"The Morning After" was a popular song recorded by Maureen McGovern for the 1972 Motion Picture "The Poseidon Adventure" written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn.
There's got to be a morning afterIf we can hold on through the nightWe have a chance to find the sunshineLet's keep on looking for the light
Oh, can't you see the morning after?It's waiting right outside the stormWhy don't we cross the bridge togetherAnd find a place that's safe and warm?
This song has been echoing in my mind for almost ten years. For me, it represents the promise of a time after the disaster we’re living through in America right now—a reminder that even the darkest night is followed by a morning after.
Looking Back at 1972
Let’s take a moment to look back at 1972 and the years surrounding it. Our country faced an overwhelming list of crises, and here is just a spontaneous, incomplete set of them:
- The Vietnam War
- Nixon’s Watergate scandal, impeachment proceedings, and resignation
- The assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy
- Riots, unrest, and deep national division
During this era, Hollywood produced a wave of “disaster adventure” films—The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, Airport, Earthquake, Skyjacked, and The Andromeda Strain. These blockbusters, viewed in full-sized cinemas, carried a common theme: no matter how catastrophic the event, there is always a morning after. After the ship sinks or the building burns, once the destruction is spent, what remains is a quiet, haunting moment of possibility—an opening for rebuilding.
The Disaster We’re Living Through
We are in the midst of our own national disaster today, and we still have a chance to stop the damage before total collapse. Over the past decade, one figure has dominated this turmoil: T.R.U.M.P.
What’s the saddest part of this story?
- That so many were misled the first time?
- That he incited an attack on the Capitol?
- That Senate Republicans refused to hold him accountable?
- That the nation still voted him back in after all of it?
- That he lives rent-free in the minds of millions?
- That he will occupy far too large a chapter in American history?
The list is long—and still growing—but it will not last forever. There will be a morning after. The question is: what will the aftermath look like?
History’s Warning
Every dictator and tyrant throughout history has left destruction behind. Their stories are littered with greed, power, ego, and the ambitions of those who cling to their coattails. And yet, I never believed such a thing could happen in the United States. But here we are.
The Constitution: America’s Greatest Asset
The greatest strength of the United States has always been its brilliant Constitution—a structure ensuring freedom, justice, and the rule of law for nearly 250 years. It helped build the most powerful economy in the world. Our history isn’t perfect, but we have learned from our mistakes, adapted, and progressed toward something close to a modern utopia.
Why would anyone want to go backward? You can’t—unless you destroy everything built along the way.
Focusing on the Morning After
Right now, the nation is consumed with the “Orange Menace” and his chorus of sycophants. But our focus should shift to what comes after this chapter. What do we want the morning after to look like?
Personally, I want to wake up in a world where I no longer fear politics every day.
I don’t want to worry about authoritarianism creeping into our institutions.
I want to hear meadowlarks in the fields, enjoy sporting events without wondering how many in the crowd are entranced by a tyrant, and stop living under the constant threat of extremism and mass violence.
I want the morning after to be now.
A Song for Today
I had forgotten that the song came from The Poseidon Adventure. I once thought it was a love song. Like so much great art, its ambiguity allows each listener to interpret it personally, though its oceanic metaphors now feel especially fitting.
In this moment, we are aboard the ship “America,” writing our own screenplay—The American Adventure.
The question is: Can we save the ship, or must we escape before it drags us under?
Rebuilding the American Spirit
Will it take a generation to “de-MAGAfy” America? Do we need a national deprogramming of sorts? Maybe. But what I want most is a simple reset.
America needs to return to normal.
No more obsession with conspiracy theories.
No more misinformation fueled by social media.
No more demands that everyone agree or conform.
In a truly free country, we don’t have to agree with each other.
We simply have to allow one another the freedom to be ourselves.
When everything you once held onto has collapsed, you are given a rare chance to rebuild from scratch. Maybe this is our moment.
Let’s let go of the madness so that we can finally wake up to a new world—our own morning after.