Everything Is Awful. And It’s Changing Us.
It’s great that Disney is bringing Jimmy Kimmel back—but is it too late?
THERE ARE FEW THINGS the old me liked more than a meaty discussion about the American Founding. I used to revel in new details about the philosophical debates surrounding the Federalist Papers, and eagerly gobble up revelations about the relationships among the men and women who shaped this nation at its start. The history was interesting for its own sake but also essential guidance for the present and future. Or so I believed for decades.
The other day, a podcast in my feed addressed these matters and I had to turn it off. Reflections on the Founders no longer feel energizing. Instead, it now feels to me as if we’re seeing the end of the story. Their wise (if flawed) system for ordered liberty, in which majorities would rule but not trample on the rights of minorities, is not holding up. Perhaps we will right the ship, but that’s by no means clear, and, at this moment of crisis, it’s impossible to think about the Founding without wondering whether this is the way the United States of America ends—spiraling down into authoritarianism following a convulsion of baseless hatred and self-inflicted ignorance.
With each fresh outrage from the Trump administration, I’ve wondered whether this is the thing that will break through and provoke a revolt by civil society. Perhaps the abrupt and heartless cuts to international aid that did so much to bolster our global standing and cost us so little?
Or the kowtowing to Russia after interminable boasting that Putin “respected” him?
Or the bullying of Volodymyr Zelensky—accusing him of starting the war of aggression against his own country?!
Or Trump’s reckless and idiotic tariffs on friends and allies (sparing Russia) that sent the world economy into a tailspin and left everyone wondering whether we were being governed by a toddler on acid?
Or smashing a carefully cultivated relationship with India because of a petty ego injury (Narendra Modi’s refusal to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize)?
Or the massive cuts to basic scientific and medical research—a foundation of America’s economic might—to punish universities for their political postures?
Or the grotesque self-enrichment dwarfing anything in American history? (The memecoin scam? The Qatari jet?)
Or the creation of a MAGA standing army in the form of ICE?
Or firing generals who would not proclaim loyalty to the orange king?
Or the reign of terror unleashed on immigrants, many of whom have been living and working here for decades?
Or the erection of detention camps that violate basic standards of sanitation?
Or the mass firings of inspectors general (the people who keep government honest)?
Or the summary execution on the high seas of boaters the president simply asserts are drug traffickers?
Or threatening media companies with regulatory action if they fail to settle stupid libel cases Trump has filed against them or continue to employ any critics of Trump who work for them?
Or undermining the availability of vaccines, the greatest boon to human health since clean water?
Or instructing the Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against Trump’s critics, and firing prosecutors who decline to do so, violating the most important norm in government?
Do you see why high-minded invocations of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton feel a bit off-topic right now?
Alongside the norm-shattering, law-flouting, and witchcraft-embracing politics of Trump 2.0 is the moral injury this administration is inflicting. For reasons that antedate Trump, we have been whipsawed by crises of confidence. Social media, information bubbles, and illiteracy (54 percent of U.S. adults currently read below a 6th-grade level) have spawned a populace that is agitated without being informed. Into this unstable atmosphere steps a leader who encourages the worst suspicions, fuels the most dangerous lies, and mocks compromise and tolerance.
Charlie Kirk’s tragic death is being exploited to justify a crackdown on dissent. Taking a page from dictators, Trump’s FCC henchman threatened Disney if it did not fire Jimmy Kimmel. The network rushed to comply (though apparently has now changed its mind, which is very welcome!). What Kimmel said was wrong factually and tonally. But political commentary—even when it contains falsehoods—is protected speech. Remember when we used to say, “It’s a free country”? And no one—no one—has tortured the truth more than the current occupant of the Oval Office.
Kirk had virtues, I’m sure—and the world now knows that his widow is brimming with them—but he isn’t being honored for those, at least not by the likes of JD Vance, Elon Musk, and Stephen Miller. He’s being canonized as a MAGA saint, a martyr to the cause that, as Stephen Miller put it, is everything pure and noble against everything that is unclean and rancid on the other side of the political divide.
We stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble. And for those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us. What do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy! You are envy! You are hatred! You are nothing!
The Jewish high holidays are upon us. When we Jews ask God for forgiveness, we do so as a community, not as individuals (at least during this holiday). The liturgy specifies a long list of sins that we recite as we symbolically beat our chests. “We have lied. We have scoffed. We have committed adultery. We have gossiped.” The list goes on. The rabbis weren’t concerned about brevity. Among the worst sins is “baseless hatred.” It’s so easy and satisfying to hate—especially when we fear a person or a group.
Trump doesn’t hold a monopoly on baseless hatred, but he and his fascist enablers have elevated it to a place of centrality in American life. They are using the full power of the state to intimidate, to punish, to silence, to exile, and even to kill. Is America still a free country? Less so than at any time in memory. It’s not too late to reject the fascists, but it’s damn close.