Deadline Poet / October 29, 2024

Climate Change

Calvin Trillin
A neighborhood in North Tampa flooded by Milton's storm surge.
A neighborhood in North Tampa flooded by Milton’s storm surge.(Pedro Portal / Miami Herald / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Yes, Asheville’s devastated by a storm.
And Phoenix? Hot enough to kill some folks.
Extreme events must make it hard to say
That climate change is nothing but a hoax.
Or do they?

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Calvin Trillin

Calvin Trillin is The Nation’s “deadline poet.”

More from The Nation

US House majority whip Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN), US House majority leader Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA), US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) and chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) arrive for a news conference on the results of the 2024 election outside of the US Capitol on November 12, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Congress Must Reject a Bill That Would Give Trump New Power to Silence Critics Congress Must Reject a Bill That Would Give Trump New Power to Silence Critics

How a new House bill could chill dissent from nonprofits.

Kia Hamadanchy

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands before a meeting in Helsinki, on July 16, 2018.

The View from Moscow The View from Moscow

It’s complicated.

Fred Weir

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) participates in an event on September 18, 2024, on the lower west terrace of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, to hammer the first nails into the platform that will be built for the presidential inauguration.

Democrats Are Letting a Vital Chance to Protect Workers Slip Away Democrats Are Letting a Vital Chance to Protect Workers Slip Away

The Senate has yet to reconfirm the chair of the National Labor Relations Board—a crucial bulwark against the oncoming Trump onslaught.

Chris Lehmann

US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor during the celebration of Women's Day at the Constitutional Court on March 4, 2024, in Madrid, Spain.

Should Sonia Sotomayor Retire Before January 20? Should Sonia Sotomayor Retire Before January 20?

The difference between what the answer should be—and what it will be—tells you almost everything you need to know about today’s Democratic Party.

Elie Mystal

Possibility, Force, and BDSM: A Conversation with Chris Kraus and Anna Poletti

Possibility, Force, and BDSM: A Conversation with Chris Kraus and Anna Poletti Possibility, Force, and BDSM: A Conversation with Chris Kraus and Anna Poletti

The two writers discuss the challenges of writing about sex, loneliness, and the new ways novels can tackle BDSM.

Books & the Arts / Chris Kraus

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump visits The Great Commoner cafe while Hamtramck, MI mayor Amer Ghalib stands to his right on November 01, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan.

Gazans Heard Trump's Promises. Now They Want Him to Keep Them. Gazans Heard Trump's Promises. Now They Want Him to Keep Them.

Trump made a direct pitch to end the war on Gaza. The people still living there were listening.

Ruwaida Kamal Amer