Ready for Trump's 'Friday News Dump'? This organization is already one step ahead.
TGIF has become OMG, WTF.
It's become a bit of a joke that things are actually getting kind of predictable at this point in the Trump presidency — at least when it comes to Fridays.
On the first Friday after taking office, Donald Trump announced new restrictions on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. On Friday, April 14, the White House announced plans to keep its visitor logs secret. On Friday, Aug. 25, Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio, the notorious former sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County, and made his plans to ban transgender people from serving in the military official. Now, on a Friday going into a long Labor Day weekend, rumors are swirling that Trump may put an end to to President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
To be sure, the "Friday news dump" long predates the Trump White House. Still, it's remarkable how much truly concerning news has been packed into a single day of the week during the president's first months in office.
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯. Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images.
Knowing that bad news is always just around the corner on Fridays, the National Center for Transgender Equality did something genius to save themselves some time at the end of the week.
They turned their statement of condemnation into a Mad Libs-style form letter, that allows whoever receives it to quickly fill in the blanks and generate a pre-emptive response to the president's latest announcement.
NCTE titled the press release: "Ahead of Labor Day Weekend, NCTE issues a Blanket Condemnation of the Inevitably Divisive (Remarks / Release / Statement / Tweet / Policy) issued by Pres. Trump Regarding (Race / Women / Transgender people / Immigrants / Muslims)."
"Citing the Trump Administration’s strategy of releasing major — and often offensive — policy decisions/directives late on Friday evenings, the Washington, DC-based National Center for Transgender Equality has released a blanket condemnation of whatever the President does in this area, when he should be working on disaster relief for people who really need government attention, ahead of Labor Day weekend," it reads before quoting executive director Mara Keisling:
“Whether releasing major guidance to purge transgender service members, pardoning a notorious racist and civil rights violator or the tacit endorsement of Nazism in America, NCTE wants to get ahead of the White House for yet another pre-weekend news dump that will likely hurt good people. To be clear, we truly hope the President focuses on emergency relief in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and other pressing issues affecting the lives of millions of Americans.
By condemning the President’s inevitably divisive rhetoric/action in advance, however, we hope to provide a sobering counterpoint to this Administration’s discriminatory agenda and prevent their actions from being buried among this weekend’s news coverage.
By releasing this unorthodox statement sufficiently ahead of the weekend, news outlets won’t need to scramble to find expert commentary and guests to respond to the latest, outrageous tweet/statement/directive from the White House this weekend. The news media should know that whichever mean-spirited, and no doubt poisonous, plan/move the President announces/enacts this weekend, odds are high that NCTE and most Americans will be against it.”
Yes, the release is a bit troll-y, but NCTE hopes people will see past that to the larger issues at play.
The group, which when contacted by e-mail, claims to have "led or participated in 165 victories over the past decade," uses a variety of tools in fighting for the broader goal of equality for trans people and those at the intersection of marginalized groups.
"We wanted to call out the Administration’s pattern for what it is, and to shed light on this practice (which, if we’re being honest, has been used by many Administrations)," Keisling said in an e-mail. "But also to stir the news media not to fall for such an obvious ploy week after week. The spectacle isn’t the story, it’s the impact of such policies."
Mara Keisling speaks during a June rally for transgender equality on Capitol Hill. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images.
There's also a (perhaps unintentional) message that can be gleaned from this statement about the importance of not becoming desensitized to presidential chaos.
In the administration's early days, reminders that "this is not normal" and pleas against "normalizing" Trump spread far and wide. With so many important issues at stake, ranging from personal freedoms all the way to the future of the planet, it's easy to hit a point where you're burned out from being constantly engaged in activism. Burn out is a path to desensitization.
Believe it or not, there are still people who think that Trump is an LGBTQ ally because of the one time he held a flag (upside down) at a rally, ignoring his destructive policies. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
The truth is that we all need breaks, even the superheroes out there trying to save the world. Earlier this year, psychologist Alessandra Pigni published a guide to the "ABCs" of burnout prevention that's definitely worth a read. So rest up, relax, and recharge this weekend if you're able to. The battles are long, and it's in everyone's best interest to take the occasional breather.
So whatever "inevitably divisive (remarks / release / statement / tweet / policy)" Trump issues over this weekend or any, make note of it, but remember to take care of yourself as well.




American portion sizes are colossal.
Tax shouldn't be a not-so-fun surprise at the end of your shopping trip.
A trip to the doctor shouldn't break the bank.
This totally isn't weird at all. Right?
It's a choice.
America loves extra sugar in savory foods.
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Rose GIF
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river phoenix 80s GIF 
All of this will be ours one day. Yay.
Elderly woman with white hair on phone, sharing a story about a dead person her child has never met.
Surprised elderly man in blue shirt against a yellow background.
Elderly woman in pink shirt using a smartphone on a garden swing.
TV for waking. TV for sleep.
Elderly man using a magnifying glass to read a piece of mail
Mom is totally humiliated after her kindergartner tells the teacher what she does for work
She was clearly mortified.
A mom is embarrassed by her child.
One of the great joys and stresses of parenting is that you never know what will come out of your child’s mouth. When you have young, inquisitive kids, they can say really inappropriate things to people without realizing they were being rude or possibly offensive. TikTok influencer Aurora McCausland (@auroramccausland), known for her DIY cleaning tips, recently told a funny story on the platform about how her son believes she makes a living. The problem was that she heard about it from her child's teacher.
Mom is embarrassed by her child
“The other day, I went and picked my five year old up from school and when I get to his classroom his teacher pulls me inside and says, ‘Hey, today he wanted to tell us about what Mommy does for work and said that Mommy makes videos in her bedroom but only when I'm [he’s] not at home,” McCausland recalled.
Given her body language while telling the story, McCausland was clearly mortified after hearing what her child said to his teacher. It makes it look like she may be posting videos to adult sites while her child is at school, which most people wouldn’t want their son’s teacher to know about.
The good news is that another teacher was there to clarify the young boy's comments by adding, “I think she makes TikTok videos.” The uncomfortable situation was a great invitation to chat with her son about what she does for a living. “So I have to have a conversation with my son about how he tells people what I do for work,” she finished her video.
The funny video went viral, earning over 1.7 million views on TikTok, and inspired many people to share the times when their children had funny ways of explaining their careers. The commenters were a great reminder to parents everywhere that if your child says something embarrassing, it's ok, just about everyone has been through it.
Moms share their most embarrassing moments
A lot of parents spoke up in the comments to show McCausland that she's not the only one to feel embarrassed in front of her child's teacher.
"My son told everyone that we were homeless (because we don’t own our home, we rent)," KBR wrote.
"I work in ortho.. my daughter told her teacher I steal people's knees bc she heard me talking to my husband about a knee replacement," Aingeal wrote.
"My son told a teacher we were living in our car over the summer. Camping. We went camping," Kera wrote.
"In kinder, my son thought Red Bull was alcohol and told his teacher I liked to have beer on the way to school," Ashley wrote.
My niece told her teacher her mom and dad work at the wh*re house. They work at the courthouse," Ellis wrote.
"My husband works as a table games dealer at a casino. Kindergartener, 'Daddy's a Dealer!' We now start every school year clearly stating he works at the casino," CMAC
"My son said we lived in a crack house…There’s a tiny chip in the wall from the doorknob," KNWerner wrote.
"My dad is a hospice chaplain and officiates a lot of funerals. My son and nephew were asked by their preschool teacher if their papa was retired or had a job. They told her his job was to kill people," Tiffyd wrote.
"My son said "my dad left me and I'm all alone" to a random person at the zoo. My husband was just at work," Shelby.
"I am now in my 70s. In my gradeschool, during the McCarthy era, I told my teacher my dad was a communist. He was an economist," Crackerbelly wrote.
"In Kindergarten, my daughter told her teacher that mommy drinks and drives all the time. Coffee. From Starbucks," Jessica wrote.
"Well I once told my kindergarden teacher a man climbs over our fence to visit my mom when her husband is not home... It was a handy man who came to fix gates when they were stuck," Annie wrote.
Ultimately, McCausland’s story is a fun reminder of how children see things through their own unique lens and, with total innocence, can say some of the funniest things. It’s also a great warning to parents everywhere: if you aren’t clear with your kids about what you do for a living, you may be setting yourself up for a very embarrassing misunderstanding. So, even if you think they know what you do ask them as see what they say, you could save yourself from a lot of embarrassment.
This article originally appeared last year and has been updated.