Saturday Bonus

I don’t usually write on Saturdays, but today I want to share a bit about how I plan to move forward after this week’s events.

First of all, I’m bidding farewell to cable news programs. 

I have come to know the news anchors and show hosts by their first names over the past 10 years, but they are not good for my mental health.  Many of my friends realized that long before I did, but I realize it now. So goodbye Jose, Chris, Katie, Nicolle, Ari, Chris redux, Ali, Rachel, Alex, Lawrence, and Stephanie. Goodbye Jake and the rest on CNN (I didn’t watch CNN very often so I can’t recite their names without looking them up). I’m not saying goodbye to Joe and Mika; I never watched them because they are insufferable.

So what do I do to remain informed?

A functional democracy depends upon an informed citizenry.  I came across this chart yesterday (on one of the newsletters I read regularly) and it made the point starkly:  Trump won because Republicans were misinformed about the issues that said were the most important in this campaign – most importantly, inflation and immigration. 

As tempting as it may be to hide under a rock (or in our gardens or libraries), one thing we can all do is facilitate the spread of facts (not alternative facts).  Because the alternative facts machine will be in full service.

Here are the elements of my plan.

1. I’ll listen to NPR in the car and watch PBS for my news programming (if I need it).

2. I’ll continue to listen to my favorite podcasts (I listen to these on Spotify, but you can find them elsewhere).  I listen to podcasts in my car and while I’m taking a walk. Here are my favorites:

   Pod Save America (three episodes a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays). 

• Pod Save the World (one episode a week, on Wednesday). 

• Pod Save the UK (one episode a week, on Thursday) Similar to the two previous podcasts, but about the UK.

• Sisters In Law (one episode a week, on Saturday, hosted by Jill Wine-Banks, Barbara McQuade, Joyce White Vance, and Kimberly Atkins Stohr) .

• Prevail (hosted by Greg Olear) (Fridays).

• The Weekly Show With Jon Stewart (Fridays). This week’s episode is a must-hear. Jon Stewart’s conversation with Heather Cox Richardson is eye-opening and astonishing in its breadth and depth. You’ll be glad you gave it an hour.

You may have other favorite podcasts.  There are others that I listen to as well, but these are the ones I find myself going back to again and again. What should I add to the list?

I’ll also pay more diligent attention to the daily newsletters I subscribe to. 

Here are some of the best ones. I can’t claim that I open and read all (or even most) of these every day.  But I read them often enough to know what to expect from them.  Because I realize that interacting with these newsletters (sharing them and referencing them) extends their reach, I plan to do that more intentionally.

• These are on Substack.  You can find them all by the name of the publication or by the author’s name. They all have a free option, and most of them have paid upgrade options that allow you access to more content:

  • America, America (Stephen Beschloss)

  • Brian from Off Message

  • The Bulwark

  • Civil Discourse (Joyce White Vance)

  • The Dworkin Report

  • Economic Forces (Josh Hendrickson

  • Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion

  • Foreign Exchanges

  • The Gen Z Perspective

  • Grasping Reality (Brad DeLong)

  • The Hartman Report

  • Jack Hopkins Now

  • Law Dork (Chris Geidner)

  • Letters from an American (Heather Cox Richardson)

  • Lucian Truscott Newsletter

  • The Message Box

  • Mindwar: The Psychological War on Democracy

  • Noahpinion (Noah Smith)

  • Original Jurisdiction (David Lat)

  • Phillips P. Obrien (mostly about international news)

  • Prevail (Greg Olear).  Yes, the guy who does the podcast

  • Proof (Seth Abramson)

  • Public Notice (Aaron Rupar and others)

  • Robert Reich

  • So What? (Chris Cillizza)

  • The Status Kuo (Jay Kuo)

  • Steady (Dan Rather)

  • Today’s Edition Newsletter (Robert Hubbell)

  • The Transom

  • Turning Point Memo (TPM)

  • Virginia Political Newsletter

• Non-Substack

  • Brookings Brief

  • CNN Reliable Sources

  • Freedom Academy with Asha Rangappa

  • Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post)

  • Just Security

  • On the Docket (Marc Elias)

  • Political Wire

  • The Morning Dispatch

  • VaNews (VPAP)

  • Virginia Mercury

What should I add to the list? What are you reading that helps the world make sense to you? If you have trusted go-to sources, share them widely — not only here, but in your email contacts and social media feeds.

As I said in yesterday’s essay, I plan to do my part to spread good information by continuing to write and teach. A well-informed electorate would have seen through Trump’s promises.