Messy is as messy does! Where's Sherlock when you most need him?

Comparison:

Sherlock Holmes wasn’t talking to politicians, but he could’ve been. Holmes said this:

‘I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands.‘

Translation: If you fill your mind with junk, don’t expect to find the good stuff when it matters.

That’s exactly what’s happening right now in the highest office in the land. The 47th President isn’t running the country with precision.

He’s running it like a hoarder . . . an attic jammed to the rafters with junk advice . . . misinformation . . . social media garbage . . . and the screaming voices of people who make a living by being wrong loudly and often.

Jack Hopkins writes using Sherlock Holmes as a pivot point about the decision making practices of a certain president.

Are you, or your staff, up enough on your Holmes reading to tuck in with a telling comparison when you need it to solve a cultural mystery ("How DOES that guy make decisions?“) Hope so.

Context:

Sherlock Holmes wasn’t talking to politicians, but he could’ve been. Holmes said this:

"I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands."

Translation: If you fill your mind with junk, don’t expect to find the good stuff when it matters.

That’s exactly what’s happening right now in the highest office in the land. The 47th President isn’t running the country with precision.

He’s running it like a hoarder…an attic jammed to the rafters with junk advice…misinformation…social media garbage… and the screaming voices of people who make a living by being wrong loudly and often.

Citation:

Hopkins, Jack. “The Crowded Attic: How the 47th President is Drowning in Junk Advice While the Experts Are Locked Outside.“ Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter, 22 June 2025. Web.

(Image design by Lee Aigue; base image courtesy of Bing, June 2025.)