Ellen Wells emails:
Paul, I’m surprised I haven’t seen you write anything about Trump’s inauguration or the slew of horrible decisions he’s already made in his first couple of days back on the job.
The reason I haven’t commented on his return to power is that I didn’t watch even a single minute of it on Monday (or since then). I didn’t have to in order to know what depths he and his colleagues will stoop to.
But I have friends who are lifelong liberals whose stomachs are in a constant state of knottedness. They can’t take their eyes off the horror show that is this presidency, and their anxiety levels are sky-high every day. I have suggested to them — as I did during his first term — that they stop paying such close attention. And even more importantly, stop being shocked.
I’d have thought they had learned this lesson already, but apparently not, so I’ll explain again.
If you were invited to a pool party and discovered that one of the other attendees would be a man who has a reputation for going to such events and taking a dump in the pool, then you shouldn’t be surprised when he does exactly that. Or if a guy applied for the job of head zookeeper by promising to release all of the animals on his first day in office, you shouldn’t be shocked to see the zoo’s animal population escaping and wandering around freely.
Wasting energy worrying about things you can’t make better doesn’t solve anything. And the fact is there’s nothing you and I can do about the anarchy being unleashed by Trump and his MAGA Morons. No amount of protests will change his abhorrent policies or influence his influencers. No number of outraged op-ed columns or late-night TV jokes will have any impact. No angry blog post will make a dent in the Teflon shield.
So, as I said I would after Election Day, I am not allowing the Liar In Chief to take up any of precious brain cells — which means eschewing any such content:
- No detailed reads on his latest outrageous act(s).
- No social media posts or Substack newsletters on the subject.
- No “Daily Show,” Kimmel, or Colbert.
- No MSNBC or CNN (although I did watch a few minutes of Anderson Cooper last week to see coverage of the wildfires in LA).
Yes, there are plenty of people whose lives will be uprooted, convicted violent criminals released like those animals in the zoo analogy, and fiscal decisions made that hurt the working class in order to further enrich the wealthiest. It’s going to be an ugly, ugly four years — and there will residual damage for a long time after he exits 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the last time.
My choice to not become outraged on these matters has nothing to do with kowtowing to the new administration — as the heads of tech companies and media outlets have done. Rather, it is based on prioritizing my mental health above all else. Because sometimes, no matter how depressing reality has become, you have to look past it, live your own life, and try to find something good for yourself and your loved ones every day.
That’s what I’m doing. I hope you can, too.