The Counterintuitive Way to Fight Back Against Division Without Giving In

The secret weapon for surviving America’s political minefields.

The Counterintuitive Way to Fight Back Against Division Without Giving In

The secret weapon for surviving America’s political minefields.

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #547: Sunday, September 14th, 2025.

Let’s Start with a Punch In The Gut

I’ll be blunt: I’m writing this piece as much for myself as I am for you. The last ten years have been rough on damn near everybody.

Politics…pandemics…money stress…family rifts…you name it. And if there’s one thing I know…it’s this: every single one of us could use a reminder…or a strategy…to keep our heads above water. I sure as hell can.

Right now, America is ripping itself apart. Families don’t talk. Friends ghost each other. Thanksgiving tables feel like warzones. Offices look like minefields.

If you think I’m about to tell you to “love the people drooling for civil war so they have an excuse to kill you,” breathe easy. That’s not what this is about.

This is about something far more practical…healing the relationships you actually do value…or once did.

The ones with family…friends…or co-workers that have become stress fractures in your daily life. The connections that matter…but have been poisoned by tension for far too long.

And here’s the ugly truth nobody wants to admit: we’re not just cruel to each other. We’re cruel to ourselves.

We punish ourselves for every slip…every mistake…every “wrong” word. We drag ourselves through the mud for not living up to impossible standards.

And then… surprise surprise…we lash out at others with the same whip.

You want to know why we can’t seem to bridge political differences? Why every conversation feels like an ambush? It’s because we’ve trained ourselves to go on the attack.

And the first victim of that attack is the person in the mirror.

Fix the Root…Not the Symptoms

My granddad Hopkins used to hammer this point:

You don’t solve a business problem by patching the symptoms.

You fix the root.

Same with politics. Same with relationships. Same with your sanity.

The root problem isn’t that your uncle loves Trump or your co-worker parrots MSNBC talking points.

The root problem is that you’ve got zero tolerance left in the tank. You’ve spent it all berating yourself.

That’s why when someone hits you with a political opinion you hate…you don’t respond with curiosity. You respond with claws out. You’ve been practicing on yourself for years.

Let’s dig in.