Welcome to Trump Land. Itap no longer an idea, but the new reality. And since I have formally entered Trump Land, I have found it to be a surreal place. There is a lot of resentment and mistrust and hostility here.
In altering the universe we knew, Trump Land has also altered the conversation we used to have.
That might sound gratuitous, but itap not. I can explain.
My introduction to Trump Land has been that it is a place where you can be called a lefty by a host of critics for of Mitt Romney and John McCain, as I did following the election. Not a RINO (or Republican in Name Only), but the kind of man that you would be if you believed in Bernie Sanders.
Put another way: Trump Land is a place where if you call for inspiring Republican leadership, you are called a fool; where it is suggested that you sit around campfires holding hands with John McCain and Mitt Romney and possibly dream of ménage à trois.
Trump Land is a place where you are told to go back to Arkansas. But you thought it was supposed to be people from places like Arkansas who supported Trump, and in fact they supported him like they were cheering for the Razorbacks. (So where’s the love for Arkansas, you elitist critics? There are a lot of nice people there.)
Trump Land is a place where a man tells a young woman who answers a telephone call meant for an editorial page editor that she can go — using a nicer expression to describe what he said — take advantage of herself, but that the hope would be that the young woman who had nothing at all to do with the subject of the complaint would choke and die.
I’ve lost the thread. That happens a lot in Trump Land.
I remember: Trump Land is a place where it is OK to sexually assault women, as long as you don’t vote for them. (And no. Of course I don’t mean that woman. Have you seen her?)
But letap be positive. I am curious about a Trump presidency, now that I will have to cover one. What will a Trump presidency be like?
Will he be like a brilliant CEO, assemble a smart team of advisers, gather the Republican leadership and tell them, you know: “Immigration sucks. Fix it. And don’t take too long.”
Or: “I don’t know what to do about fixing Obamacare. Nobody does. Are you kidding me? Fix it. Make health care beautiful.”
Because that would be cool. But if thatap the kind of place that Trump Land is, that would mean that Trump can figure out how to make fractious Republicans, and even enough Democrats, work together to make it so. But wait: In Trump Land those lawmakers aren’t supposed to compromise, for if they compromise they will be accused of sitting around a campfire holding hands with John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Again I’ve lost the thread.
There are so many examples like these, but here’s the rub: Trump Land is a place where you are constantly told that you don’t get it. In Trump Land you are told that if you are a writer you no longer matter.
Thatap the cold-hearted truth that these critics hit squarely on target. Those of us in the reporting and the opinion business missed what made Trump Land possible.
And that is why I have hope that I am going to like Trump Land. Because the best advice that you will ever give a writer is to make the reader care. Make it matter.
Trump Land is going to be good for journalism. Trump Land will be a fascinating place of discovery for any writer or artist or musician or thinker to dig in to.
Our readers don’t understand the place either. Soon enough, once they see him responding to the reality of the White House, a lot of Trump’s supporters are going to feel lost in Trump Land, too.
They’re going to want to know how, in God’s name (and thatap correct, BTW, the sins of Trump Land apparently get His blessing) this could have ever happened. And where do we go from here?
Here in Trump Land, it is time to find out.
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