Exhausted. Burned out. Drained. Fatigued. Deflated. Tuning out.
These are some of the ways the anti-Trump, pro-democracy movement has been described since November’s election. I’ve felt all of these, though the motivations toward resistance remain strong: fear, anger, even sometimes hope. Motivation is difficult to sustain or to harness, though, in our perpetual news cycle, a kind of torture machine force-feeding us with the flood of shit.
Cabinet picks, one more absurd than the next. Vow after vow by Trump to revenge and deconstruction. Bow after bow to Trump to appease and capitulate. Numbness seems inevitable. So does disconnection.
In a piece this week, columnist Charles Blow relieves resisters who are taking a break of shame, arguing for the necessary role of rest:
It would be a mistake for anyone to confuse a temporary disconnection for a permanent acquiescence, to believe that liberals will be satisfied to form a mournful cortege marching helplessly toward Inauguration Day. People won’t passively abide what they experience as oppression. They will chafe at it and buck under the weight of it. The quiet you hear is the storing of energy for the political battles to come, which is itself part of the fight.
For the moment, I am mostly at rest, trying to share joy and gratitude with loved ones in season. Anxiety still simmers about what’s to come.
During Trump’s first term, I mirrored the chaos, lurching from issue to issue, protesting in various ways as he announced a Muslim ban, loved on neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville and insurrectionists invading the Capitol, separated families, suggested bleach injections could cure Covid, and more, and more, and more. I subscribed to too many publications, spent too much time on then-Twitter, watched too much news and commentary. At one point, I found myself standing in a park in the cold holding a sign that Jeff Sessions shouldn’t get fired—Jeff Sessions!—and wondering how I got there.
Blow explains that for the movement, “Energy conserved now will be crucial later.” Just as important is to carefully consider how, where, and when to expend energy when Trump and MAGA are setting fast-moving fires everywhere. How many times have we been told—and often annoyingly—that Trump News Item A is a purposeful distraction from Trump News Item B, when both should deeply concern us, and Items C through Z will drop by week’s end? Maybe that’s always just been a plea for focus. We can’t all worry about it all.
No question, I could have done a lot more over the past decade, but I also wasted a lot of time and energy. Conservation of energy needn’t mean tuning out, but focusing on news about the issues I care about most and the sources that educate and motivate me best. (Also: Blocking social media trolls. Avoiding hate-reads. Not having to hear or have an opinion on everything.) So I’m resolved to reduce news consumption and increase news quality.
Conservation of energy isn’t abstention from resistance. Some of the most effective resisters I’m inspired by are terrifically focused, and they are focused on the issues where they are equipped to make the biggest difference. Two come first to mind. Marc Elias of Democracy Docket has used his legal expertise to fight successfully against GOP efforts to restrict voting rights and suppress the vote. Jessica Valenti, in the wake of the Dobbs decision, applied her expertise writing about women and politics to start the remarkable Abortion Every Day newsletter and author Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win.
I had a boss in banking who liked to say to the specialists, “I don’t need to know everything about this topic because I have you.” He didn’t need to be the smartest person in the room (even though he usually was); he didn’t need to recreate wheels or spin his own. For the anxious (stop looking at me), it can be a relief to find the experts devoting themselves to specific issues—and to help them help. So I’m resolved to support key experts with donations or sharing their work.
There will also be times where we have to pour once again into the streets. But it’s a trap—that some in the media may fall into—to think resistance takes only or primarily that form.
“Recenter what you love,” Blow argues, citing Toni Morrison.
Following the resisters who inspire me, I can recenter what I know. And what I love and know best are K-12 public schools, teachers, and students. ICYMI, I’ve written and spoken about them a good bit since I started Nobody Wants This, but I can do more as schools face new and continued threats and challenges.
So I am resolved to fight with the tools I have in the arena I know best, and redouble my efforts as the Trump Administration furthers efforts to weaken public education. I hope you’ll bear with me if (okay, as) I keep hitting on some of the same topics I’ve written about before.
In the past, I’ve eschewed New Year’s resolutions, but this year, I have these several focusing tasks—which is really one, a singular resolution to stay in the fight.