I’m grateful for the journey to over 1,400 subscribers and for being just 10 paid subscribers away from 100. As this season of giving reaches its high point, I find myself pausing to reflect on the road that led here, a road I’ve often questioned, doubted, and had to defend to myself.
In this age of upheaval, conventional routes to expertise and success feel increasingly tainted, marked by complicity, caution, and a striking lack of imagination about what Trumpism actually represents in American life. I’ve spent years wrestling with that tension. My time working at Media Matters and in the halls of Congress taught me to honor American institutions and traditions of thought, even as I watched their limits and fragilities up close. Experiences abroad only deepened that understanding, clarifying what this country could mean to the world when it lives up to its professed values rather than retreating into myth.
This blog is the amalgamation of those experiences and the realization of a long-held dream to contribute something meaningful to the growing movement for media literacy and historical awakening. It’s an attempt to think honestly, without shortcuts, about how we got here and what clarity might still look like. I wish you all a happy holiday season, and I look forward to continuing to grow together in 2026.
Have a merry holiday Stewart 🎄🎶