By Robert Reich
Friends,
For a year and a half, we’ve been subject to the daily onslaught of Trump and his cruel, corrupt, and incompetent second regime.
My question to you now, in the middle of the summer of our discontent, is what strategies you’re using to cope with this horror.
My informal survey of friends and acquaintances suggests four major ones, listed below. Which best describes yours? (As usual, I’d appreciate your total honesty — with yourself and others in our Substack community.)
1. I’m tuning out all news of Trump.
I haven’t done this before, but it’s the summer, and I’m tuning out all news of him and his insufferable sycophants. I’m sick to my stomach of this atrocious man. I don’t want to hear his voice or see his face or hear another word about him.
2. I’ve decided nothing can be done.
For my peace of mind, I’ve decided that I’m not going to be bothered by him or his dastardly crew because there’s nothing I can do. He’ll continue to do whatever he does, and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it now. So the hell with him.
3. I’m practicing gratitude.
My main coping mechanism is to be grateful for everything that’s good in America — the generosity I see around me every day, the simple acts of kindness, and the courage and dedication of our teachers, social workers, and community leaders.
4. I’ve become more of an activist.
The way I’m coping is through activism — protecting the vulnerable in my community, supporting good candidates, sending postcards to potential voters, protesting against Trump and his outrages, boycotting companies enabling him.