"Alexa, Set an Alarm for January 1st"

If you know me even a little bit, you won’t be surprised that my ‘holiday card’ is another Venn Diagram. (You may be surprised that it’s not laminated but, sadly, the technology isn’t there yet.) 

Look, I’ve been as heartened as anyone by the MAGA infighting of late, but we’re still up against a worrying convergence of forces. Here from my very own whiteboard is my cobbled-together understanding of why three distinct camps keep finding ways to overcome their differences: 

They share a vision: unfettered rule by a self-selected few.

They need each other to achieve that vision: the dismantling of democracy is actually pretty involved. 

They have stylistic differences, but for the most part they tolerate each other’s tactics and in some cases—e.g. aggressive “othering” to drive social division—they’re largely in lock step. 

Lastly, each camp thinks they’ll end up in charge, and they don’t mind if a handful of people from the other two camps end up doing pretty well for themselves along the way. Cost of doing business, and all that!

Here’s the thing though: there are way more of us than there are of them, and I think, together, we’re going to effect all sorts of good changes in 2026. Until then, I wish you a good rest, including as much laughter as you can muster.

Thanks for reading,
Kate

P.S. Of course I have all the other overlaps labelled! Of course I’d love to discuss them! (And yes: I recognize that there’s dangerous “othering” coming from the so-called Resistance as well.) Write to me if you, too, only pretend to take a break from politics over the holidays, suspecting that that is the polite thing to do. I’ll send you my fully annotated diagram if you send me yours.