Be The Maze Runner

We always have choices, even when things are bleak. Don't take the easy path.

First, I didn’t bother to write a Presidents’ Day post—for reasons that should be obvious. Why does the POTUS need a day? (Especially this one, who is ever-present in one form or another.) Turns out that all states don’t celebrate Presidents’ Day equally anyway. The holiday originally coincided with George Washington’s birthday—in case anyone out there gives a shit. Of course, I’m fine with giving Big George his due respect for the simple reason that if he were alive today, he’d likely lead a coup to overthrow the Musk-Trump regime. I should add that every Founding Father—from Hamilton to Jefferson—would be onboard if he did. Slavery was fine for most of them but not this DOGE shit.

It’s extremely difficult to maintain enough focus to push back against Trump II when so much is being thrown at us all at once. I find that I can easily break it all down in an uncontrolled, rambling fashion (not unlike Trump’s own speech), but it feels like I’m solving an impossible equation when I try to be succinct.

I’m not sure that it’s even helpful to highlight one aspect or another of abuse, overreach, malfeasance, and/or corruption when every one of you likely owns a goddam computer, TV, and cell phone with a news feed. Plus, I would bet that you have access to at least one person like me who refuses to shut the hell up about things he has no control over. (Sorry to say that this is a very hard habit to break.)

On the issue of tyranny vs. freedom, though, I want to provide what I hope is useful commentary—the implications of which go far beyond Trump II and even politics.

I just saw The Maze Runner for the first time this past weekend, and I have quickly come to believe that most of us live in the high-tech 21st century equivalent of “the Glade,” doomed to social isolation and willful ignorance. We’re all just passively killing time in our unremarkable lives until someone like Thomas comes along to force us not only onto a different path but also into a new way of thinking.

Thomas is like every romantic, storybook hero in a way—but he’s also like Trump: Disruptive to the order and seemingly impossible to stop. That’s where the comparison ends, though: There’s no way Trump would ever risk his life for someone else—not even his own children.

And that brings me to the problem of the modern age: Most people are feckless cowards. If Aldous Huxley were alive to write another dystopian novel, it would be called Cowardly New World and would feature a lot less sex than his famous novel of a similar name—because our libidos have gone the way of our balls. They’re long gone in the metaphorical sense. I shouldn’t have to give an example of this, but I will: Where is the opposition to Trump? Where the fuck is it? Don’t ask Hakeem Jeffries—he has no answers (or balls).

Too many refuse to leave their own version of the Glade by continuing to go about their business as if nothing has changed—pausing their comfortable routine only to complain about the price of eggs. I’m appalled at how many Teslas and Cybertrucks continue to motor around my neighborhood with no contrite bumper stickers of any kind. The only real (non-performative) outrage I’ve seen from regular people are from those whose loved ones were recently deported. That’s not going to move the needle. We could also call this dystopia Selfish New World.

But Thomas was different. He put himself in harm’s way by jumping into the maze to save his friends when everyone told him it was suicide. Hell, he was ready to jump in and take his chances as soon as he arrived at the Glade. He knew instinctively that it was fraudulent—an empty paradise for fools. I’d like to think that if a Thomas existed in contemporary America, he would do a lot more than go to work, come home, and complain about inflation.

Spoiler alert: The subtle point that the first Maze Runner film makes is that the kids would have all died anyway if they hadn’t defied their hidden masters by leaving the Glade and beating the maze. It may have seemed safer to stay in the Glade (where there were no monsters), but it was ultimately a choice between the scary unknown and certain death by starvation. The choice should have been easy.

It should, in turn, be easy for us: The first six weeks of 2025 have not been business as usual, and the threats to our livelihoods, rights, freedoms, and peace of mind are all too real—they are unrelenting and all-encompassing. No amount of denial or equivocation will help us address such threats. And there is no Thomas to sacrifice himself for the greater good and push us into bold action. It’s all up to the brave among us who still remain.

To paraphrase a different character, Newt, played by the same actor who plays the seer in Game of Thrones, “Thomas is either very brave or very stupid—but we need a lot more of whatever he has.” Indeed. We need people willing to do more than doomscroll and wait patiently for the midterm elections (assuming President Musk allows them).

Playing it safe never guarantees safety in the long term. Plenty of people played it safe when Hitler took power in Nazi Germany. We even have a name for them: “good Germans.” Would you rather be a (bad) Thomas or a good German?

The choice is simple—and it’s yours to make.