Many Americans are simply worn out.

The recent fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis have shocked the nation, sparking protests and grief. They have forced us to realize that democracy is truly on the brink.

At the same time, long-running stories such as the Epstein files, the destruction of the East Wing, and persistent controversies over foreign policy in places like Venezuela and Greenland keep piling on, reminding people that there’s always more insanity, dysfunction, and outrage waiting in the next headline.

Part of our weariness comes not just from the volume of disturbing news, but from the way right-wing propaganda whitewashes or dismisses these events entirely, spinning away evidence, downplaying abuses, or even defending the indefensible. People see outright cruelty framed as necessary policy and alleged wrongdoing minimized as a non-issue even when the facts are public.

We’re suffering through a daily torrent of incompetence, dishonesty, and cruelty from the current administration. In the back of our minds, we know there’s even more going on than we see in the headlines. We’re steadily reminded of the many enablers, propagandists, and loyal followers who sustain it.

We watch the most powerful actors in America break our promise to serve as the “leader of the free world,” actively enabling the rise of anti-democratic leaders and movements abroad. We know the world is watching us, awaiting its fate.

All of the above is happening every single day. It’s happening so fast we can’t come up for breath. Of course we’re tired.

What do we do? We replace exhaustion with action.

Research across psychology, neuroscience, and stress theory consistently shows that purposeful action reduces emotional fatigue and anxiety. Taking meaningful steps, even small ones, toward problems interrupts endless worrying and restores our sense of self-determination. Continued exposure to stress with no outlet for action, by contrast, is linked to greater emotional distress.

Our exhaustion is largely manufactured and orchestrated. It is purposeful because it paralyzes us. As Americans, we should have agency, but we are sitting here helpless, by design.

When people are worn down, they disengage, procrastinate, and lower their expectations. This benefits those in power by reducing our resistance and their accountability. This is how unacceptable things become routine, not all at once, but gradually, as people pull back to protect themselves. Let’s not do that.

Another way to understand this moment is to reframe the news as pressure and our anxiety as a signal or motivator to do something about it. We are being pushed, and if we just sit there and take it, our despair or apathy will increase.

The pressure is on. Most of us want to act, but we don’t know where to start—and that uncertainty is part of what keeps us stuck.

It really is hard to know what to do or where to start. We’ve all heard the list:

• Protests (such as those in Minneapolis)

• No Kings marches

• Calling your congressperson

• Community organizing

• Call banks and postcard writing

• Voter registration drives

• Running for office — any office

Take a look at that list; nearly all of it is sporadic or tied to election cycles. Even if we did all of the above (and we should do all we can), it wouldn’t come close to keeping up with the right.

We need something long-term. We need something we can do every day. We need a goal we can work toward and focus on. And we need something that helps solve the problem.

We need a project

We need a project that each of us can do on our own, but can also grow into a movement. A project that will push back against your anxiety while helping turn the tide against the Trump regime.

Yes, projects can feel overwhelming, especially when we imagine them all at once. Luckily, there’s a simple solution to that: break the work into sensible pieces, then repeatedly break those pieces down again until they’re doable tasks. That’s how anything hard becomes possible.

Here’s a project for you. It’s one of those projects that may sound like a big ask at first.

Before revealing the project, here is your first doable task: Imagine what America would look like if Fox News, right-wing radio, and right-wing podcasters like Joe Rogan never existed. If you’re old enough, feel free to recall instead of imagine. Take a moment to do this.

Keep that vision in mind as you consider the project…

Our project is to talk with the Trump supporters in our lives to help them move away from Trump and the right-wing propaganda machine that pulled them away from us.

Here are the next two tasks: don’t roll your eyes, and don’t panic. There are proven, research-informed techniques to guide us through these conversations, and we can easily break them up into small, doable tasks.

These conversations are one of the few tools still available to all of us. We should treat them like a skill worth developing.

This project gives us something concrete to do with our anxiety. It helps us learn how to talk to Trump supporters, understand why those conversations have failed in the past, and develop better ways to approach them now. It asks us to visualize these conversations, practice them, and then begin having them with the Trump supporters in our lives. Over time, the act of preparing for and engaging in these conversations restores a sense of agency that constant outrage and helplessness erode.

There’s much to gain from the project. Some things may take a while or require a grassroots effort, but that’s the point. Besides, this country isn’t going to magically fix itself in one day:

• We’ll have plenty of things to do to fight off our exhaustion and anxiety

• We’ll be able to reclaim our friends and family

• They’ll slowly reclaim reality

• We can slow Trump’s wrecking ball

• This might give Republican officials the backbone to stand up to him

• Propagandists will be revealed and weakened

• Billionaires, oligarchs, and the propagandists will be exposed as our common enemy

For now, think of this project as a framework you can adapt to your own relationships, pace, and comfort level. This framework has to remain flexible. Each of us has different relationships with the Trump supporters in our lives, and they each have different reasons for supporting Trump and MAGA. There is no one-size-fits-all approach.

To give you a better idea of what the framework entails, let’s break it up into some less daunting pieces. More information is available at the link below.

Learn
Learn how propaganda works, why traditional arguments fail, and what actually helps people reconsider deeply held beliefs.

Recalibrate
Having the right mindset going into these conversations is critical. Calibrate your perspective and expectations.

Practice
You know the Trump supporters you care about. Visualize and rehearse these conversations. Think through likely responses. Prepare to listen, not lecture.

Engage
Using your new mindset, start reaching out and work toward conversations with the Trump supporters you know. Learn, adjust, and practice more as you go.

Adjust

No project goes as planned. Mistakes will be made. Learn from them. Push forward.

Please consider further investigating this framework here. Taking action eases exhaustion and anxiety, and it pushes back against the forces that produce them in the first place. And in this case, it may very well save our democracy. This is worth at least exploring.

These conversations can take time. Don’t wait; the Trump regime isn’t.

Action vs. Anxiety Links:

Tiny actions vs anxiety

Anxiety as a motivator

Learned helplessness and agency