The Dictatorship
Political anxiety is rising. Here’s how to cope.
Therapists across the country are seeing a surge in clients who say politics is taking a toll on their mental health, according to a new article in Blue Light News Magazine. One therapist told the publication, “This is the first time that we’re really seeing people initiating therapy because of political [anxiety].”
An American Psychological Association survey found that about two-thirds of Americans said politics was a significant source of stress in their lives in 2025. Blue Light News reports that psychological associations are holding workshops on addressing mental health problems tied to politics, and clinics are holding staff meetings on tackling the issue. Some therapists are even specializing in political anxiety. A friend who works as a therapist told me that he lists “climate grief” as an area of expertise.
I am not a therapist. But I have thought about and engaged with politics day in and day out for most of my life without going (entirely) crazy. When friends and acquaintances ask me, with increasing frequency, how to deal with the stress of paying close attention to a world awash in crisis, I share the following thoughts.
A healthy media diet is not unlike a healthy food diet.
As many political thinkers on the left have argued, optimism is not just a temperament. It is a strategy and outlook that can be consciously cultivated, especially in concert with others. Even when it may feel pointless, focusing on what can be done is worthwhile. Expressing dissent, minimizing harm, notching incremental wins and building networks and ideas for the future are not just the right things to do — they build discipline and faith in action that can pay off in the future when better opportunities arise.
Many people’s instinct is to gorge on news in response to major — and often horrible — developments. But this can confuse political awareness with political involvement. A good citizen is broadly informed about what is happening in their society. But that doesn’t mean letting the hourly news cycle land blow after blow to your psyche.
A healthy media diet is not unlike a healthy food diet: It requires deliberate, moderate consumption and balance and variety. Rather than endlessly doomscrolling on social media or having thousands of notifications hold your attention span hostage, budget how much time you allow yourself to consume political news in a given day or week. Read weekly and monthly magazines that take a longer view and try to make sense of the daily mess. Read about issues other than politics — there’s a lot more neutral or good news in the science world, for example.
Books are even better for a big-picture perspective. Novels are great for many reasons but from a political perspective, they remind me that many of our social problems constantly recur in different forms and encourage us to consider them with empathy and nuance. History books remind me that while things can feel rough at the moment, humanity has overcome problems that dwarf many of the ones that plague us today — total global warfare, plagues that wipe out huge swathes of humanity, famines, slavery and many other normalized acts of cruelty and exploitation that boggle the mind.
Learning about the history of the left in particular reminds me to think of our contributions to society as part of a series of cycles stretching across time; no one person’s actions can change the world permanently, but those of us immersed in the struggle for progress are, at our best, helping create links between the best traditions of the past and the needs of the future. It might not sound relaxing to contemplate past catastrophes, but there is consolation in knowing you have good company across generations in facing off against the world’s problems and injustices.
Healthy consumption of information is only one way to build resilience. A huge source of political anxiety and depression stems from a feeling that one is helpless. But you’re not — there are always opportunities to get involved in civic, political and labor organizations. Problem-solving helps restore one’s sense of agency and purpose. And it is grounding to seek alignment between one’s values and one’s actions. Find your people, focus on a handful of issues and find a way to sustainably contribute to putting in work and problem solving in a routine manner. Plus, people tend to treat one another a lot better at political meetings than they do online, and it’s also a way to make friends and have fun.
Conveniently, this is both a way to feel better and to actually build democratic power. Particularly at a time when many people are realizing how our political parties are not up for the task of solving the scope of problems we face, it’s more important than ever for people to act in solidarity to advocate for the kind of world they want to see, instead of delegating it to empty suits.
Of course, nobody can — or should — be immune to feelings of uneasiness, despair and rage in response to oppression and devastation. I myself am hardly a picture of total equanimity. And when you yourself are facing the direct consequences of a harsh policy that is restricting your freedom, it makes perfect sense that it would be a blow to your mental health. But my intention is to try to flesh out how we can have at least some self-sovereignty and influence over our ability to be functional in the world in the face of a seemingly never-ending torrent of bad news.
Hope is more essential than ever when things feel particularly dark.
It can also be helpful to draw from a spiritual tradition to renew one’s sense of the purpose of being and acting. For methat includes meditation that draws from Buddhist lineages and deliberate community-building. For you, it could take an almost infinite number of forms. This is not about withdrawing from the world, but connecting with it in a way that’s calm and unmediated by algorithms and alarmism or demagogues and doomsayers.
Lastly, I would note that one small thing we can do at the level of social norms is buck the ritualized doomerism that often prevails on the internet. The stance that “everything is bad and getting worse” is commonplace on social media sites, where many people are endlessly cynical and often vicious toward their fellow users. This blinkered view rewires people’s mindsets to constantly scan for a slow drip of bad news as proof of society’s endless freefall and lose perspective on what is working and worth cherishing.
And there’s another doomerist-adjacent custom that we should also discard. People will sometimes sheepishly offer a bit of good news — about the world or themselves — to others by prefacing it with, “I know things are terrible in the world right now, but….” I say: Drop the guilt-laden preamble! Say it boldly! Human experience is varied and complex, good things and bad things always coexist.
Hope is more essential than ever when things feel particularly dark. Don’t let tyrants and oligarchs ruin the pleasure of a good meal, a job promotion, a beautiful piece of art or falling in love. Don’t let them temper your pride in a burgeoning mutual aid group or small garden or tiny ragtag neighborhood patrol to protect immigrants in the community. Savoring that, which is pleasurable or encouraging — or just simply working OK — is going to help us get through this mess. Celebrate life when you can. It’s all we’ve got.
Zeeshan Aleem is a writer and editor for MS NOW. He primarily writes about politics and foreign policy.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The curtain may have come down for President Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center but the tarp stays up for now.
Matt Floca, executive director and chief operating officer of the performing arts venue, told a federal court Saturday that the institution had complied with an order to remove Trump’s name from the facade. In a filing, Floca said the board of trustees and the center had removed “all physical signage on the Kennedy Center building and grounds, including the front portico, that purports to rename the Kennedy Center after President Trump.”
But for onlookers who have gathered on the plaza in front of the center over the past day hoping to witness a dramatic moment symbolizing the limits of Trump’s power, it was virtually impossible to see whether the signage was gone. A tarp hung over the scaffolding constructed for workers to perform that task. It was unclear when the tarp might be removed to reveal the original lettering that had endured for decades: “The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”
A reporter was able to peer through a slight opening in the tarp, which was pulled tightly against the wall, and saw that the letters for Trump’s name were no longer affixed to the building.
A worker constructs scaffolding in front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts sign in Washington, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
A worker constructs scaffolding in front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts sign in Washington, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
By the end, the Kennedy Center’s leadership had dug in against a federal judge’s order to erase Trump’s name from the building. Two courts rejected the institution’s last-minute request to retain Trump’s name pending an appeal. After severe thunderstorms raked Washington on Friday evening, the Kennedy Center sought one more extension before complying with a noon Saturday deadline.
AP AUDIO: Trump’s name is gone from the Kennedy Center’s facade, according to a top official at the arts venue
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports Trump’s name is gone from the Kennedy Center’s facade, official says.
Those who pushed for the scrubbing of Trump’s name were in a celebratory mood. Rep. Joyce BeattyD-Ohio, an ex officio member of the board who sued to remove references to the president from the building and the center’s operations, was spotted in the plaza late Friday and Saturday morning. She posted a video to social media that purported to show her performing the “Trump dance” in one of the Kennedy Center’s great halls.
“Today’s victory is the beginning of returning the Kennedy Center to the American people,” Beatty said in a statement. “The rule of law prevailed, and that is worth celebrating.”
Women take a selfie as the wall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is covered in tarp as work continues on the removal of President Donald Trump’s name, Saturday, June 13, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Women take a selfie as the wall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is covered in tarp as work continues on the removal of President Donald Trump’s name, Saturday, June 13, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Leo Bartholomaus, a recent graduate of Syracuse University who lives in Virginia, said he was walking by the Kennedy Center on Friday afternoon after visiting the National Mall to see events related to this weekend’s UFC match at the White House. He said he was not happy that Trump added his name to the building.
“My grandmother had a big love of the arts,” he said. “I’ve been here to see ‘The Lion King.’ I wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump putting his name on it. I thought it was better as the Kennedy Center.”
Closing an unusual chapter
The removal of Trump’s name closes one of the more unusual chapters in the history of the Kennedy Center, which began construction in 1964 and was dedicated to the memory of the slain president, Democrat John F. Kennedy. At what is typically one of the few relatively nonpartisan spaces in Washington, Trump has wielded tremendous influence over the venue during his second term.
Though he rarely discussed the Kennedy Center during his 2024 campaign, Trump moved quickly to oust the institution’s leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman. His name was quickly added to the building.
While the removal of his name marks a setback for Trump, he is moving forward with plans to reshape the physical landscape of the nation’s capital in ways that have few modern parallels.
He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a controversial ballroom in its place. He remodeled the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and plans extensive renovations of a golf course in East Potomac Parkmoves that could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River in Virginia.
Indeed as Trump’s name was being removed from the Kennedy Center, the South Lawn of the White House has been transformed into a venue for a UFC match intended to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence but also coinciding with Trump’s birthday on Sunday.
The arena for the UFC Freedom 250 fights on the South Lawn of the White House is photographed Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The arena for the UFC Freedom 250 fights on the South Lawn of the White House is photographed Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Questions linger about the Kennedy Center’s future
Back at the Kennedy Center, there are many questions about the institution’s future. The same May court decision that ordered Trump’s name to be removed from the building also blocked a planned two-year closure for renovations that was set to begin next month.
The Kennedy Center’s calendar for the weeks ahead include performances of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” and “Bluey’s Big Play.” Comedian Bill Maher is to be awarded the Mark Twain Award for American Humor during a ceremony on June 28.
But little is scheduled for the stages beyond that and, after substantially reducing staff, it is unclear how quickly the Kennedy Center could build out a robust performance list. Trump, angered by the court’s order to remove his name, has said he would turn the Kennedy Center over to Congress and has suggested it might simply shutter because of public safety concerns.
In its unsuccessful appeal on Friday seeking a pause on the order removing Trump’s name, the Kennedy Center’s leadership argued, in terms that seemed similar to the president’s speech patterns, that the lower court was interfering with needed renovations.
Workers construct scaffolding below the sign for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, June 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Workers construct scaffolding below the sign for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, June 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
“The District Court is not allowing us to close in order to properly fix up and repair the Building, including potentially life threatening structural damage like beams and parking garage ceilings that are rusted, and in serious danger of falling onto people below,” according to the appeal. “Indeed, total collapse!”
The institution also suggested that the president’s name could return to the building if the Kennedy Center later wins its appeal.
If the court denied the venue’s request for a pause, the Kennedy Center argued it would “be forced to squander time and money — by both removing the signage and then potentially returning it after appeal.”
___
Associated Press journalist Emily Wang contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) — AI giant Anthropic said Friday it has taken its latest artificial intelligence models, known as Fable 5 and Mythos 5, offline to comply with a directive from the Trump administration to prevent their use by foreign nationals.
The export controls mark the U.S. government’s most significant step to date to restrict access to the most advanced AI models. Anthropic released Fable widely this week. That model is a limited version of the even more advanced Mythos, to which the company has tightly limited access due to cybersecurity fears.
In a statement, Anthropic said it disagrees with the government’s handling of the matter, saying it received the directive from the U.S. government Friday afternoon and it did not specify the national security concerns. “We believe the government should have the ability to block unsafe deployments, as part of a statutory process that is transparent, fair, clear, and grounded in technical facts,” the company said. “This action does not adhere to those principles.”
Anthropic called it a “misunderstanding” and said it hopes to restore access to the models “as soon as possible.”
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The action comes 10 days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a framework for the federal government to vet the national security risks of the most advanced AI systems for up to a month before their public release. Participation by AI developers would be voluntary, the order said.
When the New York Knicks qualified for the NBA playoffs in 2021, after an eight-year drought, the New York Post reported on that team’s sole postseason victory with the headline“Wild crowd of Knicks fans take over streets after playoff win.”
A friend of mine visiting the city at the time picked up on the palpable Knicks fever, though he was a bit flummoxed at the level of giddiness for a team that won just one game before being bounced from the tournament by the Atlanta Hawks. “This is a basketball town,” I said, “If the Knicks ever actually make a real run at the title, this place will go absolutely insane.”
Now the New York Knickerbockers are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, having defeated the San Antonio Spurs in a five-game series that featured the greatest comeback in NBA finals history. And New York fans are indeed back in the streets, this time in even greater abundance, exploding with joy.
Now the New York Knickerbockers are NBA champions for the first time since 1973, having defeated the San Antonio Spurs in a five-game series that featured the greatest comeback in NBA finals history.
Will Leitch aptly explained why Game 4, when the Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit at Madison Square Garden, was a microcosm for this squad’s improbable, inspiring, record-breaking playoff run: “For whatever reason, the Knicks spent most of this season toggling themselves on and off, like a circuit breaker. They just toggled themselves off and back on again. But this wasn’t a toggle: This was the smashing of a plunger that blew the roof off an entire building.”
There were doubts that first-year coach Mike Brown would be able to build off the success of his predecessor Tom Thibodeau, whose five-year run ended with the Knicks’ loss in the 2025 Eastern Conference finals, but made the Knicks legitimate title contenders for the first time since Bill Clinton was president. While this team has a lot of talent, it is hardly made of superstars.
Team captain Jalen Brunson made this year’s All-NBA Second Team, but none of the other Knicks made even the third team. Instead, their special sauce is chemistryas Brunson is joined by two of his NCAA Championship-winning Villanova teammates, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges; New Jersey native Karl-Anthony Towns has won hearts with both his play and candor about personal tragedies he’s endured in recent years; OG Anunoby brings a quiet grittiness and clutch efforts on both sides of the court; and rotation players coming off the bench each knew their role and played with confidence when called on to play.
A Knicks fan went viral this month with the chant, “My mayor’s Muslim / My bagel’s Jewish / My Christian’s Dior / Knicks in four!” The Knicks didn’t win the title in four, but the sentiment captures the atypical warm and fuzzies engendered by the team’s championship run — and the magical, fleeting moments that won’t be forgotten by anyone lucky enough to experience them.
New York, famously not the friendliest of cities, has been tangibly united behind the Knicks. Thousands of people watching the games on a screen outside MSG on Seventh Avenue. Intrepid New Yorkers projecting the ABC broadcasts onto handball walls and the sides of buildings for their neighbors. Staten Island hip-hop legends Wu-Tang Clan rallying the moribund Garden crowd at halftime in Game 4, when the Knicks trailed by 27 points.
Anyone who has been in this city since April, whether they’re a lifelong fan, a late-coming bandwagoneer or a grimacing hater of all things New York sports, has experienced a communal, euphoric, even egalitarian vibe (though it didn’t extend to ticket prices at the Garden). As Alex Kirshner wrote in Slate“What’s happening here is some kind of confluence, one that a lot of people are desperate to bottle up but that might not come around again.”
John Turturro, the veteran actor and native New Yorker, said “one of the joys of being alive” is riding the subway with other fans after a Knicks win. “I’m in this city that no one ever looks at each other and everyone’s talking to each other,” he told CNN.
To be sure, there have been some terrible “fan” moments during the finals — when a creep threw an egg at Spurs star Victor Wembanyama on the sidewalk or when a mob viciously assaulted a Spurs fan outside the Garden after Game 3. And as The Athletic put it with regard to the clout-chasing viral video wannabes doing stupid, dangerous stunts for the clicks, “Attention-seeking knuckleheads are the lone blight on these amazing NBA Finals.” Here’s hoping said knuckleheads don’t spoil the Knicks’ victory parade down the Canyon of Heroes for the rest of us.
Yes, there are longer-suffering fanbases. Yes, New York City’s smug self-regard and disproportionate national media attention will always generate a certain level of resentment. But few fanbases have cared this much, for this long — selling out the Garden nearly every game night, even when the team’s play was abominable and the organization was better known for its toxic environment and comical mismanagement.
New York might be the financial capital of the U.S. and a prime destination for an oligarch’s pied a terre (or two), but most of the 8.5 million of us in this city will never sniff that kind of privilege. This city is prohibitively expensive, it is perpetually dirty and its infrastructure only occasionally functions properly. It is, frankly, often such an exasperating pain that rational adults have been known to regularly question their life choices for still being here.
But the Knicks are champions for the first time in more than a half-century. And these particular Knicks — humble, hard-working, overachievers with personality — reflect a New York we’d all like to believe in. They’ve briefly made us forget our troubles, and allowed us to (mostly) leave politics at the door for a few hours a night.
This victory, by this team of players, has unleashed an unbridled ecstasy from denizens of a place that prides itself on world-weary cynicism — even if that merely conceals a hopeless romanticism just beneath the surface. Go New York, go New York, go!
Anthony L. Fisher is a senior editor and opinion columnist for MS NOW.
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