My ideas for this blog have been just as scattered and chaotic as the Trump administration’s flurry of executive actions. There’s so much going on and so much to say about all of it — but that’s kind of the point.
As several experts — in government, in history, and in politics — have reiterated again and again in the last 10 days, the Trump administration is trying to overwhelm us. They are trying to pull our attention in so many different directions that we become paralyzed and unable to process anything at all. They are trying to pile so much bullshit onto our plates that we throw our hands up in disgust and walk away from the table. (In this analogy, the table is a democracy by the people, for the people.)
Such has been pointed out by Chris Hayes, MSNBC host and author of The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, and historian Heather Cox Richardson, who has been comparing modern politics to American history since the first Trump presidency.
And both have made it clear that the best thing we can do for ourselves is not try to pay attention to every single thing coming out of the Trump administration. Instead, we should pick a few topics close to our hearts and pay attention to those specific things and what we can do to affect positive change in those areas.
It’s great advice — but I’m struggling to follow it.
I’ve always been someone who cares deeply about many things, even matters that don’t impact me directly. It’s part of what made me a good editorial writer. So it’s hard for me to not follow everything that’s going on.
However, Heather Cox Richardson said something in one of her live chats recently that resonated with me (and I’m paraphrasing here): There are national groups and national advocacy figures who are handling the national issues — they are on top of all the sweeping policies coming out of the Trump administration and they are poised to fight back.
What we can do — you and me, average citizens with our smaller platforms — to help is to stay on top of what is happening locally and to connect with others, especially existing groups, to cause good trouble.
For my part, I’m following in my mother’s footsteps and becoming more active with our local League of Women Voters. She and I have also attended Red, Wine, and Blue webinars; unfortunately, though, there are no chapters in West Virginia. And when the West Virginia Legislature begins its regular session on Feb. 12, I’ll be focusing my attention there. (Sorry to my out-of-state readers. I hope you’ll keep checking in anyway.)
Shaking our fists at the Trump administration can’t stop them, but we can incessantly call and write our Republican representatives and senators and make it clear that their capitulation is not serving anyone. (Reaching out to Democrats is just preaching to the choir; we need the non-MAGA Republicans to stand their ground.) Better yet — get our registered Republican friends and family to contact their Republican representatives and make it clear that they did not vote for grant freezes that jeopardize jobs and Colombian tariffs that spike coffee prices and an Elon Musk-run shadow government.
Much of my social media community is sharing about a service called 5calls (5calls.org) since emails seem to be getting ignored. It’s a website (with an app version) that will help you find the phone numbers for your senators and representatives based on your zip code and give you a script based on the issue you want to talk to your congressperson about. (They have a sidebar menu with 14 topics ranging from Musk’s illegal takeover to opposing RFK Jr.’s cabinet nomination.) 5calls will walk you through calling each of your congresspeople.
Not all of us are suited to marches and protests, but we can all do something in our own little ways. We can make phone calls, we can write about what’s happening, we can help organize, and we can donate to the organizations doing the big work.
Trump’s administration is trying to divide and conquer us by forcing us to spread ourselves too thin to put up an effective resistance. So we’ll respond with our own kind of divide and conquer. Find your niche and your community. Focus in on the areas where you can affect the most change. And start making good trouble.
J. Nelson - Writer 