Unlike Los Angeles Times columnist Doyle McManus, I did not make a New Year’s resolution in 2023 to write less about Donald Trump. It was a worthy ambition even if McManus found it impossible to keep.
My New Year’s resolution 12 months ago was to write fewer columns about Donald Trump. That well-intended goal met the same end as most New Year’s resolutions; I soon fell off the wagon and wrote more columns about Trump in 2023 than I had the prior year.
Like it or not, the former president is the dominant political figure of our time.
I don’t disagree. But I’m pretty sure I wrote less about Trump in 2023. It wasn’t intentional exactly, although it wasn’t entirely unintentional. The truth is, the national media is doing a perfectly fine job of covering the disgraced ex-president. It’s not their fault that tens of millions of Americans don’t find Trump repellent and wholly unfit to be a free man let alone the president.
At this point, I do not care what outrageous thing Trump has just said to get attention. I don’t care what threat he’s issued or what new lie he’s told. The only thing about him that interests me is when he loses money. When he’s actually on trial for his freedom, that will get my attention.
I don’t really consider 2024 an election year, at least on the presidential level. 2024 is the battle of Armageddon for our country. We either hold Trump accountable or we’re done. So, my New Year’s resolution this year is to enjoy the country I love while it still exists. I’m not pessimistic necessarily but I’m mentally prepared to never live through a normal American year again. I will savor each day.
And, yes, I will write about why this is a battle of Armageddon, but not because Trump interests me in any way other than a mortal threat. It’s the American people who are getting put to the test here, and our legal system.
When 2024 ends, either Trumpism is dead, or our country is ruined.
Hope is a revolutionary virtue.
Just because much of the mainstream seems prepared to spend a 9th consecutive year deluging us with “Trump Supporters Support Trump” stories doesn’t mean we have to (or should!) follow their lead.
I am not constitutionally as optimistic as Simon Rosenberg but I think he’s onto something with his Hopium Chronicles. Nixon used to claim to speak for a “silent majority”. Biden and his supporters are in at least as good a position to do the same.
Been a while since I was here, and it’s good to get back to your analysis.
Something shifted in me the other day when I clicked on a headline to the effect that Israel has met its objectives in northern Gaza. I was hoping to read they’d start ramping down, but no, they’re just moving to the south.
It’s massively unfair that my immediate concern was domestic politics, but I’m human and I like my country. We should know by now that Democrats will vote against dumb wars, and they don’t turn out for candidates they don’t like.
Whatever the hell he thinks he’s doing in the Middle East, we run the risk that Biden is breaking up his own fragile political coalition to do it. In another year I might roll my eyes when the Dems pick a radioactive candidate, but the consequences this year are worse than usual, and it’s too late to pick another candidate.