The (Political) Sound Of Silence

It's all white noise nowadays. And I like it that way.

We’re now almost a month since Donald Trump won the 2024 election in a landslide. While there are still daily headlines crossing the wire about his policy plans and appointees, the fever pitch of political rhetoric from both sides of the aisle that existed just one month ago has inconspicuously vanished for the most part.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article called “The Great Trump Exhale” where I talked about how I could finally sit back in my desk chair and worry less about the state of the nation. It wasn’t just about who won, it was about the fact that the election, and its associated volatility, had passed. I wrote about feeling a palpable relaxation and how rolling back many of the “new” Democrat policies of the last 4 years—many, in my view, akin to suffocation of liberty via a massive Orwellian government—had made much of the nation feel like it could breathe again.

In addition to this feeling about the election results, part of me also feels pleasantly catatonic as it relates to the media, on both sides of the aisle. For example, I had a discussion with Matt Taibbi last weekend about why mainstream media has lost the trust of the American public. Oddly, it no longer felt like a moment to be outraged—and I wasn’t. Instead, it felt like we were 11 year olds who had just beaten the final boss in a video game we’ve been playing for the last 4 years, and now we were collectively watching the end credits.

Over the last three weeks, I’ve taken a lot of time off social media, which has felt refreshing. Even though no headline or political analysis was going to single-handedly tip off who would win the election leading into November, I, like many other Americans, got caught up in an incessant, relentless, panicked news cycle of rhetoric and analysis. Like any other addiction, it affected my sleep cycles, dopamine levels, and mood more than I care to admit. Heading into election day, not only was I scrolling through social media during all waking hours, but I was also spending endless nights watching political analysis on cable news.

And on my almost-daily walk home from the laundromat today, I was listening to a podcast that unexpectedly drifted into political territory. While the guest on the podcast held stark ideological and political differences from me, I had no mental or physiological response at all to what they were saying. Weeks ago, prior to the election, I probably would have written an entire blog about it.

I’m sure part of this apathy comes from being at ease with how the election results turned out, but to be frank, I think I would feel similarly had Kamala Harris won the election. After all, I’m not just ignoring MSNBC or CNN these days—I’m also ignoring Fox News and all my usual right-wing touchpoints.

At the risk of sounding like a presidential concession speech writer, I think if Harris had won, I would have already resigned myself to the fact that the next four years are all but predetermined in their outcome. And, as corny as it sounds, we have to try to continue coming together as a nation to forge a path forward.

Rather than attributing my newfound peace of mind to my preferred candidate winning, I actually credit a self-fulfilling prophecy that began when I turned off the media and social media for the week after election day. Without the media or social media, there are fewer things held directly in front of my face that I’m told are causes for worry. With less to worry about, I don’t feel the need to get lost in thought or surrender the sovereignty of my mind to social media or mainstream media. And without surrendering my mind to these outlets, I have less to worry about — the pattern continues and time moves forward.

A couple of days ago, someone sent me a clip of Joy Reid talking on MSNBC about Thanksgiving—a clip I noted during my post on Thanksgiving morning. Normally, the clip would have infuriated me, perhaps because Reid would be viewed as one of the chief architects in forcing the country down an ideological path I don’t agree with (and an airhead, to boot). But when I watched the video on Thanksgiving morning, only the first 15 seconds “got in” to my head. The rest very quickly started to sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown: I could see her lips moving and hear words coming out of her mouth, but nothing registered and I couldn’t have cared less about what she was saying. Similarly, I felt the same when I flipped on Fox News a week after the election.

While I can’t say for sure where this newfound disconnection from the main nerve center of U.S. politics came from, what I can say is that I’m loving it. A couple of days ago, I listened to a podcast about bass fishing. I would have never done this a month ago. Hell, I don’t even like fishing! It just felt as though my mind was starving for input in any depository of my brain other than the one dedicated to political discourse—which at this point feels like Kobayashi’s stomach after the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Turning off the media and social media has given me clarity to see just how much of the political noise was (and is) unnecessary clutter. Right now, everything political feels like little more than white noise—a constant hum that no longer demands my attention or energy. And, to be honest, I hope it stays that way for a while. By stepping away, I’ve rediscovered the peace of mind that comes from focusing on what truly matters and allowing myself to engage with the world on my own terms, free from the relentless bombardment of outrage — from both sides of the aisle.

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