Staying sane with a head on fire.
I just had to do it, after about a decade-and-a-half on the list, I had to unsubscribe from Politico Playbook, the morning newsletter that — at one point — you absolutely had to read in DC. I read it every morning on the Metro to work. When I got to my desk in the Capitol press gallery, I sat next to the newsletter’s authors for about two years. They left, went on to found Punchbowl (and made god knows how much) but I kept reading Playbook.
Punchbowl, if you want the good stuff, is a couple hundred (or maybe thousand?) bucks a year. Playbook is free, Playbook is accessible and Playbook is way past its prime (and yet still sponsored by Facebook or Raytheon or whatever bloodthirsty company is trying to influence lawmakers this morning). But you read Playbook because it was conversational, you read it because it was gossipy.
But Jesus Christ, what’s the gossip anymore? Did you see who was ✨spotted✨ in the Longworth cafeteria, having lunch with a pair of congressmen? Stewart Rhodes, the recently freed anti-government militia founder who, just after January 6th said “My only regret is they should have brought rifles. We should have brought rifles. We could have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang fucking Pelosi from the lamppost."
Man, if that’s the gossip, count me the fuck out. When Donald Trump was sworn in, I was surfing and nobody was bothering me. And as long as Trump doesn’t greenlight some insane oil-drilling operation off my favorite surf break, that’s where I’ll be most of the time.
Life is better away from it all, is what I’m saying, and that’s an asinine thing to say because attention-seeking Instagrifters howl the same sentiment all day long. Every other YouTuber is pushing some self-help hackjob of “mindfulness.” And it’s also an absurd thing to say because it’s so spoiled. I get to check out. I’m the right color/gender at the right time. Ain’t nobody coming for me. I don’t live in Chicago. I don’t have to be afraid of ICE showing up at my kid’s elementary school.
A few weeks ago, the editor-in-chief of the New Republic wrote this piece about how it’s time to check back into the world, opening with: “folks, it’s time to reengage.” I kept coming back to that (I write for TNR a bit, so I have to know what they’re talking about over there) but I still don’t feel any real urge to “reengage.” Because what’s the point? I voted like a good little boy in a good little democracy. Isn’t that enough?
There will probably be a point when I have to take a stand somewhere. I remember, after Donald Trump tear gassed the clergy in 2020, that night, I went out and marched in the streets. Katie did too and the helicopters descended until they were about twenty feet above our heads, trying to blow us away. And that point will probably come again. The excrement will likely hit the air conditioner, as they say. But I don’t think it’ll hit here, I don’t think it’ll hit in Los Angeles. And if it does come here, it’ll come slower than it does elsewhere.
Trump was out here the other day — I only know that because the news was scrolling across our Alexa screen while I was prepping dinner — and he said he was going to eliminate FEMA. It was a silly little play on his part and he was only saying it to spook the assembled California Democrats, whom he considers his god-given enemies.
But where does FEMA actually change lives? It doesn’t change lives in the Pacific Palisades or Malibu. It changes lives in deep red places like South Carolina and Florida and southern Georgia, places where there’s just about no other safety net.
But this attitude that I’ve adopted speaks to a larger sort of mindset. I have to check in occasionally, sure. I make a good bit of money off politics, off writing about it. But I also suspect this whole thing will fall apart, just like it did last time. And so why bother myself with the crumbling? Why not just wait until it’s disintegrated and circle back at the next stage? Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense? RKF Jr. to lead HHS? Elon as president-in-waiting? These things won’t last. Why must I follow their every development?
Because you have a kid who will have to live in this world a long time, and because you're the right color/gender of the moment, you can't check out. You don't seem like the type who actually would, just the type who feels something close to despair right now and needs a break. Maybe be grateful you feel that way? Says something good about your soul.
Kind of a high stakes gamble, though.