Talking Points Memo

In just the last several weeks, we've seen a succession of major events, the impact of which could last generations. 
 

• Donald Trump becomes the first former president convicted of a felony
• Joe Biden's debate performance shakes the confidence of many supporters, leading to a scramble to replace him (or not) on the ticket just four months before the election
• The Supreme Court issues a series of decisions that could reshape the powers of the presidency and gut the regulatory agencies that make up the administrative state
• There was an assassination attempt on Trump
   

That's a lot. Regardless of your opinion on any one of those things, in totality it's just a lot. 

It's when one's environment is most chaotic that it's most important to keep calm. The best decisions are made with a calm mind. Remaining calm isn't passive resignation. It's a prerequisite to effective action. 

When we speak to TPM's members, or when we ask them in surveys why they stay members, a constant refrain is that "TPM isn't hysterical." In fact, we've heard the somewhat negative term "non-hysterical news" so many times that it's become annoying that we can't think of a better way to rephrase that in a positive sense. "Remaining calm" doesn't really have the juice. But that is a messaging problem for us, not for you, the reader. The point is simply this: TPM is a stable ship on choppy waters.

Not everyone appreciates this, to be sure. We get people saying our hair is not sufficiently engulfed in flames. And we also hear from people who conflate acknowledging a reality with either supporting that reality or cowering from it. That's ok. This is part of the chaos. Our small team collectively has like 100 years of experience in chaos by this point, we can manage.
 

This is obviously a message from TPM, and I hope you will become a member. The support means the world to us. But more importantly, we think our work provides meaningful context and understanding of events, which help people to navigate their own lives.

But let's say you do not want to join TPM — for whatever reason. We'd urge you, in that case, to find journalism elsewhere that is neither hysterical nor passively removed, because neither posture will rise to this moment.