On Friday morning--which already feels like a month ago--Washington Post White House reporter Seung Min Kim posted an exhausted sigh of relief on Twitter: "Well. We at least made it to Friday, everyone."
The universe seemed to read that like a dare. It reared up in anger and hurled blazing fireballs of news.
Within a few hours, The New York Times had posted a blockbuster story that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein suggested last year that President Trump should be secretly recorded, and that the 25th Amendment might be explored to remove him from office.
Soon after that had that been processed, the news arrived that a date had been set for the Senate Judiciary Committee to hear from Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh of sexual assault.
Then, on Sunday evening, the New Yorker dropped a shocker about a second allegation.
With the Kavanaugh hearings--and possibly a collective nervous breakdown--approaching like a Category 4 hurricane, I humbly offer a media user's guide to the week ahead, with a little help from my media-desk colleagues Paul Farhi and Sarah Ellison. Here's what you can do to keep the insanity to a dull roar.
• Consider actually reading that story before you share it on social media.
• Know your source.
• Wait and see. Know that cable news anchors--and all who deliver breaking news--may be scrambling in the first hours of a development.
• Know who is paid to say what on cable.
• Take a break. The news never stops, so put down your phone, turn off your TV, and do something else for a few hours. Cook a meal, take a walk, go to yoga class, read a 19th-century novel.
Of course, there's a downside.
Chances are that when you come back, some fresh hell will have hit the fan. But at least your heart rate will be lower--for a minute--while you catch up.
Editorial on 09/25/2018