Sadly there are no surprises with regard to the viciousness of this president. And we’re just getting started. I enjoyed your post, as I always do, and think you’re on to something. This bully and his supposed mandate to do his worst, is, I think, wrong. Pushing back may keep him a bit in check and hopefully in two years, he’ll have nothing left but his bitterness. And, the Democrats will have the House or Senate or both. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for this post. It’s been a disorienting and downright frightening and depressing last couple of weeks. I keep zeroing in on my own version of what you seem to have hit upon. Instead of letting myself become completely consumed, as I have in the past, my goal is to stay informed, and to use my voice to protest and push my elected officials for action, but also set boundaries for myself before I lose sight of my own agency.
I’ve been trying to channel my energy into positive, concrete actions I can take to counteract some of the cruelty, greed, and vindictiveness this administration, and its allies, spew into the world. So far that includes volunteering at my city’s nonprofit institute for refugees and immigrants, giving blood, continuing to volunteer at a cat shelter, and throughout each week, checking on my family and friends to make sure they know they don’t have to navigate all of this madness alone. There’s more, and there will be more to come. But maybe if enough of us keep putting that good back out into the world we’ll get through this somehow. I don’t know. I’m just trying to take care of myself, my family, and my community. All I know is that while each of us only has a finite reach, the power of a bunch of us doing what we can really is a big thing.
Thank you for this post. It is helpful to my current scrambled mindset. Handwritten notes are important. I know I sent one to you with appreciation for your essay contribution to “Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully” because I knew you would have something insightful and poignant to bring up. And you did! And this today is a reminder that we can control only a few things in life, so do what you can do best and life will work around it. I feel better already.
Tom - thanks for the information on your book, I just bought a copy, and not from Am@z%*. This 50+ year Dodger fan is looking forward to the joy I get from reading it.
And Will - thank you for your weekly rays of sunshine into this dreary world.
I know so many people who are dedicated federal servants in DC. This part: “To care about something, to want to become as excellent at it as you can, to be your best self and share that with the world, is to be close to God: It is, yeah, to change the world. It's what all of this is supposed to be about.”
Will, you're right. But now Musk was handed the keys to the Treasury Department and all of a sudden, mine, your parents and everyone's Social Security, VA benefit, SSI, the whole shebang is in limbo. Not all of us can go up and move to Portugal or even Canada (Grandmother Anderson was born in Ontario) and I can't afford to even move across the street.
"The full faith and credit of the United States shall not be abridged or questioned." Madison never envisioned this.
I agree with positive attitudes and actions, and I am more and more trying to think that way, However to get out of the political morass, we can't do it with good intentions and ideology. I suggest that we got into the current crisis for two reasons. 1) Ideological preoccupation, polarizationl, and overreaction, leading to neglect of the perceptions of people not part of the cultural establishment. 2) a Mephistophelian strategian- Donald Trump, who did not allow ideology to block him from realistic pathways for exploiting societal weakness to gain power.
In a Hill Op-ed I pointed out that since the electronic era and instant communications, effective strategy, not qualifications, party support, or money have dominated presidential wins. If you don't believe me, consider the superbly qualified Al Gore: Representative, Senator, vice president and leader of the Reinventing Government program in the Clinton administration -which had the last balanced budget. And he was best-selling author of a book on climate change. Yet, he was defeated by G.W. Bush who 61% of a group of presidential historians ranked as the worst president in U.S. history. Why? Because he had a brilliant campaign manager, Karl Rove, who never lost a campaign when he was in full charge.
Bottom line: for progress we have to move away from gut reactions and aspirational politics into reality.
Sadly there are no surprises with regard to the viciousness of this president. And we’re just getting started. I enjoyed your post, as I always do, and think you’re on to something. This bully and his supposed mandate to do his worst, is, I think, wrong. Pushing back may keep him a bit in check and hopefully in two years, he’ll have nothing left but his bitterness. And, the Democrats will have the House or Senate or both. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for this post. It’s been a disorienting and downright frightening and depressing last couple of weeks. I keep zeroing in on my own version of what you seem to have hit upon. Instead of letting myself become completely consumed, as I have in the past, my goal is to stay informed, and to use my voice to protest and push my elected officials for action, but also set boundaries for myself before I lose sight of my own agency.
I’ve been trying to channel my energy into positive, concrete actions I can take to counteract some of the cruelty, greed, and vindictiveness this administration, and its allies, spew into the world. So far that includes volunteering at my city’s nonprofit institute for refugees and immigrants, giving blood, continuing to volunteer at a cat shelter, and throughout each week, checking on my family and friends to make sure they know they don’t have to navigate all of this madness alone. There’s more, and there will be more to come. But maybe if enough of us keep putting that good back out into the world we’ll get through this somehow. I don’t know. I’m just trying to take care of myself, my family, and my community. All I know is that while each of us only has a finite reach, the power of a bunch of us doing what we can really is a big thing.
This is extremely well-put, and in a far more succinct fashion that I was able to muster.
This is lovely, and will stick with me. I appreciate what *you* are doing!
Hey Will, great one this week! Thank you, I know I needed this.
I wanted to share an article I read this morning highlighting the work an individual is doing in the LA area helping after the devastating fires.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/us/california-wildfires-debris-recovery/index.html
This is great. They only win if we feel scared, alone, or overwhelmed. Small kindnesses and stiff resistance are the way forward.
This is a lovely little ray of light. Thank you!
Thank you for this post. It is helpful to my current scrambled mindset. Handwritten notes are important. I know I sent one to you with appreciation for your essay contribution to “Perfect Eloquence: An Appreciation of Vin Scully” because I knew you would have something insightful and poignant to bring up. And you did! And this today is a reminder that we can control only a few things in life, so do what you can do best and life will work around it. I feel better already.
Thank you, yes. And I received that, though fairly recently. Thank you for that as well. The book seems to be going well!
Tom - thanks for the information on your book, I just bought a copy, and not from Am@z%*. This 50+ year Dodger fan is looking forward to the joy I get from reading it.
And Will - thank you for your weekly rays of sunshine into this dreary world.
I know so many people who are dedicated federal servants in DC. This part: “To care about something, to want to become as excellent at it as you can, to be your best self and share that with the world, is to be close to God: It is, yeah, to change the world. It's what all of this is supposed to be about.”
Many of them keep telling me it's so much worse right now than we think it is.
I think that is true
Morez is number one at the moment.
We sure seemed to figure out something late, that's for sure ...
Will, you're right. But now Musk was handed the keys to the Treasury Department and all of a sudden, mine, your parents and everyone's Social Security, VA benefit, SSI, the whole shebang is in limbo. Not all of us can go up and move to Portugal or even Canada (Grandmother Anderson was born in Ontario) and I can't afford to even move across the street.
"The full faith and credit of the United States shall not be abridged or questioned." Madison never envisioned this.
Yeah. That was without question the scariest moment of the weekend. Fascinated to see how markets react tomorrow too.
I agree with positive attitudes and actions, and I am more and more trying to think that way, However to get out of the political morass, we can't do it with good intentions and ideology. I suggest that we got into the current crisis for two reasons. 1) Ideological preoccupation, polarizationl, and overreaction, leading to neglect of the perceptions of people not part of the cultural establishment. 2) a Mephistophelian strategian- Donald Trump, who did not allow ideology to block him from realistic pathways for exploiting societal weakness to gain power.
In a Hill Op-ed I pointed out that since the electronic era and instant communications, effective strategy, not qualifications, party support, or money have dominated presidential wins. If you don't believe me, consider the superbly qualified Al Gore: Representative, Senator, vice president and leader of the Reinventing Government program in the Clinton administration -which had the last balanced budget. And he was best-selling author of a book on climate change. Yet, he was defeated by G.W. Bush who 61% of a group of presidential historians ranked as the worst president in U.S. history. Why? Because he had a brilliant campaign manager, Karl Rove, who never lost a campaign when he was in full charge.
Bottom line: for progress we have to move away from gut reactions and aspirational politics into reality.
Gore couldn’t even win his home state of Tennessee in the 2000 election and it was nowhere near as red as it is now