Humans have always been hungry for the news. “What is happening right now?”, “What is going on in the world?” are constant questions on people’s minds. Even before the internet, people were attuned to what was important for them and the people around them to pay attention to. So it seems news flows like a thread through the collective consciousness through time.

Of 14 selected topics (selected by me arbitrarily) from 2019 (government shutdown, US-Mexico border, Green New Deal, Blackface, Brexit, Maduro re-elected, US-China trade war, Epstein arrest and “suicide”, recession, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, baby yoda, impeachment), we are still talking about 7 of them (government shutdown, US-Mexico border, Maduro, US-China trade war, Ukraine (but not really that much), Israel, Iran protests). Interestingly, Trump was the only U.S. president to be impeached twice. He was first impeached in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and a second time in 2021 for incitement of insurrection, but was acquitted by the Senate both times.

Of 29 topics from 2021 (stimmy check, insurrection, Trump, voter fraud, impeachment, Joe Biden, Larry King, Kamala Harris, Paris Agreement, Gamestop, Myanmar Coup, Tom Brady, Covid-19 vaccine, Meghan Markle, “Stop Asian Hate”, Suez Canal, Prince Philip, Derek Chauvin, Liz Cheney, Israel-Palestine conflict, border, Critical race theory, Jeff Bezos, Olympics, Andrew Cuomo, Afghanistan, Abortion, Build back better, Pandora Papers), we are still talking about 3 of them (Trump, Israel-Palestine conflict (though less so these days), border).

Of 28 topics from 2023 (Chinese spy balloon, Lebron James, Beyonce, UFO, Ukraine, Silicon Valley Bank, Tik Tok ban, Mifepristone, Tucker Carlson, King Charles, Joe Biden, debt ceiling, affirmative action, Barbie, Hunter Biden, Maui fire, Threads, Vivek Ramaswamy, Oliver Anthony, Trump, student loans, Kylie Jenner, impeachment, Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce, Israel, Bad Bunny, Sam Altman, George Santos), we are still talking about 5 of them (Ukraine (somewhat), Tucker Carlson, Trump, Israel, Bad Bunny). Joe Biden was never impeached.

Of 29 topics from 2025 (Palisades fire, Greenland, Elon Musk, DEI, RFK Jr, Gaza, Doge, Zelensky, Autopen, tariffs, ICE, Israel-Iran, Labubu, Big Beautiful Bill, Epstein, Jeff Bezos, Jerome Powell, Sydney Sweeney, Inflation, TACO, Kpop Demon Hunters, Charlie Kirk, Bad Bunny, No Kings, 6-7, Mamdani, Government shutdown, AI bubble, Brown University), we are still talking about 8 of them (tariffs, ICE, Israel-Iran, Epstein(?), TACO, Bad Bunny, Government shutdown, AI bubble).

Conclusions

• The news cycle flows from one thing to the next and is not really set up to ever “get to the bottom” of anything or complete any investigation/reporting/story

• Most things in the news end up fading away and are not important, but there are things that seem to keep popping back up, and those more lasting things are probably important

• The things that have persisted and seem like they are not going away: Trump Derangement Syndrome, US-China trade wars, US-Mexico border conflict (though less heated now?), Ukraine-Russia conflict (maybe?), Israel-Iran conflict, Epstein files, government funding issues (shutdown after shutdown), AI, Bad Bunny (lol). And if there was a top 3 that people will not stop talking about until they are resolved, I would say it is Trump, US-China conflict, and Israel-Iran conflict. Epstein files and AI are also ones that will be important to follow but may get less coverage(?)

• There are also important things that are not making it into the news (e.g. sovereign debt crisis, humanitarian crises in other parts of the world, etc)