Surviving the Next Four Years

A practical guide for coping with and getting through Trump 2.0

Man holding signs during on a demonstration outdoors.

It’s been nearly 50 days since the soul-crushing election, and many of us are still in a bit of shock and experiencing continued denial. The headlines have been disturbing, to say the least, as they preview what the next four years could be like here in the U.S. and around the world. We are in dire need of some coping mechanisms.

With 2024 drawing to an end, I figured it might be useful to compile some strategies and tips, gleaned from experts and from my conversations with many readers, on ways to survive these next four years, both individually and collectively as a democracy. These are in no particular order, and some of them may or may not resonate with you. I hope you nevertheless find them helpful and even practical.

Avoid the lure of nihilism

You feel it sometimes in your gut, and you see it in others’ comments: a sense of doom and despair. “There is nothing we can do.” “They will get away with everything.” “Nothing we can say will ever get through to the other side.” “Face it, it’s the end of our democracy.”

Let me first say that anyone who hasn’t indulged in even a bit of this thinking hasn’t been paying attention. Things are bad, and in fact quite bad. So it’s perfectly natural and human to entertain these thoughts.

But we can’t remain stuck in such thinking. So I want to offer some perspective from a great man who has seen and overcome many great challenges in his life.

I worked for years with the actor and activist George Takei, who spent his childhood in Japanese American internment camps during World War II. He and 125,000 others in his community experienced what a fascist America really looked like: families rounded up and forced from their homes at gunpoint, forced to live for weeks in horse stables then for years behind barbed wire fences, with no charge and no trial, all for the “crime” of looking like the enemy.

It would have been understandable for George to become embittered and to turn his back on this country. Instead he dedicated his life to a cause, working to deliver reparations for his community and to teach the history of the internment so that we would never repeat that terrible chapter of our history.

He taught me a word in Japanese that I still think about a lot to this day: gaman. It means to face challenges with dignity and fortitude. Things have been bad before, and for many racial minorities, far worse than now. But they didn’t give up. They persevered, even in the face of the terrible dysfunction and injustice of our system.

When I feel like throwing up my hands, I remember George Takei, and people like the late John Lewis, and I draw strength from their example. They did not let despair paralyze them or cause them to surrender.

Be a voice of hope, not fear

One of the ways fascism succeeds is through fear. And one way fear spreads is through public repetition and normalization. Some of our corporate and media leaders are already setting terrible examples by “obeying in advance” and capitulating to Trump’s threats. We shouldn’t be like them. But beyond that, it’s important to consider what impact our own attitudes have on others.

Author

Robert B. Hubbell

often sees defeatism and capitulation in the comments of readers of his Today’s Edition newsletter. While these reactions are understandable, they are not helpful. Here is what he said about them recently:

And a word of restraint to every reader who is itching to write in the Comment section, “What makes you so sure that Trump will leave office” or “There won’t be any more elections,” I urge you not to give voice to dark fears that are not likely to materialize. If you repeat such warnings in response to every hopeful rallying cry, you unwittingly normalize the notion that Trump can stay past his expiration date. That is exactly what he wants you to do. Don’t help him out. Instead, direct your energy into ensuring that Democrats are as successful as possible in 2026 and 2028.

Others are working hard to find hope and a path forward. They, too, feel frustrated and scared. But the last thing they need is more weight dragging upon their hopes and actions.

I wouldn’t stand by a firefighter battling a blaze and exclaim, “Why bother, it’s all just going to burn down anyway!” Likewise, I wouldn’t want to deflate the hopes of those striving to push back against MAGA Trumpism.

It takes but a moment to pause and realize that a defeatist comment may feel cathartic in the moment, but could negatively affect the mood and the spirits of others fighting hard against creeping authoritarianism.

Unplug from the network news

I often receive texts and DMs from friends and colleagues asking about the events of the day, and I can almost always tell if they’ve been watching CNN or MSNBC. (I don’t personally know anyone who watches Fox, but my friends whose parents do report similar behavior.) They want to know my take on what such-and-such pundit said, and my response lately has been the same: Turn off your TV.

The 24 hour news cycle has one mission: to draw you into its drama. Whether it’s to enrage audiences on the right with stories about the woke left or to outrage audiences on the left with the dangerous antics of the right, there is very little critical thinking going on and a whole lot of reacting. There are still a few good programs on these networks, but nothing is worth keeping it on more or less full time.

I want to share a personal story here. My own mother was a free thinker in her youth. She formed her own opinions and wasn’t afraid to challenge orthodoxy. Sometimes she got things terribly wrong, but she was willing to admit to that. But as she got older, she watched Chinese state-supported media more and more, and she began parroting the talking points of the CCP. It was like watching her become a Fox-addicted viewer, but from the Chinese perspective. She even refused to believe there were camps built by the Chinese government to hold hundreds of thousands of Uyghur prisoners for “re-education.”

So I got her a copy of the New York Times to read (I know, I know, but it was at least a very different take on China). I only learned after her death that this added news source had made an impact. She had cut out and highlighted a long article about the Uyghur camps and left it in a folder in her office with my name on it. She knew I would find that folder, and she had let me know that she believed me now about the camps.

Support independent journalism

Many of our major papers, from the Washington Post to the LA Times, have billionaire owners who have recently demonstrated that they would rather please, or at least not ruffle the feathers of, the incoming administration than hold themselves up to basic standards of journalistic integrity. A small but collectively significant thing we as consumers can do is to vote with our eyeballs and our dollars.

There are many independent sources of news with terrific reporting still happening. ProPublica was the one to break the stories on the corruption of Justice Clarence Thomas and the purchase of his support by wealthy benefactors, and I support them with an annual subscription. Another great outfit is Popular.info, which regularly exposes corporate malfeasance among other important topics. I have a favorite set of Substack journalists and analysts I support including

Heather Cox Richardson

for news with a historical perspective,

Joyce Vance

for legal news and analysis, Robert Hubbell for a daily news summary, and Talking Points Memo for political analysis.

While these sources admittedly lean left, I also regularly read and support more centrist reporting from The Bulwark.

Stop wondering what Trump is distracting us from

A very common but I believe mistaken take is that Trump’s daily dose of crazy is there to distract us from what he really wants to get done while we’re not paying attention. But after nine years of following Trump, I believe this is neither a helpful nor correct way to think about him.

Trump has no master plan. He acts impulsively, often based on something he recently saw or someone said to him. For example, it was one of his wealthy New York friends, Ronald S. Lauder, who put the idea of buying Greenland into his head, where it is still rattling around to the dismay of the Western allies. And as I wrote yesterday in The Status Kuo, it may well have been internet troll Laura Loomer who got Trump fixated on Panama and the false idea that the Chinese are somehow angling to control both the canal and the “invasion” of migrants who are passing through the Darién Gap at the border with Colombia.

Often, Trump acts so impulsively that his own advisors are caught off guard, such as when he suddenly invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to the inauguration. That news set off alarms not only across Washington but also within Trump’s own camp. (Xi has declined the invitation, but geez.)

It’s better to view Trump as a kind of pyromaniac who will set many things aflame, with the rest of us there to stomp out fires before they become conflagrations. The good news is that many of his ideas wind up going nowhere, even if we have to spend time creating fire walls or wetting down the roofs. (For example, Denmark is never going to sell us Greenland.)

The bad news is that some of his other ideas are backed by people hell bent on seeing them through, such as the mass deportation of undocumented migrants or the politicization of our civil service under Project 2025. It is those people we need to watch carefully, who will take advantage of the chaos Trump causes daily to accomplish his nefarious goals.

High among these actors stands the unofficial president, Elon Musk. He has already shown that he will goad the GOP and Trump into chaos then take full advantage of the moment, just as he did with the crisis over the continuing resolution and the looming government shutdown, where he wound up killing key provisions that would have hurt his businesses.

In short, while Nero fiddles and Rome burns, watch who is entering and exiting the treasury.

Defend institutions

There’s been a lot of attention paid to historian Timothy Snyder’s first rule in fighting fascism, which is not to obey in advance. But there’s not enough attention on his second rule.

In his book On Tyranny, Snyder writes,

Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about—a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union—and take its side.

The great thing about this rule is that all of us can do something meaningful to help. Speak up for our court system and the rule of law, even when (or perhaps especially after) they fall short of expectations. The goal is to improve them as institutions, not to cast them aside. Support your local newspaper with a subscription. Rally at your state capital in support of laws protecting abortion rights. Support striking workers by avoiding companies that are anti-union.

These acts seem small, but collectively they matter a great deal, and our institutions cannot succeed without support from the public.

Don’t feed the rage cycle

In our social media driven politics, it’s often the loudest and most obnoxious voices that the algorithms amplify. They find and uplift these voices based upon the reactions of others. Just as we must turn off the network television, we need to recognize online trolling and not give it added oxygen.

What does this look like in practical terms? When a troll (or Russian or AI bot) leaves a comment meant to provoke a reaction from you, ignore it. Or report it. Do not engage; do not respond. Tag an administrator if you’re so inclined. Your experience online will be greatly improved if you practice this non-engagement.

On a related note, when a person seems genuinely upset and is lashing out or even making inappropriate or hyperbolic statements, resist the urge to shame them, temping as that might be. I personally employ a technique I learned from a parenting podcast (yes, a parenting podcast) called “Most General Interpretation.” I ask myself, “What is the best way I can look at what this person has just said?”

Sure, they may have gotten the facts totally wrong. They may have called me a name or questioned my knowledge or motives in an unfriendly or hostile way. But perhaps they are upset or tired or just had a bad day. That doesn’t excuse bad behavior, but it does allow me to respond more compassionately and without judgment.

Beginning with, “I hear you, and I get it” or “I’ve felt that way sometimes, too” is a great starting place before you make whatever point you were considering in response. It’s amazing how often people who seem like trolls are actually just having very human emotions in the moment and need a compassionate listener.

Okay, enough kumbaya for now.

Support the front line fighters

Most of us have jobs, responsibilities, families and busy lives outside of politics. Still, we read the news, we stay informed, we vote regularly, we donate to candidates, and sometimes we still lose elections and the consequences are very bad. When that happens, as we just experienced, is there anything ordinary citizens should be doing more of to remain helpful in the fight to save our democracy?

Sometimes the best thing an ordinary citizen can do is support those who are the political equivalent of first responders. These are the activists, lawyers, community organizers and local candidates who form a protective shield and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable.

It’s really important to identify which communities are likely to be most impacted by draconian policies put forth by the incoming administration. These include immigrants, trans people, and women needing access to abortion care. Donating to immigrant rights groups, LGBTQ+ rights organizations (I serve on the board of the Human Rights Campaign and fundraise for it regularly), and women’s reproductive rights organizations will deliver the most impact by directly supporting the folks in the trenches who are fighting the far-right agenda and have real expertise in the matter.

Not everyone has the time to volunteer. But many of us have a few bucks to spare each month. Make your contributions recurring and part of your monthly budget so that these organizations don’t have to spend time coming back to you for more. And when your own personal financial situation improves, up your monthly contributions.

Find your community

A powerful antidote to the challenges of our times lies in the strength not just of our institutions but of the communities that work to uphold them. And the internet has made it easier than ever to join civic minded groups and participate in democracy, whether in person or online.

The power of community is particularly important when disaster strikes. Writer Rebecca Solnit has been a strong voice and compelling advocate of turning to community to overcome great loss and tragedy. She studied the aftermath of tragedies like September 11th and Hurricane Katrina, which led to her book A Paradise Built in Hell. Solnit found that people often respond to collective trauma with solidarity, courage, and a commitment to create change for the better—a kind of broader take on what Fred Rogers once advised in the face of disaster: “look for the helpers.”

We should understand that the 2024 election was a disaster, too, though a slow moving one that will take time to play out. The fear and uncertainty that naturally arises from it can be compounded by a sense of isolation and detachment from others.

On the other hand, a solid sense that we are facing this threat together, community beside committed community, leads to a secure and even profound belief that they cannot overcome us all because we are in fact half the electorate, united in our resolve to defend our democracy and republic.

Commit small acts of resistance

It’s easy to imagine a terrible outcome. After all, most of us see the dangers and are watching many of our fellow citizens slow march themselves straight toward a political cliff.

But just as we can imagine a really bad outcome, we can also imagine a far better one, where for example Democrats retake the House and maybe even the Senate in 2026, where criminals like Steve Bannon are sent to state prison for money laundering and fraud, and where the worst of Trump’s appointments are either rejected or stymied by their own incompetence and institutional resistance by the departments they hoped to disrupt.

But the experts say that it is not enough to simply imagine a better outcome. To help relieve anxiety and combat despair or paralysis, it’s critical to picture that better outcome and then take one small, positive step toward it.

Maybe it’s donating to a cause, or calling your senator (Senate hotline: (202) 224-3121) or showing up at a local school board meeting to resist censorship in schools.

In taking that small step toward an envisioned outcome, you become an active participant in helping to bring it about. It can unstick you from that feeling of helplessness or resignation that just thinking about a terrible outcome can often produce. In this way, we can all consider not just what we are going to say and think about our future, but what we are actually going to do about it.

Stronger than before

The above is by no means an exhaustive list. It’s more like a baseline or starting point for engaged resistance. At the very least, I hope this framework opens you up to what’s possible and to the important idea that none of us is wholly powerless in the face of a second Trump term and rising MAGA fascism.

Indeed, and somewhat paradoxically, the worse things grow and the crazier things get, the more opportunities and incentives there will be for active, organized resistance. We can use Trump’s own hubris and sense of invulnerability to rally our side and strike a powerful counterblow in 2026. In fact, the first test of this is just weeks away where two special elections will determine the balance of power in both chambers of the Virginia legislature. (To help out, see Ben Wikler’s thread on Bluesky here.)

Look to our team here at The Big Picture, too, where we’ll continue to bring our perspective, ideas and resources to the fight ahead. Together, we can and will survive the next few years, in solidarity with all who want to see restored the values of American democracy and adherence to the rule of law.