Kill the Trump doomscroll

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The news, in brief …

• “I think she’s out”: Pelosi’s retirement top of mind for House Democrats

  Rumors have swirled around the 85-year-old party leader's future. Read more.

• “Guns-a-blazing”: Trump readies invasion of Nigeria over claims of attacks on Christians

  The president directed the Department of War to prepare for "possible action" amid claims of Christian killings. Read more.

• Diane Ladd, Oscar-nominated actress and mother of Laura Dern, dead at 89

  The actress' career spanned more than six decades. Read more.

• Trump returns to “60 Minutes” and CBS News — because of Bari Weiss

  Will CBS News collapse under the weight of MAGA? Read more.

Make me smarter …

Zohran Mamdani knows how to win

Not just in New York — Mamdani's campaign shows how to inspire voters nationwide. Read more.

If you’re here, you’re a junkie. 

I know that’s hard to hear, but the first step toward kicking any habit is admitting it. Anything that lights up the dopamine receptors in your brain can become addictive. And there’s no denying that you’re hooked on the steady drip of outrage and incredulousness that marks the second term of President Donald Trump. 

If you’re anything like me, and – as we’ve established, you are – shortly after you wake up, you find yourself reading the latest news from another day of the bigoted and boorish Trump administration. 

The headlines, coupled with what we journalists call a “hero image” of our frequently smirking president, dole out a little hit of righteous anger. It feels good to let the outrage build as you run through a litany of transgressions against the Constitution and good taste. They’re carrying out extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean. They’re sharing outright white nationalist memes from official government accounts. They’re slashing the federal government to the bone with the go-ahead of the Supreme Court. But that rush will inevitably fade, a revelation coming on like dope sickness: There’s almost nothing you can do about it.

While it won’t kill you like some other vices, trying to quit this spiritually corrosive habit cold turkey is inadvisable. Start by trying to filter out the truly harmful stuff: stepped-on outrage bait from less-reputable outlets, freebased engagement farming from bots pretending to be American citizens, gas-station pill politics from flyover state Republicans with names like Cornstarch van Pelt. The strongest urges for quick fixes will die down within a few days, leaving only the desire for sharp analysis and commentary (*ahem*) and a need to know what’s going on around you. 

That leads us to the proverbial toothpick for recovering pack-a-day newshounds, the substitute ritual that makes sure we don’t go back. Your city’s newspapers, alt-weeklies and TV stations could use your eyeballs. Yeah, they’ll still hit you with a host of problems and outrages on a smaller scale – “everything’s fine” has never once been headline news – but at least some of those are problems you can do something about. 

My city might be unable to pay its bills, but local officials have easy-to-find phone numbers and someone on the other end whose job it is to hear me out. Your town has meetings you can attend in person, where local cranks will help explain the agenda to you. You can look the people who help make the important decisions in the eye and tell them where they’re going wrong. It might not change anything, but it’s better than sitting and stewing. That stuff will kill you. 

Before you go …

One writer’s plan to rescue baseball from itself

In "Make Me Commissioner," Jane Leavy breaks down how the sport lost its emotional core, and how to get it back. Read more.

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