 10th place. Okay, I am sure at one point or another and I'm sure these were few and far between, but that doesn't matter at one point or another he was passed up for an opportunity and he blames integration and he blames non-discriminatory practices. And even if he let's just say he wasn't passed up for an opportunity because he was able to buy his way into every opportunity, he faced several lawsuits, several legal issues. From being discriminatory, he faced a lawsuit with his housing developments and not wanting to rent to black people. He took out a full page ad calling for the death of five innocent children. Like at one point or another I know that he blamed integration for some sort of problem that he was having, and so I genuinely feel like integration and non-discriminatory practices were his villain origin story. He is like a top, super scary, super villain and he is on a rampage and needs to be vindicated and he is going to do anything and everything that he can in order to vindicate himself, ie bring segregation back as much as he possibly can.
Daijné:It just blows my mind how much hate one person can have. Like I'm a d D1 hater, but I hate in peace, like if I don't like somebody, I don't look for them, I don't engage with them, I don't worry about them. Case and point I made a video a couple of weeks ago and somebody commented and was like oh, you should talk about JLo and her failed movie Girl. I didn't even know she had a movie coming out. What movie? . I don't know what that lady has going on. If you notice any of my digs at her, they're mostly about her singing or her running up and down the block or things from her past, because present day, I don't know shit about that lady, like I don't know what she has going on because I don't like her, I'm not checking for her, I don't care. You know what I mean.
Daijné:And it's like that's the kind of hate that I feel. Like people like if you are going to hate something or someone, just don't check for them. You know what I mean, leave them alone, let them be whatever. The kind of hate that Trump has. He's like I need to make your life as miserable as possible, and misery loves fucking company. I know that Trump is an old, miserable, bitter man and because he's miserable, he needs other people to be miserable as well, and that's what I feel like he is out to do. As much as he can is just make people's lives as miserable and as hard as possible. Mind you, as the president, there's actual real world problems that you could be focused on, but your focus is making other people's lives harder. I don't fucking get it. It makes my brain hurt.
Daijné:I like, want to like scream. I need to go to like a rage room or something. That's actually a really good idea I should go to a rage room. I feel like I have a lot of penta of rage I need to let out, and it's only been a week. I'm gonna have like weekly scheduled visits at a rage room. Maybe Trump should go to a rage room and let out all his pent up aggression.
Daijné:I don't, I don't know what that man needs, but it's just like. I just don't understand the point of like. I understand why, in terms of why he's doing it, I think that it's just a personal vendetta but like, how are the things that he's doing? How do they help? What is the positive that we're going to see? Because, with the rollback of DEI, genuinely I feel like they think that anyone who is not a straight white male is a DEI hire, which is such a closed-minded thought to have. If everyone in the room looks like you and operates like you and thinks like you, ew, literally like, ew, like. That is such a crazy thing to think about. And how do we get anything done with no difference in opinion and no other thoughts? You know what I mean? I don't know like. I feel like I can't put my words into sentences right now because it there's just.
Daijné:This week has just been so draining emotionally and I also feel like that's kind of what they want. They want us to feel drained so that we aren't paying attention. I'm still paying attention, I promise. I still am looking, I'm still researching, but I also think it's important to just take a break, because then you end up with your brain feeling like mush Like that's how I feel right now, anyway, and I'm just trying to figure out like how is that helping for the only people in the room to be straight white men yikes on bikes. Straight white men have had the power for so long. And look look at the world, girl, look at how y'all have been doing. I think it's it's time to change it up. This is literally the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Like are y'all not tired?
Daijné:And then the targeting of trans people and the executive order that you know the US only recognizes two genders and they only recognize the gender that you were assigned at birth. Like why? What is that helping? And it's under the guise of protecting women. I can promise you I don't go outside and I'm not hypervigilant because of trans people.
Daijné:I'm hypervigilant because of men, but the targeting of trans people, and I saw that applications for passports for people who had the um gender marker x are being like stopped and they're not going to be able to get their passports because of trump and his actions, and it's like so you, you don't want trans people here because you're stupid and just ignorant, but you also don't want them to travel and get away from here and won't give them their passports. So, like, which is it which? What do you want? Do you want them here or do you not like? Like none of it is making sense. It just doesn't make sense, and that's why I feel like I'm struggling to even film this episode, because it's like I need things to be logical and none of this is logical because Trump is a very illogical person. He's just like a miserable old hag. And then he's agitating all these other countries and he's into it with the president of Columbia and they're having like a tariff war, and so I guess there were two flights of undocumented immigrants that were supposed to go to Columbia and the president of Colombia refused to let the planes land, and so, because of that, Trump implemented a 25% tariff on Colombian goods and, in response to his 25% tariff. The Colombian president implemented a 50% tariff on American goods and it's just like who do y'all think is going to feel the effects of these tariffs? It's going to be us.
Daijné:Some of the things that we get from Colombia are flowers, like roses. So happy Valentine's Day. If you thought that man was gonna buy you flowers. Number one, he's never bought you flowers before, so why would he start now? But now they're gonna be even more expensive, so now he's definitely not buying you flowers.
Daijné:Oh sorry, why did I just randomly drag y'all like that? That was crazy Flowers, coffee, gas. So all these people who voted for gas and grocery prices, um, guess what, bookie? Those prices are about to probably double, if not more. So I'm just tired y'all. We're not even. We're like a week, not even a week in, and I I just need him to be taken out of the of office for legal reasons. I meant taken out of office, which hopefully should be coming soon.
Daijné:No, because he broke the fucking law. He fired a bunch of inspector generals and in order to fire inspector generals, you have to give congress a 30 days notice and provide rationale as to why you're firing them, and he didn't do that and that is federal law. And wasn't it a part of his sentencing that if he broke any more laws, that he would actually have to go to jail which is the craziest fucking sentencing in the world, by the fucking way? Like, you broke this law, but we're not going to send you to jail this time, but if you break any more laws, we're going to send you to jail. Like, be so fucking for real. Anyway, he was given this sentencing of don't break any more laws or you're actually going to go to jail, and not even a week into the presidency and he's broken a federal law.
Daijné:So it's like who do we call Olivia benson or pope, I don't know, but somebody get him on the fucking phone because I need this man to be taken out of office. But then again he has, like presidential immunity. So it's like will they even really do anything? Oh, probably not. And he's filled everything with yes men too, just people who will nod in agreement to anything that he says. That's who he has surrendered himself with, and so anything that he wants to do, I I fear he can do and there will be no repercussions, which can you imagine if Barack Obama tried to do any of the things that he. They tore Barack Obama apart for wearing a tan fucking suit. Can you imagine if he did the shit that Trump is doing right now? They would have impeached him before he got in the Oval Office good. He would have been out, and that's why, if we're gonna talk about anyone being a DEI hire, Trump is the DEI hire. It is just, it's just crazy. But it's kind of made me think. Like if I were president, what would I do? Because clearly you can do whatever the fuck you want when you're president. You can sign any executive order into practice and and no one will will do anything about it.
Daijné:So, men starting their lives in jail and proving themselves out I would. That would be the first thing that I signed into law. I would start a new department. It'd be called girl G. U. R. L., guys under restrictive laws and, um, we would definitely be restricting a whole bunch of shit that men are doing, because men are. They clearly have too much freedom. That's why we're in the predicaments that we're in now. Men have had the rule and the power for forever and look at the state of the fucking world. So I feel like they need to be restricted more. So how it would work is we would have G. U. R. L. and we would round up all the men and they would go to jail.
Daijné:Now, not the jail that we know today, because again our prison system needs abolished and rebuilt. It would be the jail as I view jail as you did something wrong, or you are more likely to do something wrong, so we're going to put you in jail, reform you and then, when you're put back into the world, you're a good citizen or an upstanding citizen, right? So all men would go to jail, except for the men who could be vouched for. But they had to be vouched for by women, and I know what you're thinking. Well, Daijné, what about the pick me's who would just say like, oh, he's a good guy, but it's actually not a good guy? Like that could happen. I've thought about this too. I'm one step ahead of you. If a woman vouches for a man and it is found that he's does some fuck shit or he's not a good man or whatever, he's going to jail, and she's going to jail too. Bitch, because I hate men. But even worse than men, I hate these pick me ass fucking bitches like these bitches who enable these men's shitty behavior. I need them to be reformed as well. So they would go to jail too, and we would just work on uninstalling the misogyny. They would all go to therapy. They would just learn respect. They'd learn what the word no means. They'd learn that no was a full fucking sentence. They'd learn there's other ways to respond to things other than by punching holes in walls from anger. And once they're released back into the wild, they should be upstanding citizens and if they're not, they go back to jail and we start all over. We try again.
Daijné:And even after they get released back into the wild, there would still be some restrictive laws. Number one they would have maximum two hours worth of talking a day too many men talking at this point. We need to regulate how much they can talk. That would be number one. Number two I would need to see them building more. I need to see more men at work. One of my favorite signs to see when I'm walking down the street is men at work like yes, they're working, they're not talking, they're not bothering people, they're working. That's what I need. I need more men at work building shit. I don't even know what needs built, but whatever needs built, go build it. Pick up a fucking hammer, go make yourself useful. You know what I mean and they would have. They would have restricted time outside or with one another.
Daijné:I feel like that's when all the bad shit happens, when men start getting together and they start talking to one another. It's like that's where we get like the locker room talk, or the boys will be boys. We've had enough of boys being boys. We don't need them congregating and and speaking to one another. So that would be limited time. I'm envisioning something kind of like this sounds terrible, this sounds terrible, but I'm envisioning like dog parks where we could put them in a little confined area for a little bit, they could play for a little and then they go back in the house. They need very limited time amongst each other, so something, not not dog parks, but something like dog parks where they can just go and play for a little bit and then go back in the house. What else should we regulate when it comes to men? Their talking. I think that's the biggest thing. It's just them talking and being in society like oh, they make things so much harder.
Daijné:If I were president, the main goal of my presidency would just be making women's lives easier, because the world that we live in now it's all focused on men and making their lives easier. When, again, we see where that's gotten us, so let's, let's try the other way. Let's make women's lives easier and see where we go. So, in order to make women's lives a little bit easier, during your period, paid leave, the entire time you can stay in bed, you can do whatever you gotta do to make yourself feel better during your period. That's you time. All you have to do is write a little. Hey, it's that time of the month and you're excused. Do whatever you need rest, spend time in bed, re-watch your favorite show, whatever you need, girl, that's your time.
Daijné:Another thing four times a month, a woman, at her discretion, can punch a man in the face. It could be a man that you know. It could be a random man walking down the street. Fully legal, you could punch him in the face. Matter of fact, not only is it legal, but after you punch him in the face, the man has to say thank you, and we could all walk around with little punch cards. Get it, oh, oh, my God, wait, that's such a good idea. We have little punch cards and, you know, you get a little like a little punch, a whole punch in your card so that people aren't abusing the four punch limit. Did I say four punches a week or four punches a month? Cause I meant I meant month. I may have said week earlier, I meant month, but we semanticsantics we'll figure out the details later. It doesn't really matter, you get four punches, that's all that really matters.
Daijné:Another thing that I would do for a woman to make our lives easier is JLo is going to jail immediately. JLo is like a domestic terrorist. She's just terrorizing so many people's lives with her singing and I've also heard that she is not a nice person in terms of like service workers. She doesn't tip well, she's rude to them. She literally views them as the help. She's just making everyone's life harder, at least my life and I'm the president. So she's absolutely going to jail for domestic terrorism. And I'm also making it so. Like for her songs she only gets paid for the amount of vocals that were used in her song. So for example, say she has a song, 95 of the vocals are stolen. Allegedly five percent of the vocals are hers. However much money is made from that song, five percent goes to her, 95 goes to the people that she stole vocals from.
Daijné:I feel like that's fair you're being paid for the work that you did makes sense to me. I think my entire presidency would literally just be making. It would just be centering women, and that that would be my campaign slogan centering women, period, the end, that's it. That's what we would do for four years, and I feel like we would be in a better place after four years. I feel like the economy would be booming. I feel like women would be happier, which is all that I care about, and I feel like men would be unhappy, which would make me happy, so that is all I care about.
Daijné:Oh, I feel like I'm going crazy y'all. Please make sure you're taking care of yourself and doing things that relax your mind. We need to stay informed, now more than ever, but just make sure you're taking breaks too. I need to practice what I preach. I have not really taken a break, and it's kind of showing in the filming of this episode. I literally have been struggling all day to film this episode. I can't keep my thoughts together. I'm a little all over the place, and it's because I I haven't really been present. I've just been worried about what's going on in the world, which, again, is important, but it's also important to ground yourself and be a little unserious, which is what I just was, for a little bit like.
Daijné:Obviously, if I was president, I wouldn't enact any of those orders. That was I. Was that was a joke, or was it was it a joke? Maybe you should elect me as president, and then we'll see. I'd be a terrible president because the second somebody goes low. I'm going to hell. I'd be like, let's do this thing. And they'd be like, um, no, we're not doing that. And I'd be like, oh, is this you? And I'd pull up their mugshot just because they disagreed with me. Yeah, it wouldn't go over. Well, oh, another thing that I would do if I was president reparations for black people, monetary and land reparations for black people. We should have been got that. I hate it here, bro. Anyway, I feel like I'm just rambling now, so I'm done talking.
Daijné:Thank you for tuning into this episode. Please remember again, take care of yourself and take time for yourself. Relax your mind and do something that will bring you joy. We need joy more than ever right now, because shit is crazy. But thank you, guys for tuning in. Um, I'm wearing my merch right now. If you bought my merch, you would be happy. That's something that could bring you joy, so you can buy my merch that is available right now at shopdaijnebrielle. com. I hope everyone is having a good day, except for that orange drink, lady, and I will see you guys in the next episode. Peace and love. Talk to you later. The Napkin In Between, hosted by Daijné Jones, produced by Daijné Jones, post-production by Daijné Jones, music by Sam Champagne and graphics by Isma Vidal. Don't forget to like and subscribe.