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I am having a rough time finding the balance between A) staying informed enough about what is happening and changing right now to realistically ensure my family’s safety, and B) avoiding alarmingly-worded headlines designed to set off my anxiety and panic reactions.
I haven’t abandoned awareness of what is happening in the US and the world (head in the sand, la la la la la, look at the cute bunnies), but I also need to protect my own mental health (looking at cute bunnies usually works) so I don’t spiral down into total despair. The despair spiral staircase. The despaircase.
That balance is really hard to find.
And Trump and his supporters WANT me (and you, and all of us good people) to despair. They would like nothing more than for us to give up and just let them do whatever they want without consequence, because it’s too hard to fight.
It IS hard to fight. Really hard. But I recognize that they are deliberately manipulating me into feeling that way, and being manipulated or attempted-manipulated pisses me off SO MUCH, that it is making me fight HARDER, and they can all go eat a big bag of dicks.
You know Katy’s MAD when she not only says “eat a bag of dicks,” but commits it to print. And truly, asking those horrible people to eat said bag is an insult to fine dicks everywhere.
And I am SO MAD. If enough people had just FUCKING TURNED OUT TO VOTE FOR HARRIS, we would not be in this pickle. It’s not that Trump had more support across the board, it’s just that he had more actual voters who showed up. Under Harris, our system would still have problems, but “rapid systemic dismantling of the core of our democracy” would not be one of them. If you are my friend, and you didn’t bother voting last November, please take that secret to your grave.
One thing I have decided is that I will not listen to the sound of Trump’s voice. His voice causes physical reactions in my body that I don’t like: churning stomach, sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat. I don’t like that, and so whenever possible I will simply read transcripts of what he says instead. (Believe me, I still hear his voice in my head when I read along.)
In an effort to ride the line of staying informed AND staying sane (which seems like not that much to ask for! It shouldn’t be a cake/eat it too situation!), I am trying to limit my reading quality journalism that doesn’t do this stupid “both sides” bullshit — because really, there are not both sides when your country is being taken over by a fascist coup — and that leaves me with a little bit of hope at the end.
Here are the folks I am reading regularly, with links to their websites/Substacks, and some choice passages from recent writings.
Jessica Craven
Jessica writes the Substack newsletter Chop Wood, Carry Water: “A short, encouraging email 4 days a week telling you how you can make a difference by taking 5-7 minutes worth of EASY actions. You’ll receive an additional Sunday newsletter bursting with hopeful news, Democratic accomplishments, and all the ‘blue wins’ I could find.”
From “No Kings in America,” March 6, 2025:
How do we survive a moment as awful this? How do we continue?
My answer remains the same: We take it a day at a time. We stay in touch with why we’re fighting. We surround ourselves with love. We chop wood. We carry water. We do the next right action and we let go of the results. We remind ourselves daily that everything has a beginning, middle, and end. Some day we will get through this—or most of us will. But not if we quit now. Not if we throw our hands up and say “It’s too hard. They can have our country.” NEVER!
So let’s simply persevere. Let’s keep fighting. Let’s take our inspiration from the Ukrainian people—read this!—and refuse to give up. Most Americans are not on board with what’s happening right now. Millions more will join us as Trump destroys things they cherish. It’s awful now, and it will almost certainly get worse before it gets better. But Trump is ultimately planting the seeds of his own destruction. Each American he hurts will grow into another member of the opposition. He’s already unpopular. That will soon increase tenfold.
So that’s something to hold on to.
Viktor Kravchuk
Victor is a Ukrainian writer on Substack. His newsletter is War, Love, and Survival in Ukraine 🇺🇦.
From “Why Trump Needs You to Hate Him,” March 6, 2025:
Trump is not powerful because he is wise or competent or even particularly skilled. He is powerful because he has mastered the ability to make people hate him just enough to keep him relevant.
And that is what must stop.
Hating him plays into his hands. It makes him the center of attention, which is the only thing he truly values. It makes him the focal point of every conversation, every election, every crisis.
If we truly want to defeat Trumpism, if we really want to stop this cycle of division, then we must take away his greatest weapon: our hate.
Rebecca Solnit
Rebecca is an American writer and historian. Her website is Meditations in an Emergency and she has a newsletter you can sign up for. I’m currently reading two of her books (Men Explain Things To Me and Recollections of My Nonexistence) on the recommendation of my dearest friend Bonnie.
From “The She Made Him Do It Theory of Everything,” February 26, 2025:
In mainstream discourse, it’s become standard to blame the excesses of the right on liberals, the left, feminists, Black Lives Matter, affirmative action, environmental protection, and BIPOC and LGBTQ people. It’s a way that the right is granted masculine prerogatives and the left feminine responsibilities for the right’s behavior….
…the diverse population left of center is supposed to make nice to the right or be responsible for when the right goes wrong. These stories amount to “the left was so annoying about pronouns or liberals made people feel so guilty about plastic straws they had no choice but to get on board with the second coming of the Third Reich and the destruction of the planet.”
Jamelle Bouie
Jamelle is a journalist who writes for the New York Times. If you’re a Times subscriber, you can sign up for his newsletter.
From “We Need to Talk About the Lying,” March 1, 2025:
Those of us in the business of professional political commentary are not so comfortable labeling lies as lies and liars, liars. To say that something is a lie is to make a claim about a person’s mental state, and that takes evidence we may not have. But while it’s true that we cannot peer into the psyches of politicians and public figures, we do have the help of past behavior. And Donald Trump’s past behavior tells us that he is a liar who will say whatever he needs to get a vote….
…Looking ahead, the fact that Trump lied about his plans makes it all the more likely that the public will push back with force as soon as it has the chance. If Trump won on pocketbook issues, then it is hard to imagine he’ll successfully weather the reaction that is certain to come if his actions cause a recession.
I also regularly read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. She is a historian with a daily newsletter about what is happening, put into historical context. And also of course Dan Rather, whose newsletter Steady has been a guiding light for me since the first Trump administration.