What should we focus on as Trump 2.0 begins?
Choosing where to put my (our) energy
What should be the focus of my (our) attention during the second Donald Trump presidency? It’s something I’ve been thinking about of late, and especially these last few days.
I wrote a lot about politics in 2024, as a wild presidential election raged around us. The plan all along was to branch out in 2025, continuing to write about politics but with additional topics thrown into the mix. But now, as a new presidential term commences, politics doesn’t feel like it’s going to slow down anytime soon. We could be headed for a whirlwind of a few years. I mean, there might be a dozen different posts I could write based just on what’s transpired in the past week.
But I don’t particularly want to write about all of those topics.
Part of this is exhaustion. I’m finding the endless outrages and distractions and controversies draining. Part of it is dismay over the realization that, in this new media-political environment we inhabit, facts don’t matter all that much. Heck, sometimes reality doesn’t matter. Mostly, though, it’s a desire to focus more on the original goal of this blog. As I wrote back at the start:
Politics is life, but there is also more to life than politics …
Pick a topic that affects your life and it is almost surely linked to a decision made at some level of government. Schools, roads, health care, food safety, marriage, retirement. Politics is knitted into nearly every aspect of our existence … That said, life is also about more than following politics. Aside from the obvious importance of family and friends, life is also about reading great books or wrestling with thought-provoking ideas. Enjoying a great conversation over coffee. Being touched by a travel experience. And more.
So I’m going focus on that initial idea. Politics, yes, that will always be a big part of it. But not the entirety. And not only for this blog, because for me this sentiment also applies to life in general.
When Joe Biden won the 2020 election, one of the things I thought I was most looking forward to was a return to a less toxic political landscape and to a news environment less focused on the outrage of the moment. That was obviously naive. Then again, even Joe Biden thought he was returning politics to normalcy. The truth is, though, that life has changed, politics has changed, the media has changed. We may never return, or at least not for quite some time, to a less polarized environment. And I simply don’t want to devote all my waking hours to thinking about the news.
If I’m going to continue writing about politics here (and I am!), I need to choose what to care about. There is too much of a flood of information hitting us from every angle, so if I have x amount of energy and space to devote to this then my goal is not to devote it to the outrage of the day.
So I’ve started grouping topics into categories:
1. A distraction, not worth my energy
Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America?
Who cares?
It’s been called the Gulf of Mexico since at least the 1600s, well before the United States ever existed, and Mexico actually has slightly more coastline on the Gulf than does the U.S. So I don’t imagine the rest of the world will suddenly start calling it the Gulf of America. This is just red meat to rile up MAGA folks who want to gloat about Trump’s masculine energy and dominance.
For everyone else, Trump wants people focused on distractions like this. When we give energy to it we become overwhelmed by headlines and taunts and insults. Pretty soon exhaustion takes over and we stop focusing on anything.
So, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America, whatever, it’s not worth my energy.
2. Important, but not always for this blog
There is a second category of topics that I will occasionally write about, although the goal will be to do so when I have a bigger picture perspective to add or when I can write about it in the context of history. Or perhaps when I can include it as part of a roundup of topics in a politics notebook post.
For instance, it’s pretty obvious that, unless Republicans can’t agree among themselves, there will be further tax cuts coming this year for billionaires, accompanied by tariffs that will raise the price of everyday goods for everyone else. These tariffs will take a chunk out of the budgets of middle- and lower-income families.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon addressed this just today. He admitted that, yes, tariffs will be inflationary and will raise prices. Do you know what else he said? “Get over it.” I mean, hey, he’s rich and likely has another tax cut coming. But inflation caused by tariffs? Get over it. Does he care that the cost of cars and televisions and groceries would increase? Maybe not, but the rest of us do.
Then again, presidents don’t have much power over inflation anyway, do they? That’s what Trump himself said recently. “It's hard to bring (prices) down once they're up. You know, it's very hard," Trump said. So sure, he’d love to bring down the cost of groceries, as he promised on the campaign trail, but, well, you know. Get over it, I guess.
Those last few paragraphs? That’s my outrage showing. And it’s an example of what I don’t want to spend my energy on. There will be a never-ending supply of things like this to write about. And I will. Sometimes. But that’s not really what I want this blog to be about.
Rather than getting caught up in the headlines, a better way for me to approach an issue like tariffs would be to: (1) Look at in relation to history, such as by harkening back to William McKinley’s presidency, which Trump seems to be enthralled by. At the time, the U.S. did rely more on tariffs, but the country ended that reliance for various economic and political reasons. Or, (2) Consider the topic in terms of how it impacts inequality, which multiple observers have noted is one of the primary drivers of discontent with democracy these days.
Anyway, that’s the goal at least. Focus on important issues primarily when I can do it from a perspective that is somewhat different than the headline (or outrage) of the day.
3. Bigger picture topics, or issues that touch on the future of America
This is where I’d prefer to focus my energies when I write about politics. What can the past teach us about this American moment? How is democracy being impacted by current events? How have the major parties been transformed and what does this mean for future elections?
I’ve already written numerous pieces along these lines. A few examples are:
The goal is to write one of these essays every couple weeks or so. And in between there may be a post about a current issue (ideally one on which I can provide a unique take or twist on the topic), a Politics Notebook, or an Election Chronicle that delves more into history.
Next up
Ironically, this post came together when I started out to write about Trump’s inauguration and the first days of his presidency. But there were so many potential topics it was almost overwhelming. I started thinking that (a) this will likely be the case for the next four years, and (b) some of these topics really aren’t worth my energy. That’s when I started putting things into categories and deciding how I wanted to approach not only the past few days but the next weeks/months/years of politics.
I finally settled on writing not about the flood of headlines that have deluged the news this week, but rather about the small handful of actions that are most likely to affect the future of American government or the Constitution. That post was then taken over by this one, because I decided that (especially if you’re a regular reader) it’s helpful for you to know where I’m coming from. Not only that, but it also speaks to decisions that everyone is making in real life these days about how to interact with the news.
In any case, I have another post coming this week about recent actions that could prove harmful to the country’s democratic traditions. And after that I’m going to begin more of a rotation of posts that mix a healthy amount of politics and history with other pieces on travel, books, ideas, and more.
I’ll see you in a couple of days.