I am still not watching Morning Joe. I am taking deep breaths and trying not to panic.
I go for hours without thinking about Chuck Schumer.
I’m not obsessing about what Democrats “should be” doing, saying, messaging, or posting on social media.
I’m not overreacting to every twist, turn, and angry outburst from Donald Trump. I know that as
writes to subscribers,The government shutdown shows no sign of ending, and there’s little reason to think it will anytime soon.
I do not want to spend that anytime being nervous.
I know that our country is being run by a bunch of 12 year olds, incompetents, evildoers and an egomaniacal wannabe dictator but I’m trying not to let that get me down.
I take a deep breath and think about health care. I’m glad that Democrats are focusing on what has been a winning issue for Harry Truman, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and even Joe Biden.
I don’t know if they’ll succeed in getting more than a dubious promise from Republicans to vote later on extending subsidies, but…
No. I won’t go there. Breathe deep.
I remind myself why I’m still a Democrat. I’m glad we have leaders like Hakeem Jeffries, Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House and I can’t wait to see them take charge.
I may have given up on Chuck Schumer—darn, I blew it!— but I watch Hakeem Jeffries and see him staying pitch-perfect on messaging, speaking clearly, sharply, and engagingly and showing what a tremendous Speaker he will be.
I know that all the wise outrage from people I respect about how Democrats are failing to tell compelling stories doesn’t amount to that proverbial hill of beans if people don’t express their outrage, passion, commitment, ideals—all that good stuff that makes some of us care about politics—into the only tool they have to do it with.
I take a deep breath and remember that Democrats can’t do anything without power, and that power happens through elections.
I see that the forecasts haven’t changed predicting a Democratic takeover of the House, and I have been drinking no Kool-Aid that blinds me to the obviousness of the Republican brand’s unpopularity.
I remember what a past Republican leader, former Rep. Tom Davis said, that if the Republican Party were a brand of dog food, “they’d take us off the shelf and put us in a landfill.”
I know that now, it’s both parties, along with any belief that voting or politics can make a difference in people’s lives, or should be taken any more seriously than professional wrestling.
I don’t know how or when the shutdown will end, the totality of the damage it will bring or how Democrats will look when it’s over.
I center myself towards the only thing that matters.
Breathe deep. Exhale. Think about the next election.