A political campaign that once looked like a reality-based television series has revealed a broader truth. It was never reality-based at all. Reality requires facts, and facts don’t matter. Not anymore.
Some people look at the Trump phenomenon and see disaffected citizens who have become alienated. The political class ignored them for years; now they think that The Donald as president won’t. Others view Trump as the repository of racists and bigots. In the past, such individuals responded to subtle dog whistles of intolerance. Now they’ve found a socially acceptable vehicle for expressing their views loudly, publicly and sometimes violently. The list of proffered explanations for Trump’s appeal is long. Most are pretty ugly.
