Right around the time one of the worst people in the world became President again, I went quiet here again. Not only that, I’ve struggled to focus on writing.
If you’re not aware, he’s done all of the following:
- Referred to himself as King, and posted images of himself in a crown to social media
- Planned genocide for Gaza
- Repeated Russian talking points and worsened our relations with our allies
- Tried to broker a deal for “peace in Ukraine” in which Russia gets everything
- Withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement (again)
- Started the process of withdrawing the US from WHO
- Pardoned January 6 Insurrectionists
- Appointed some of the absolutely worst people to positions of power, including RFK Jr, Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, the DUI guy from Fox… honestly too many to list or remember, and that’s without mentioning Musk
- Approved a budget that completely eliminates Medicaid
- All his tariff nonsense
- Continued to execute the dreadful plan laid out in Project 2025
He’s fired FAA agents when the FAA were already understaffed. He’s fired scientists and experts from the CDC that are responsible for managing our response to H5N1.
He continuously promotes racism, starting with his unconstitutional executive order to end birthright citizenship. He defies checks and balances, ignores court orders, and threatens to withhold federal dollars to states when he feels they’re not bending the knee to him. First he started it with disaster relief for California. Today, he went at it with Maine’s governor.
There are things I’m forgetting. It’s so much, all the time, every day, and it’s overwhelming.
I can barely focus at work, let alone focus on my writing or these blog posts.
I don’t know how other people are staying functional when all of this bullshit is going on.
Some people have taken to the streets. Good! Some republicans are showing up to Republican held district townhalls and booing their representatives. Excellent!
It’s not enough, though.
Opposition to Trump and Musk continues to play by the rules, but it’s a sucker’s game. Trump and Musk are doing whatever they want, violating the rules, wiping their ass with The Constitution, and phone calling our representatives isn’t going to cut it this time.
We need actual leadership. We need an actual resistance.
Maybe we need to start breaking things. Not institutions and structures and objects which serve the people, but things that Trump and Musk value. People are already hurting, and we should try not to hurt American citizens more.
I wonder how I would feel if I read about Mara Lago getting burned to the ground. Or the destruction of a Tesla manufacturing plant.
It would be irresponsible of me to encourage that type of criminal activity, but I’m sure it’s legal for me to wonder about what the world would be like if such calamity should ensue.
If I was writing political thriller right now, I’d have a lot of material to work with. Maybe the final Mel Walker book will involve more politics. It will be about The End of the World, after all.
Anyways.
I hope you’re all hanging in there and staying more productive than I am.
I’ve struggled with this as well. And while I can’t say my productivity is what it has been, there are a couple things that have at least helped me sleep a bit better at times.
For the existential front; that is the continued human existence and civilization, google China and the massive strides they’re making with EVs and renewable energy. 50% of new vehicles sold in China are EVs. It’s expected that we’re at (or past) peak oil and coal – not because they’re running out, but because of demand destruction. The US may be throwing away its position in the hard-won energy transition, but the transition itself is beyond stopping.
For the US, I recommend listening to a podcast, ‘the rest was was history’, specifically their series on the 1968 elections. Although it does not make the day-to-day of the current experience less awful, it does help contextualize the rough times that the US has been through before. I think we still face unique challenges that need to be met, it also helped me realize that up until now we were fortunate to have lived in a more tranquil period.
We may be taking multiple steps back, but the issue is not settled, and we’ve covered this ground before.