Trump calls it “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I have a more accurate description: our political trauma.
After almost a year of Trump’s second term, I and many other people — including, very likely, you — are feeling exhausted, distraught, and sickened by what’s happened to our country and the world.
As Times columnist Bret Stephens puts it, we are being led by the most loathsome human being ever to occupy the White House — a petty, hollow, squalid, ogre-in-chief.
Every day that goes by seems to bring uglier vindictiveness, bigger lies, wilder boasts, and worse policies.
The cruelty is almost unbearable — the destruction of USAID, the pursuit of undocumented immigrants, the breakup of families, the arrests and detentions without due process, the bombing of small boats in the Caribbean and killing of more than 100 people, and so on.
The fact it’s being done in our name, by the United States of America, is heartbreaking.
I try to be optimistic. I tell myself — as I’ve told you — that we will be all the stronger for having gone through this dark time. Most of us now have a new and deeper appreciation for democracy, the rule of law, and social justice.
I also tell myself that we couldn’t have remained on the road we were on — with its widening inequalities and worsening political corruption.
I believe all this, but it doesn’t always subdue for me the sting and the stink of Trump — the shattering, dispiriting sadness of it all. That we’ve barely completed the first year of his likely four-year regime is terrifying.
We are not powerless, of course. Together we are making significant progress against this scourge. The ogre is not able to do as much damage now as he did initially. The slumbering good giant of America is awakening.
But the vile man in the Oval Office continues to say and do horrible things.
My early New Year’s resolution is to accept this for what it is — a terrible blight on America and the world — but not allow it to discourage me or dim my determination to fight it.
I hope your determination remains strong, too.
I’ve found that the best antidote to political trauma is political activism. We shall overcome. We shall overcome.
May you find joy and rest in this holiday season. May you recharge your batteries for the struggle ahead.
Thank you for all you do.
- Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.
- Robert Reich’s new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org
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