The Devil is in the Details
The devil is in the details is a phrase that reflects that a plan may contain hidden problems. Something that seemed to be simple, but the fact of the matter is complicated and may cause deeper problems.
We saw this in a congressional interview of Jack Smith, the lawyer who brought the case against Trump. It was clearly an attempt for the Republicans to cross exam Smith that contained anger and the belittling of this key figure in the investigation. John Kennedy from Louisianna questioned Smith with gotcha questions and ended his interview by saying that “Jack Smith made him throw up in his mouth.”
Eric Schmitt, Senator from Missouri, couldn’t wait to have his moment in the sun and advance his popularity to take his turn to embarrass Jack Smith. He was looking for Smith to be cornered into
telling a lie. He referred to Jack Smith as a dirt bag.
The devil is in the details. It is like a coin! On the one side is getting the details correct. On the other side of the coin is the necessity of requesting of others of details that are correct and will shine light on the truth.
One of guidelines for doing counseling of others is to question a comment that you don’t understand with phrases like, “Are you saying that you were home at the time of the murder?” There is a whole school of psychotherapy that asks repeatedly when things are not clear. It is Client-Centered Therapy developed by Dr. Carl Rogers. The common phrase for followers of this school of therapy is “What I hear you saying is….” The client feels heard and the therapist has a correct understanding of the issue at hand.
For example, letting truth from someone who over generalizes about a point should be asked; ”What I hear you saying is that you had someone by the name of Frank who can prove you were at home?”
There is a difference between gotcha questions and questions that honestly are seeking to move a general response to a person’s statement to a concrete response. “In fact, there were others including Frank. What are their names?”
It is a way of dealing with liars and people who deal in half truths. It is also something that I was taught while in training at Duke. “Don’t let anything that you don’t follow in a conversation or that you don’t understand or that you need more information about to go unad
Trump is a perfect example of having incomplete conversations with others sometimes using the “mythical they.” Think of all the times he says that “somebody or they have told me about how inadequate Biden was as president.” For a therapeutic exchange that comment needs to occur the listener or interview should respond with “can you give me some of the names of those people who said that.? Surely you can remember one.” Or on 9/11 when Trump indicated that he sent two hundred workers to the site of the two towers to help, and he was present as well. The response should be (the truth), “That’s interesting because no one saw you or your workers there even in the chaos.” As he campaigns for Republican candidates, he has stated that he would give himself and his administration an A+. Someone should respond with, “That’s not what the polls say.”
Whoever it is whether Trump or a friend who plays loose with the truth ironically is helped if they are being honest. If not, they can get the Senator Eric Schmidt Award for getting the details wrong to their own embarrassment. The largest paper in Missouri covered Schmidt’s error and gotcha question that his credibility has been sorely diminished.
When Trump gets caught for his lies, think about his common response. He changes the subject of the attacks or attacks [the reporter.
Jack Smith is the opposite of Trump as he answered all the questions that he was asked with truth. As one viewed the hearing of Jack Smith, the viewer could see he is the exact opposite of Trump and Schmitt. He answered all questions with detail.
The devil is in the details is certainly true but therapeutic conversation clearly has truth and God in the details. It implies that the other person or persons in the exchange are worthy of honesty and value.
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