Alan Zendell, March 13, 2025
Most Americans are so distressed over Donald Trump’s actions, they won’t watch newscasts, and they shun political discussions. But turning into ostriches won’t save our nation from slipping into fascism and autocracy. We need to remain informed, whether we’re directly engaged or not, and remaining informed includes distinguishing truth from fiction, lies, and fantasies.
It’s also important to not exaggerate problems or succumb to thinking they’re insurmountable. They’re not. That’s an illusion Trump’s strategists choreographed by flooding the ether with so much chaff, no one can tell what’s a real threat and what is just a distraction. We must learn to tell the difference. Trump’s game has always been to create sufficient confusion and chaos that his victims and adversaries don’t know what to defend or when to fight back.
Don’t fall into that trap. Pick your battles and try to ignore everything else. We can’t defend against every potential threat – that’s what Trump wants us to do. The painful truth is that solving crisis situations must start with triage. Doctors and first responders do it every day. Trump is going to do a lot of damage and hurt a lot of people. He is going to create terrible turmoil as he tries to dismantle the protections average Americans depend on from their government. That’s unavoidable.
Trump tells the media we have to absorb some pain. He admitted that bringing the price of eggs down was a lie to buy votes – I paid $8.99 for a dozen Sauder’s eggs, yesterday – and he told Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business he’s okay with his policies resulting in a recession, but it will all be worth it in the end. To beat him, we’ll use his own argument against him.
Corporate CEOs and economists keep telling us Trump’s insistence that he’s making America richer is utter nonsense, though saying richer instead of stronger or better reveals his real intentions. The more likely end result is that he’ll permanently damage both our economy and our country. But his argument makes perfect sense for the rest of us. We will undoubtedly suffer pain in 2025, but that pain is a necessary price to pay if we’re ever to rid ourselves of the dangerous, fascist, isolationist populism Trump preaches.
If you want your mental health to survive this year, you need only discipline your thinking. Don’t let fear and anxiety drive you. If you feel like you’re drowning in the confusion Trump creates, do what you would do if you woke up from a nightmare feeling that way. Remind yourself that it’s just a dream – you’re not really drowning, and most of what you hear and read is just propaganda designed to make you feel that way. Neither are you helpless against MAGA craziness; they want you to think you’re weak and defenseless.
Most important, remember that Trump has no regard for laws, regulations, morality, common decency, or the Constitution. He considers all those things annoying hindrances to his personal agenda, and that will be his undoing in the end. As Jim Carville said last week, I believe Trump has about eight months to try to remake our government in his autocratic, greed-based image. His approval rate is slipping, down from 52% when he was inaugurated to 43% seven weeks later. When his trade war re-ignites inflation, puts farmers out of business, closes factories, and creates impossible supply chain delays, that number is certain to drop into the thirties.
We may not care about Trump’s approval rating, but a few dozen people who are critical to the success of the Project 2025 script do. Every House Republican in a swing district is already dreading the midterms. As voter anger mounts, especially as Trump’s trade war impacts his base far more than the rest of us, those Representatives will do what they always do: act entirely in their own self-interest, and their first priority is being re-elected in 2026. They will have to choose between loyalty to Trump, a man who routinely stabs anyone he considers insufficiently loyal in the back, and responding to voters ready to reject MAGA. What do you think they’ll choose? And if, as Carville suggests, Virginia voters, who include 150,000 angry government employees and thousands of underserved veterans, elect a Democratic Governor in November, it will be game over for Trump’s agenda.
As I was writing this, federal “Judge William J. Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California…ordered six federal agencies to rehire thousands of workers with probationary status who had been fired as part of President Trump’s government-gutting initiative.” That’s just the latest of a rapidly growing number of court decisions that are telling Trump he won’t get away with tearing up our Constitution.
Hang in there. The game has just begun.
America the Beautiful 
Yes, the courts are one of the few places not entirely corrupted by MAGA.
Good morning, Alan, My husband and I are close friends of your cousin Jeff and his wife Vicky, and we also are Jewish. We meet monthly for dinner and avoid discussing politics because my husband and I are centrist Democrats. A few months ago, Jeff sent me one of your posts, and since I appreciate elegant and well-considered ideas and writing, I subscribed, and although I occasionally differ with your ideas, I enjoy reading them. You wrote a superb and much-needed post, and I hope your readers recognize why we must remain sane and calm. I commented to Jeff about Trump’s punishing Columbia University for not protecting its Jewish students, and he noted you attended Columbia and suggested I ask your opinion. What do you think of Trump’s action? All the best,Judy
First, let me say that despite our many differences of opinion, I have great respect and love for Jeff. He knows a lot more about many things than I do, and I always pay attention when he comments. When I was at Columbia, it was always a scene of student protest and demonstation. That’s part of what great universities do. I strongly disagree with the views and actions of the pro-Palestinian activists at Columbia, but I believe the principle of free speech as guaranteed in the First Amendment must rule here. I would feel differently if there had been an attempt to incite violence, but there is no evidence of that. I’m old enough to remember the Mark Rudd anti-Vietnam protests of the 1960s at Columbia. The current situation is benign compared to those.
Alan, Many thanks for your speedy reply and as we know, Trump disregards any Constitutional inconveniences. I look forward to your posts. All the best,Judy
This was written March 13th, are you of the same opinion now as you were then?
I think not, sure lower court judges continually reject his lawless methods, but it seems the Supreme Court continuous to fall in line with this animal and his extreme lawless ways. Even if, by some miracle, they did rule against this thug, how would it be enforced? He owns the military.
I don’t think ‘the people’ realized who they gave power too, in spite of him telling us who he is.
I like your optimism.
To “Depressed:” The last six months have shown me that a far more aggressive defense is required if we are to preserve of country. It is now clear that all of us need to act now and in concert. We can’t wait for the useless Democratic Party to show some leadership – it can’t and it won’t. What I wrote in March was hopeful, but time has shown it to be inadequate. In March, it didn’t occur to most of us that Trump might try to cancel the midterm elections. Now it’s clear that he will stop at nothing unless we stop him first.