Peace-of-Mind Dividend
At the heart of this surge of Joy is something more profound: the chance to finally close the Trump chapter of American history.
Last week, I caught Kumail Nanjiani’s hilarious new standup comedy act. He ended with a funny bit on his own journey to therapy to deal with anxiety and said something that struck me: over the last several years we’ve all been stuck “vacillating between sadness and fear.”
America deserves a break. And in 6 weeks, we have a chance to make that happen.
Sadness, fear—and yes outrage—have dominated our emotional landscape for over two decades, leaving us perpetually on edge.
We’ve been through 9/11 and global terrorism, the Iraq War, the 2008 financial meltdown, COVID-19, and George Floyd’s murder. Gen Z has literally never known an America free from such crisis.
But perhaps the most unrelenting source of turmoil has been Donald Trump’s 2016 entry into politics, the rise of Trumpism, and the existential threat they pose to our democracy.
For nearly a decade, Trump has commandeered our national psyche, ushering in an era of relentless conflict, cruelty, chaos, disinformation, and threats to our freedoms. The constant need to stay hypervigilant under the dark cloud of Trump has literally made us sick.
A 2022 study found that:
“Large numbers of Americans reported politics takes a significant toll on a range of health markers—everything from stress, loss of sleep, or suicidal thoughts to an inability to stop thinking about politics and making intemperate social media posts.”
Chronic stress doesn’t just feel bad—it destroys health, driving up rates of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, weight gain, anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairments like memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
But beyond the physical toll on individuals, the chaos and conflict of a future Trump administration threatens our collective well-being. For an exhausted nation desperately searching for relief, the response to 4+ more years of Trump could be population-wide apathy that hollows out the spirit of a country built on participation and hope for the future.
That’s exactly the kind of indifference authoritarians rely on to maintain control. And up until just a few weeks ago, as Trump seemed poised for a near-certain return to power, our fear reached an apex and we teetered on the edge of powerlessness and resignation to that reality.
Then everything changed when President Biden passed the baton to Vice President Harris.
There’s been a lot of talk about the word "Joy" that defines Harris’s campaign. And while that word encapsulates her hopeful vision and demeanor, at the heart of this surge of Joy is something more profound: the chance to finally close the Trump chapter of American history.
Trump himself admitted this week that if he loses in 2024, he won’t run again in 2028.
This is it.
Now is our opportunity to shake off the heavy weight of constant stress and fear. To rediscover what normal looks like.
For a generation conditioned to expect the worst, Gen Z might not even recognize what normal is anymore. And some of the rest of us might have forgotten too.
There was a time when family gatherings didn’t spiral into political fights, when our leaders didn’t call fellow Americans “enemies,” and when folks down the street didn’t replace the stars and stripes outside homes with banners that say “F*** [the President of the United States]”.
There was a time when politics didn’t dominate our lives. We could focus on what matters—building our families, investing in our communities, helping our neighbors, and shaping a brighter future for our children.
In a post-Trump America, we all have a Peace-of-Mind Dividend waiting for us. A chance to take a break from the hypervigilance of constantly defending American freedoms—and start enjoying them.
That peace of mind is within reach, but we have to fight for it—and we’ll have to cherish and protect it.
Well said, Matt!