Are you gloating today?
A lot of us have hoped for the indictment of Donald Trump for a long time.
This is true across the map.
If youre thinking, Good.
Supporters of Trumpshouldfeel bad.
Theyre awful, maybe youre right.
They would say the same about you, Im sure.
But you cant do anything about other people.
Youre better than they are, right?
But you havent actually done anything worthwhile.
Chances are youre only reinforcing the sense of tribal identity that keeps us at each others throats.
An alternative to gloating
Going high in this context would involve actually trying to change peoples minds.
I think the country would be vastly worse off if he were elected again.
Psychologists who study how people actually change their minds point out that making yourself into the enemy (i.e.
gloating) is the worst thing you’ve got the option to do in that regard.
Its a much harder thing to do than to calling someone a sucker, but it could work.
Or so they say.
No one has any idea how this will play out.
Maybe it actually will help his chances in 2024.
Maybe it will sink them entirely.
Maybe hes the best possible candidate for Biden to run against.
Maybe its the beginning of a new civil war.
We dont know anything right now, and uncertainty is nothing to celebrate.
We dont even know specifically what Trump is being charged with.
There are just too many unknowns.
He might be tried, convicted, go to jail, and win a presidential election anyway.
Theres no law that prevents that.
Its just too soon to take a victory lap, and theres nothing worse than walking back a gloat.
Youd literally never hear the end of it.
If you really must gloat…
Being happy that something bad is happening to one of the most onerous humans alive is natural and healthy.
But the best way to gloat is to do it privately.
Still, Id bet money all his friends are blowing up his phone with Trump-in-prison memes.
(There are, admittedly,a bunch of good ones going around.)
