Watching the military meeting hosted by Trump and Hegseth was difficult.

More so even than usual, it felt like forcing myself to pay attention as someone was raking their fingernails across the chalkboard or sliding a table across a squeaky floor.

The urge to turn it off was strong; but the moment felt pivotal, so I resisted that urge and continued to listen anyway.

The shortest possible explanation of something that was anything but concise is that the entire thing was pure theatre.

But this wasn’t the kind of theatre that business leaders, or politicians, or teachers will sometimes use to increase morale and bring people together.

This was dark theatre.

While the rhetoric was as thick as ever, the pretense was not.

Through the President’s rambles along the murky corridors of his mind, the one thing that came across loud and clear is that the enemy is within.

And in the more cohesive but still disturbing speech that Hegseth gave, the one clear message was that the military’s purpose is to destroy our enemies.

Taken together, the tone was reminiscent of that scene in just about every fantasy novel where the antagonist drops any remaining pretense and draws a line in the sand.

I haven’t written about American politics directly in the past, in large part because it’s nearly impossible to keep it short and simple.

When a single speech contains more fallacies than a critical thinking exam book, and a single paragraph reads like Orwell, it’s hard to know where to focus.

And, as many have already figured out, that’s not accidental.

Nonetheless, despite an overwhelming number of concerning topics that should be addressed, I want to write about one that’s so buried beneath the rubble it feels intentional – philosophy.

It’s no wonder that philosophy is right up there with empathy on their list of things considered useless. Because philosophy is the “why” behind what we do. And when we lose that “why”, then “what” we do can be pushed so far out of the realm of morality that turning back is like doing a u-turn in a cruise ship.

Over and over again, the message from those at the top of this administration has been that we are throwing away the guardrails.

In Hegseth’s speech, for instance, those guardrails were defined not only as political correctness but also just basic correctness.

Let me explain.

The difference between a leader and a bully isn’t strength. It isn’t presence or how formidable they are. The difference is purpose.

The leader doesn’t agitate. They don’t go on the offensive. Their purpose is not control. And it’s certainly not aggression.

As time marches on, and more guardrails are thrown out, the line between strength as a means of protection and strength as a means of aggression is blurring nearly to extinction.

The line between leader and bully has been erased.

And this has been made possible by burying the philosophy.

Take an initial accepted philosophical stance – like the one that led to the renaming of the Department of War as the Department of Defense.

The philosophy was sound and something that everyone could get behind – we do not seek to create war but to prevent it and, in the case of an outbreak, to defend against it.

By completely ending true discourse, that philosophy was easily buried, and all of the moral obligations and restrictions that were tied to it are now dismantled.

Now, if we no longer accept that premise but have not yet defined a new one, there are no parameters for future acts.

This was intentional.

From the very beginning, Trump and those at his side have worked hard to at first limit and now completely shut down the type of discourse that would allow for any discussion of philosophy.

Even further, they have made the word philosophy itself a joke.

Any time that a question is asked by a reporter that requires something more than a parroted lie or a blanket statement, it is shut down, criticized, mocked, and attacked.

Because to define the philosophy would establish parameters. And bullies hate parameters, guardrails, and discourse.

So many are talking about how to fight back.

How to stop this wrecking ball before it swings any further.

And there are many good and moral answers out there.

But I’d like to offer one more.

Get off the internet.

Talk to your neighbors.

Be strategic and find a way to engage in a deeper conversation without triggering their defense mechanisms.

Find ways to dig into the philosophy. Talk about the “why”.

It doesn’t need to be political, because politics is just the result of philosophy, not the other way around.

The people who need to read something like this will not. They won’t make it past the third line.

The people who need to hear philosophy will not do so willingly. And that is where the opportunity lies. How do we connect on topics of morality and philosophy when both are being actively buried by those in power?

The answer won’t be found online. It will be found in connection. In real world displays of leadership – service, community, empathy, kindness, and genuine conversations.

At this point, I have probably taken as many topic turns as Trump does when asked about healthcare – but I hope that at least my overall message is clear.

The guardrails are gone and without them we risk becoming an earth-sized wrecking ball. We need to re-establish our philosophy – and that can only happen at ground level.

So put away the phone and start talking.

Cristen Writes