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I came across a phrase, “It’s just another day in paradise” in an article by The Hill (July 20) that came under the title, “Trump demoralized his own team with dizzying Russian moves.”

It reads;

“Rank-and-file intelligence and national security official feel demoralized by the president’s failure to publicly call out Putin for interfering in the 2016 election.

“It’s just another day in paradise,” said one former White House official. – Russia narratives have been a daily ordeal for two years. Nobody knows what the president will do or say and nobody knows what they don’t know.”

I can’t find the exact meaning of “It’s another day in paradise” in dictionaries at hand nor in online dictionaries, except the quote from Phil Collins’ title of a song, “Another Day in Paradise.” and lyrics I googled;

"Oh, think twice. It’s another day for you and me in paradise.
Oh, think twice. It’s just another day for you, You and me in paradise."

It may not be a positive remark here anyway. But, I’m curious to know what “It’s just another day in paradise,” exactly means, when it is used in the specific context of political / diplomatic deals.

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    @Lawrence here.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 6:11
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    "Just another day in paradise" is a standard postcard greeting, first made popular (in the U.S.) in sincere cards from vacation spots like Hawaii and the Caribbean, and later used sarcastically in reference to communiques from war zones. You can see examples of both kinds of postcards on this page called Just Another Day in Paradise Postcards. In reference to the White House, the reference is certainly sarcastic.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 6:44
  • Probably from filmmaking: We call the collection of animated films made in the Virgin Islands, "Another Day in Paradise. 1973 books.google.it/…
    – user 66974
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 6:54
  • The earliest Google Books match for the complete phrase "Just Another Day in Paradise" is to a 1982 music LP of that name by Bertie Higgins. I believe that the album title again alludes to standard-issue postcard greetings from tropical vacation destinations. Inclusion of the word "Just" at the beginning of the statement emphasizes that paradise-like conditions are normal there.
    – Sven Yargs
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 7:01
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    In the current context it has something of the same meaning as SNAFU.
    – Hot Licks
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 17:04

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Consider the following for context:

“Getting along with Russia would be a good thing, not a bad thing,” the U.S. president said in April – a sentiment he has voiced many times before and since, going back to his days as a presidential candidate. - Fox News, 15 July 2018

We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come! - Trump, 18 July 2018

The speaker’s displeasure with the situation makes the paradise comment a form of sarcasm, the only question being whether the official was highlighting the non-ideal situation itself, or mocking Trump’s view that things were going well. Probably the latter, given the quotes above, but likely a touch of both.

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For many interns and Government officials, working in the Whitehouse administration is proving to be hell.

It is hellish, sweeping after the President's blunders and impromptu statements in press conferences and in tweets. Trying to repair diplomatic relations, supporting his "no tolerance" immigration policy but then blaming it on the Democrats the next day, etc. on what appears to be a weekly, if not, daily basis.

The caustic line, “just another day in paradise", is a snowclone of “Just another day at the office”

used for saying that something someone does as part of their job is routine, especially something difficult, dangerous or unusual

For added effect, the quip is juxtaposed with the following statement: “Russia narratives have been a daily ordeal for two years”.

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When you go on holiday to a warm, sunny, and very poor country, it's paradise for you, but not for the people living there. That's what the lyrics in the Phil Collins song are about. When you say it in this situation, it is either very naive (you don't realise that it's not exactly paradise for the poor people living there), or it is sarcastic (because you understand it exactly).

“It’s just another day in paradise,” said one former White House official - you would expect that a White House official has a nice job, close to the top of political power. Like being in paradise. In the context of what follows the sentence, it is clear that he or she is being sarcastic and means exactly the opposite, that being a White House official today is just the exact opposite of paradise.

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  • This is Phil Collins' not about. It is about rich people living along the poor and ignoring their troubles. Saying this sentence in the White House also suggests that the concerns of common people are ignored.
    – rexkogitans
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 12:50
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    +1 This is the only answer that actually reveals the shade of meaning that is essential to using this phrase in an ironic manner. I've lived in tourist "paradises" most of my life. It's a local's phase that hinges on the disparity between what you are peddling as a service to others and what you yourself can enjoy. Living conditions and quality of life among the service workers on cruise ships, to name one example, are deplorable. Colorado has a similar phrase - "you can't eat the mountains"
    – Phil Sweet
    Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 13:19
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The existing answers are good. I would note that there is a common idiomatic phrase, trouble in paradise, that is frequently employed sarcastically to refer to:

An unexpected problem in a supposedly positive situation, especially in a marital or romantic relationship.

This idiom forms the basis upon which being in paradise is often meant to be ironic, indicating that although one has reached a place they ostensibly want to be and should be content, they are still facing problems. It is often meant to be somewhat mocking.

In the case of another day in paradise, a common phrase, as described in the existing answers, is being employed sarcastically in a fashion similar to saying to someone with a lovely spouse and children and a large home with a white picket fence -- all traditional measures of success:

Trouble in paradise?

Working in The White House has traditionally been a prestigious role, and so the achievement of securing a White House job only to find yourself in a chamber of absolute chaos and fecklessness might certainly evoke a feeling of irony for many of those subjected to the experience.

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I don't see why this is so difficult to understand. If you are tasked with shoveling 6 months worth of poop out of a cow barn you might sarcastically say that the job is "like being in heaven".

"Just another day in paradise" is sarcastic. It's saying that the situation is miserable, but it's kind of expected since the day before was like that, and the day before that.

You do sometimes hear it used in a sort of doubly sarcastic sense, when a minor SNAFU occurs at the office, eg. In this sense it's basically saying "Yeah, that detail is not all that great, but let's try not to focus on the negative."

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