You’re probably thinking that Trump’s first 100 days has already disproven the title, but no. Nor is it the
exception that proves the rule. Trump’s first hundred days were between 4 and 10 years in the making.

Yes, really.

Unlike video games and episodic TV, problems don’t arise in the first 15 minutes to be perfectly resolved by the end of the show. Solutions don’t magically occur to the hero in the nick of time. But most definitely no one is going to get thousands, let alone millions, of people to go along with whatever solution they think they have in a few minutes.

Think years.

Lots of years.

But, but, all the stuff Trump has been doing!

If Trump hadn’t been elected in 2016 he never would have handled the first 100 days of his current
presidency remotely the same. Some poor grad student somewhere will get stuck with writing a
dissertation on how the previous 10 years are shaping Trump’s current presidency.

It’ll be fascinating reading, I’m sure.

Also proves how sadistic grad school can be.

Let me give you the short version. Everything Trump is doing now relates to a set of complex relationships
that stem from the history.

Almost nothing in the political world is completely new. This is why being well informed and knowing a
good bit about history is so important.

The whirlwind of Trump’s 2025 honeymoon is the culmination of a whole lot of people, things and
events. It feels fast because it is but it’s only fast because the groundwork was already firmly laid.

So why does this matter? Because politics are constantly ongoing. Trump is not finishing his
presidency. He’s actively working it.

Reality doesn’t follow the news cycle. Smart people remember that.

You’ll notice that the Lamestream Media has been declaring the Trump presidency a disaster only to
watch Trump rack up victory after victory. Trump isn’t playing 4D chess. The media is just stupid.

Politics ain’t fast.

It takes time to actually do the work of governing and diplomacy. Trump is doing a lot of fairly risky
maneuvering. It’s hard to keep track let alone figure out what will happen when we haven’t had a president this consequentially active in at least 80 years.

Things need to percolate before you can see the definitive outcome. The Media doesn’t like percolating. They want a predictable news cycle, preferably one that adheres to their pre-ordained narrative. The media much prefers to announce that a policy will fail and move on to the next shiny thing than to report the policy and wait to see what happens.

This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you you have the attention span of a gnat and it’s all you’re fault that the media has to rely on hype and emotionalism to keep your attention. Well, it ain’t true.

Oh sure, we do like our instant gratification and every movie benefits from a great car chase (yes, I think we’d still be airing ‘Gone with the Wind’ if it included Bo and Luke driving the General Lee well past the tolerances of reality while escaping yet again!) but we also do a thousand things every day that require patience and time. Maybe not in the massive quantities that we associate with ages past but no kid would make it out of first grade if the little rug rat couldn’t sit still for an hour.

Not as good at it as our grandparents isn’t the same thing as can’t do it at all. We just have to be convinced the thing is worth our time.

I’d rather watch paint dry than listen to economics news. But modern politics is too intertwined with economics to grasp it well without being generally informed about the economics world.

Still rather watch the paint. Oil paint, on a humid day, with no additives to speed up the drying – still better than economics.

BUT I spend about 40 minutes each morning listening to some poor New Zealand guy living in China tell me the highlights and quote the relevant experts. First on his China Update and then on his Market Update. If you are interested in economics news, I highly recommend both of his channels. But I don’t watch for the witty commentary – he doesn’t fool around with that nonsense – or even the rare little inadvertent extras (like watching for the cat and dog behind him when he was briefly working from New Zealand). Nope, I’m a political commentator and I have to take my medicine like a good girl.

I wish paint drying were more relevant to politics.

Point being, we all do the ‘have to’s’ of life. Those have to’s don’t come in fun and quick. They usually come in boring and lasting forever – but we do them because we not only have to, but we can.

WHEN we have to.

Being reasonably well informed about politics does not require a Wall Street Journal subscription. Being extremely well informed might but how many of us really actually need to put that kind of effort into knowing what’s going on in the political realm? Almost none.

Nor do we always need to be well informed. It’s okay to not follow election politics two years before the election. It’s okay to wait until a few months before the primaries if you want to do the best possible job and okay to wait until a few weeks before your state’s primary if you just want to do good enough.

Waiting until after reduces your effectiveness as a citizen and a voter. Yes, I said primaries, not the general election. It’s okay to not be a politics nerd – it’s not okay to not be a responsible citizen.

Balance and moderation. You don’t have to be Wiley Coyote, Super Genius but don’t be Sockpuppet the Wonder Dummy either. You have a life to live, but this political stuff affects your life as well as the lives of others.

Have to really stinks sometimes, huh?

Seriously, though, this idiotic notion that if you can’t pass a test on the weeks news cycle you’re an uniformed twit is just silly. Find good sources to keep up with the big stuff as you need to and worry about being really well informed only when you’re getting ready to vote. It’s not sane to expect everyone to know everything every time. Find the lane you need and stay there until you need a different lane.

Because politics doesn’t move nearly as fast as the media wants you to believe. If you miss a week, it’s a lot like a soap opera, you catch up usually on the next episode.

Three months ago Trump was destroying the stock market and ruining every international relationship the US ever had. Now the stock market has recovered and we are negotiating so many deals that the State Department is running out of staff. Trump made adjustments to his policies in that time but no major changes. The policies just had time to percolate.

And the policies could all burn next quarter. We won’t know until we get there but we do have some indications. Hint: I am not expecting burnt coffee anytime soon.

Sure, we still need to stay engaged – not every policy idea is a good one. But a bit more thinking and a lot less reacting will do a world of good for your blood pressure.

You’re (probably) not an adrenaline junkie incapable of focusing on one thing for more than fifteen seconds despite the media doing its level best to convince you that you are. Politics is groups of people making decisions and the bigger the group, the slower the process. No matter how much hype you hear, almost nothing is capable of ruining the country in the next five minutes – or months.

It’s all process. Just because something isn’t earth shattering right that minute doesn’t mean it doesn’t need attention. Just because something is booooring as all get out doesn’t mean you can safely ignore it.

This is the complicated part – figuring out what needs attention now, what can wait and what really should be considered a crisis. The media stinks at making those determinations so you’re gonna have to do it for yourself. It’s okay – you’re no where near as dumb as you think you are unless you’re that idiot that thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. You’re not, are you? 😉

Politics is a slow train wreck that we usually avoid having. That’s because you have plenty of time to avoid the collision if you will do the work. Not you by yourself, but you and all your buddies, too. Groups of people making decisions, not individuals. The burden is shared and as crazy as it seems, the decisions are better for it.

You’re already doing a pretty good job. You just spent ten minutes listening to a commentary. Spend a couple more to decide what you should take from it. Pop yet another tool in the toolkit.

The media likes to make people believe that they aren’t capable. It’s bunk. If people couldn’t make decisions in groups we’d all starve! Ever listen to a group of college kids trying to decide between pizza or burgers? Thirty minutes of back and forth before they all go for Chinese. We may not be all that fast at making group decisions but we DO make them.

Slow enough to avoid most train wrecks and fast enough to not starve. Humans might be okay yet.

You little human, you.