How Are You Managing the Trump Overload?

A Saturday prompt

And thus it began. (Photo by Win McNamee via Getty Images)

Regular readers of America, America know that I value basic human qualities like compassion and kindness and fundamental values and principles embedded in our Constitution and Bill of Rights like justice, equality, freedom of speech and democratic self-governance. These last weeks of the Trump takeover—yes, it really has only been weeks—have been dispiriting as the human and Constitutional values that we hold dear have been tossed aside by the newly inaugurated president and his Republican Party. Instead, they have proudly consolidated their power by running roughshod over the Constitution without concern for the damage and pain that they are causing so many Americans. This can particularly be seen by their rubber-stamping Trump’s reckless, extremist Cabinet nominees and applauding Elon Musk and his miscreants invading the government systems and data bases that contain the nation’s and the people’s sensitive private data. Their dereliction of duty is enabling a coup, allowing the world’s richest man to usurp Congress’ control of the purse and undermining the separation of powers that limits the potential danger of an executive branch and its chief failing to act for the good of the nation.

There have been many discrete actions taken in these 19 days since Trump’s hostile takeover that have caused me and so many of us particular alarm and distress. These include the firing or attempted removal of so many critical people responsible for making the country safer and holding the current White House occupant accountable and limiting his abuses of power. The list also includes the cadre of inspectors general, thousands of agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and thousands more at the Central Intelligence Agency. The supposed “crime” of many of these conscientious Americans is performing their professional and judicial duties by participating (directly or peripherally) in the investigation of the violent attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Add to this list: the ongoing effort to stop the funding and shutter USAID foreign assistance that has the direct and immediate consequence of endangering the lives of millions of people in the developing world who face starvation, the spread of disease and death. This is a tiny program by U.S. funding standards and yet one that is both an expression of American humanity and serves national security interests.

But the actions taken just yesterday had an unusually deleterious effect on me, perhaps less to do with their specific vengefulness and stupidity than how they exemplify the reality of a deeply depraved man clutching the levers of power and exploiting them based on whim, grievance and the sadistic desire to inflict harm. None of these actions were necessary and each of these actions further corrodes our nation’s basic capacity for respect, decency, stability and security. These include Trump revoking the security clearance of former President Joe Biden, his plan to fire board members of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and install himself as its chair, and his demand delivered on Truth Social that veteran Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson should be fired “immediately” for criticizing Republicans who don’t stand up to Trump and Musk. Dare I say, these attacks and particularly his need to control arts and culture and silence dissent have an especially Hitlerian quality.

These times demand our attention, yes. But they also require our emotional discipline. That means not allowing ourselves to be outraged by every single intolerable action of Trump and his regime, an indulgence that can only lead to burnout, resignation and despair, which is exactly what the authoritarians hope they cause amongst the opposition. While I read about each of yesterday’s degradations, I limited my reliance on the repetitions of cable news and convinced my wife to head out early for drinks, food, some necessary ranting and some even more necessary laughter. We followed this up by binge-watching our latest guilty pleasure, Landman starring Billy Bob Thornton, written by the gifted Taylor Sheridan.

This week’s prompt seeks to shed light on how each of us is responding to this dark moment in our nation’s history—a chapter, by the way, which I remain convinced will be temporary if we hold onto our sanity and remain clear about the values and principles that we are fighting for. It sounds funny to say that drinking tequila (or whiskey or wine) and eating fajitas or tacos is part of my opposition regimen, but it just might become a more frequent if temporary antidote to all the madness.

So what about you? How are you managing the Trump overload? Maybe you want to focus on the specific degradations and violations that are upsetting you the most. Or perhaps you’d rather share with us the healthy—or unhealthy—responses that are helping you sustain yourself for the long haul of these four years. (That certainly may include paying attention to and supporting those who are pushing back.) I’m sure many of us will appreciate any tips they can garner for better living.

As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity of this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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One other note: I’m excited to share that I will be talking on Substack Live this Wednesday at 7 PM ET with Richard Stengel. He is the former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the Obama administration. Prior to that, he was editor of TIME for seven years. Among his many other accomplishments, Rick collaborated with Nelson Mandela on the South African’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.” More on that to come. I hope you’ll join us.

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