Current opinion: absolutely *nothing* will stop this country drifting into fascism and chaos medium term unless we find a way to bring primarily poor, racist, scared, angry white people back into the reality-based community.

I can only think that means a heavy investment in education, clear regulation of social media, and ideally the reinstitution of Reagan-era broadcast news rules. But quite a lot of that stuff would be highly unpopular.

This brings me back to an earlier conversation which is that the role of news media has to shift a bit now to not simply be a reporter of what’s being said and who’s doing what, but to be a continual bulwark of defense of truth, always centering that goal above any other.

If I had a recommendation for large media companies at the moment, it would be that you have to start balancing your desire to make short term money with the longer term need to be able to operate in a functional society.

But honestly this is true for most companies and organizations of size - along with the citizenry - in the US right now. The foundations of this country have been heavily undermined. If you don’t work to try and fix it, then none of us have a future.