Robert Reich Substack

03/09/2025

Let me share with you my six coping mechanisms.

First, I’ve stopped listening to Trump and even stopped trying to analyze his warped psyche. I already know he’s spouting nothing but lies. And by now I’m familiar with his malignant narcissism.

Second, I no longer pay attention to the politicians, media personalities, political operatives, and pundits who are treating what’s happening as a variation on normal partisan politics. They’re tiresome and wrong.

Instead, I’m seeking out voices who understand the stakes, who give me reasons for hope and practical ideas for what you and I can do. I’ve already shared some of them with you and will share more this week.

Some are voices from the past — people who lived through Hitler and Mussolini and Stalin, or through Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” or Pol Pot’s “killing fields.” Some are keen observers of what occurred (Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism) or historians (William Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany provides a chilling account that echoes today).

Fourth, I’m interacting with people whose average age is a half-century younger than mine — my students at Berkeley and my colleagues at Inequality Media. Their energy, humor, and commitment continue to buoy my spirits.

Fifth, I’m relishing my friendships and holding my loved ones tight.

Finally, I’m writing this daily letter to you in hope that it helps you cope in all these ways — and inspires you to even more activism, resistance, rebellion, good trouble, and peaceful civil disobedience.