This is the first time I’ve approached a new year with such dread. I did not vote for Trump and the expected political, economic, and geopolitical chaos I expect him to usher in. Rather than looking forward to a new year, I’m scared.
I’ve been searching for helpful suggestions for how to cope over the next 4 (hopefully we’ll have a free and fair election in 2028…) years. I’ve found one framework in historian Clay Jenkinson’ latest podcast episode.
Historical Antecedents
In it, he offers a historical perspective of dire times in US history that were worse than where we are, and yet we survived. Examples include the fractious election of 1800 that could have broken up our fragile new democratic experiment; the 1860 election and the run-up to and through the Civil War; the Depression years of deep poverty and isolationism; and the 1960’s Vietnam Era that resulted in civil and women’s rights even as assassinations of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King revealed the intense disenfranchisement of the old guard. These episodes, and more, led to chaos and deeply divided our country. Knowing about these historic times is strangely comforting to me.
As we enter 2025 and approach the upcoming inauguration, I’d like to share Clay Jenkinson’s suggestions for ways to cope during the next four years. His framework is a good way to construct our individual plan of action by embracing one or several of these options. [See more about Clay and his recommended podcast episode below).
Clay’s Options
Escape and avoid news altogether. Many of my friends are in this category, at least in the immediate aftermath of the November 4 election. This could include streaming non-news entertainment or reading a beloved series of books. We can find comfort through music or movies or anything that is not cable news or partisan media.
Enlightenment of one. We choose to focus on ourselves, rather than the chaos. In a positive sense, this is about intentionally becoming a better version of ourselves. We could spend more time and mental energy getting in shape, reading to learn something new or immersing ourselves in a new pursuit. Exploring a creative interest is a great way to find joy and use our hands rather than just our brains. Of course, this option could have a negative tone, by selfishly focusing on our own situation at the expense of others, just as Trump has shown us from his life.
Finding community. Expanding our community(ies) – whether in person or virtually – promotes our social, intellectual and spiritual needs. This includes deepening our friendships or friend group(s) or seeking to volunteer more in our local community, in whatever form that appeals to us. We all live in areas with local needs, so investing in our own community will help improve it, expand our social network and find meaning and solace. Research shows that isolation is the worst thing we can do for our mental and physical health. Advancing our social relationships is key to a healthy life.
Get into the arena and fight the good fight. This happened for a lot of women following the 2016 election. A positive of that negative is that many formerly uninvolved folks got involved in local, state or federal elections, or in efforts to fight for things they care about. Even if we are not interested in personally becoming the face of these battles, we can all attend a local meeting, contact our officials and representatives, or contribute money to those organizations or candidates that are doing the work on the ground.
Whatever your approach, please actively contact your governmental representatives, and make sure they know what is important to you. We must do what we can to maintain our democratic system.
My paranoia
Unlike Clay (who vows to stop watching any cable news), I will not stop watching MSNBC, especially Rachel Maddow and Ari Melber. They and other journalists are an important bulwark against the undemocratic challenge that MAGA represents.
I am not alone in being particularly paranoid as a Jew. I was raised on the Holocaust. 1930’s Germany was considered the most cultured, progressive country that had ever existed and yet its “evolved electorate” voted in Hitler and his horrors. It was exactly those German Jews who couldn’t imagine the lengths that their government would go to that were killed in the death camps. Even though they were thoroughly integrated into German society, just as most Jews are in US society today, they (and millions from other European countries) were condemned to death simplify for being Jewish — in the most heinous way.
Trump’s election has unleashed the most extreme of our society, many of them feeling free to display their racism and antisemitism. This side of MAGA feels very similar to 1933 Germany.
When is the right time to recognize the real threat and escape? This is what many Jewish people are thinking about right now. I can’t speak for them, but I imagine a lot of undocumented immigrants are feeling this way too.
Looking around and seeing how much antisemitism and chaos exists around the world right now, I don’t see an obvious escape. So, I’ll stick around and try to gather coping skills for making it through.
Buckle up. It’s going to be a long four years. I will continue to look for inspiration and will share what I learn. I welcome your thoughts and advice for how you’re thinking about today and how you are managing.
About Clay Jenkinson
I’ve followed Clay Jenkinson since he served as the historian on a Smithsonian trip about Teddy Roosevelt’s North Dakota that my husband and I took in 2019. He is steeply immersed in history, literature and philosophy. He’s a recognized Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and John Steinbeck expert, and has appeared in several Ken Burns’ documentaries. His current effort is traveling the US to assess who we are as Americans as we approach America’s 250th anniversary. I read his weekly emails and listen to his Listening to America podcast, in which he interviews other historians.
I recommend listening to Clay’s A Survival Guide for the Next Four Years from his
Listening to America podcast.
Well done, Linda. Although I wish you had offered a magic solution—like let’s all join together to buy an island and move there for four years, safe from the madness. I’m impressed you have the fortitude to watch Rachel Maddow and Ari Melber right now—I haven’t been that brave and, while I know the importance of their jobs, standing up to the chaos, I am not sure I have the emotional capacity to dig into the details with them as they so brilliantly do. You’re right—I need to pull up my big girl pants and support them by watching. And focus on the small things that make America a place I want to stay.
Thank you for your post I was waiting for you to weigh in on this one
Thank you, Linda!
I do find it difficult to engage as much as I feel that I should, but now that the General Assembly has begun I think that is where I will restart my efforts. I have created an Indivisible group and we are meeting weekly with the original Indivisible organizers. One of their messages is that we must support our trifecta Maryland., meaning our state has a democratic governor and both the house & senate are democrats. Our job is to amplify their voices, especially when it’s in opposition to the new administration.