Two Things to Know About What’s Happening in the U.S.

How are you feeling? The news cycle feels like a tornado that’s sweeping us all up. But here are two things I’m keeping front of mind about what’s happening in the U.S. right now (and please share your thoughts in the comments)…

1. Stay steady, stay focused. The Trump administration created a specific plan for kicking off his second term: shock and awe. They figured they’d flood the media and overwhelm the public, so that we’d get so muddled we wouldn’t know what to do and then just…freeze.

“If you overwhelm the media — if you give it too many places it needs to look, all at once, if you keep it moving from one thing to the next — no coherent opposition can emerge,” explained Ezra Klein on his podcast last Sunday.

But don’t believe what Trump says, Klein urges. Trump makes wild, horrifying proclamations, but, as much as he may want to, the President cannot rewrite the Constitution, and many of his proposals are being stopped out of the gate. “Within days, the birthright citizenship order was frozen by a judge,” writes Klein. “A judge froze the spending freeze before it was even scheduled to go into effect, and shortly thereafter, the Trump administration rescinded the order, in part to avoid the court case.”

This is not to say that things are not bad — they are. I don’t want to minimize the wreckage. People are living in immense fear, and many are being harmed, including trans folks, immigrants, federal workers, the list goes on. Even the threats Trump makes and the language he uses make people less safe by promoting racism, sexism and “us vs. them” thinking.

Instead of freezing in shock, however, we can act together. “The pace and frequency of these offenses is meant to flood the zone with shit, as Steve Bannon put it; to confuse, bamboozle, and immobilize us,” writes Jay Michaelson, a rabbi, activist, and former professor, in his newsletter Both/And. “They promised that they’d do ‘Shock and Awe’ and that’s what they’ve done. Nothing here should be surprising. Do not lose your composure.” We will stand firm.

2. Get the 5 Calls app, which makes it very easy to call your reps. You can make five calls in five minutes; they give you the phone numbers and tell you exactly what to say about major issues (like protecting the Department of Education or fighting against Elon Musk’s government takeover or opposing RFK Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services). It’s simple and straightforward, and these calls make a difference.

Also, consider reading Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Democracy on the Brink, which offers crystal clear strategies for fighting back over the next four years. Written by two very smart, funny people, this guide felt bolstering to read.

Please share your thoughts below — these are extremely difficult times, but we have a lot of good people in this country and a lot of energy and bandwidth. Sending big hugs and solidarity.

P.S. Poetry, if you need some right now.

(Photo by Jess Woodhouse/Stocksy.)

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