In case you missed the memo, 2018 isn't getting any less crazy than 2017. Thanks almost solely to Donald Trump, the year got off to chaotic head-splitting start, jumpstarted by a par-for-Trump’s-course delusional interview in the New York Times, a tweet storm alienating many of America's allies around the world, and a banana-republic call to jail his political opponents.
The opening act was immediately followed by the Don's nuclear warhead pissing contest with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, a bombshell book that categorically confirmed Trump's mental incapacitation and unfitness for office, and his catfight with erstwhile political bestie Steve Bannon that included an "official" presidential rant and successive "cease and desist" orders.
If you feel like our nation's politics have been on an exceptionally trashy episodic loop for the past year, it's true and it's partially due to Trump's languishing mental acuity—something Trump aides know better than anyone, according to the author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. Michael Wolff writes:
Everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his repetitions. It used to be inside of 30 minutes he'd repeat, word-for-word and expression-for-expression, the same three stories — now it was within 10 minutes. Indeed, many of his tweets were the product of his repetitions — he just couldn't stop saying something.
Oh brother, really? We're stuck with this frenzied rinse-repeat cycle of madness for another year or maybe more? And it’s getting worse! The total exasperation is likely what led to this cathartic Daily Kos screed, Dear F*cking Lunatic—An open letter to Donald Trump, which was retweeted this week by both comedian Chelsea Handler and journalist/producer David Simon.
You can see why—the piece manages to be both clever and funny amid its all-enveloping rage, but it's also not a place I want to live for another year running. So I'm proposing something different for 2018: How about we take our lives back by thinking both bigger and smaller than Trump this year.
Over the holiday, one thing I noticed was how refreshing it was to take a break from His Orangeness and think more expansively about what was possible rather than being stunted and mired in his constant petulance. As someone who swims in Trump's cesspool on the daily in an effort to make sense of it (or at least regurgitate it), I had the distinct sense that brain rot was starting to set in. So I resolved to read, watch or listen to something that feels entirely expansive and totally removed from Trump at least once or twice a month. In some ways, that may not sound like much—but he literally spews such a gusher of crap all the time that it’s been all consuming to keep up. And the worst part is, Trump is so small that he has us focusing downward all the time. Let's not cede that power to him in 2018. Instead, we can angle upward at least some of the time—it's both healthy for the human spirit and a legitimate form of resistance.
My first effort in this vein was to download the latest book by Brené Brown, a social worker, professor and author who studies and writes about vulnerability, connection, and being true to yourself. Yes, it's kinda touchy-feely stuff and I'm a softy at heart, so it may not be for everyone. But for anyone else who's into that kind of thing, I fully recommend checking out her Ted Talks as a starting point and going from there. And if readers have suggestions for other inspirational works, please drop ‘em below—I’d be happy for suggestions on inspired books, podcasts, etc.
Of course, the counterbalance to going big is going small by concentrating on the things that we can more immediately touch or impact than national politics. This could include anything from focusing on the goodness of your daily interactions with people to putting more emphasis on family time. But since y’all are a political bunch, I'll plug my earlier New Year’s recommendation to adopt a Congressional race that you hope to help flip from red to blue by donating, canvassing, phone banking or helping in some other capacity. If that still feels too big, focus on state or even local level races.
One thing a handful of deep-pocketed LGBTQ donors did quite successfully after the movement's 2004 and 2006 drubbings on anti-gay marriage measures at the ballot box was to home in on Congressional and state elections, where their money would go the furthest. The group sometimes coordinated their giving to certain seats/candidates with an eye toward flipping control of state chambers to what they termed "fair-minded majorities"—those that would vote in favor of LGBTQ rights (or at least not make maligning gays their sole goal in life). I wrote several pieces on their efforts, including one in 2006 and another in 2008, if the idea interests you.
My personal think-smaller project as a journalist is to start some sort of regular podcast in which we talk to people who have been inspired to do something totally new—like start an organization or run for office—in response to Trump's election. Stay tuned! (And if you have recommendations about people I should talk to, please drop them below—I'll check it out.)
This will be my way of helping to shape the big picture by focusing on all the individual elements that make it up. After covering the LGBTQ movement and the tectonic gains it made within about a decade through the hard and often uncomfortable work of millions of everyday Americans, I believe deeply in our personal agency, our individual ability to help shape events, and the inspiration we can draw from one another. We might not be able to stop Trump from polluting Washington and the national airwaves, but we certainly can plant the seeds of the world we want to live in at home.
In 2017, a collective equal and opposite response to the repugnance of Trump was absolutely critical to stanching the wounds he would inflict on our democracy. And for many communities in 2018, that visceral response will continue to be a vital necessity. But 2017 also laid the political groundwork for us to stop simply reacting and start thinking proactively about the future. By doing so, we can take back our country from the fear-based zero-sum scarcity thinking that Trump and his acolytes have thrust upon the nation. After helping to chronicle the past Year in #Resistance, I’m convinced that the vast majority of our country is capable of better.
As Indian author Arundhati Roy once wrote: "Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."
That world is coming—we just have to make space for her.