For many years, Venezuelans understood instinctively what was meant when someone invoked la situacion in conversation. The rich started leaving the country because of la situacion. One would be crazy to drive at night, given la situacion del pais. The main features of this 'situation of the country,' in the years around President Hugo Chavez's death in 2013, were an economy in free fall, empty supermarket shelves, and the normalization of new forms of criminality'such as 'express kidnappings,' or abductions in which ransoms were paid by speedy bank transfers and the victims released within a couple of hours. People no longer speak so much about la situacion. But they have begun using a word that rhymes: la represion. Since the July 28 election, in which plausibly two-thirds of voters rejected incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelans have entered a 'silent tunnel,' the historian Edgardo Mondolfi told me. They breathe fear, watch what they say, and mind their own business. To international observers, the news that things are bad in a country where things have been bad for so long must seem unremarkable. Since Maduro, Chavez's successor and heir, came to power, one in four Venezuelans has left the country. Why would anyone be shocked that Venezuelans fear the erratic tyrant who rules them'...

I am a psychiatrist who studies and treats fear and anxiety. One of my main mental health recommendations to my patients during the 2016 and 2020 election cycles was to reduce their political news consumption. I also tried to convince them that the five hours a day they spent watching cable news was only leaving them helpless and terrified. Over the past couple of years, though, I have noticed a change: Many of my patients say they either have tuned out or are too exhausted to do more than a brief read of political news or watch one hour of their favorite political show. Research supports my clinical experience: A Pew research study from 2020 showed that 66% of Americans were worn out by political stress. Interestingly, those who are not following the news feel that same news fatigue at an even higher percentage of 73%. In 2023, 8 out of 10 Americans described U.S. politics with negative words like 'divisive,' 'corrupt,' 'messy' and 'polarized.' In my 2023 book, 'AFRAID: Understanding the Purpose of Fear, and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety,' I discuss how American politicians and major news media have found an ally in fear: a very strong emotion that can be used to grab our attention, keeping us in the tribal dividing lines and making us follow, click, tap, watch and donate....

Yesterday, a tantrum from the world's richest person swayed events in Congress. First, Elon Musk launched a blizzard of X posts denouncing a bipartisan spending bill designed to keep the government open. Calling the bill 'criminal,' Musk threatened: 'Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in two years!' Panic ensued among the notoriously skittish congressional GOP, who quickly bowed to their master's voice. Musk, of course, is not actually the president-elect. He received approximately zero percent of the votes in last month's election. But for a few hours this week, Musk didn't just act as if he, and not Donald Trump, will soon hold the reins of government power; the GOP also responded as if he will. As Russell Berman noted in The Atlantic earlier today, Republicans were not happy with the proposed version of the spending bill, but House Speaker Mike Johnson 'believed that he could get enough Republicans to join most Democrats in passing the bill in time to avert a government shutdown.' It turns out, though, that the person he really needed to persuade was Musk. 'I was communicating with Elon last night,' Johnson said yesterday on Fox & Friends. 'Elon, Vivek [Ramaswamy], and I are on a text chain together, and I was explaining to them the background of this.' The pleading and lobbying to the unelected billionaires went on for a while. Johnson added, 'Vivek and I talked last night [until] about almost midnight ' [He and Musk] understand the situation. They said, 'It's not directed at you, Mr. Speaker, but we don't like the spending.' And I said, 'Guess what, fellas' I don't either.''...

Understanding how to navigate office politics is a leadership skill....