It feels like Donald Trump has been president for oh, roughly 87 years. But June 16 marks only the third — yes, third — anniversary of that fateful day when he descended the elevator at Trump Tower and began poisoning our public life in earnest.
Way back in June 2015, if you can remember the Before Times, Trump was still mostly considered a national joke. Yes, he had expertly exploited the “birther” conspiracy theory over the years, but he had flirted with a run for president so many times before that most media outlets openly mocked his supposed aspirations for office. Daily Intelligencer was no different. In a piece published two weeks before he made his run official, we recommended that readers dismiss the notion that Trump would actually take the plunge into politics.
And yet, just 1,095 days later, he has effectively taken over one of our political parties and reframed America’s relationship with the world, while dominating our national consciousness to the point that he has warped our very relationship with time.
With the benefit of hindsight, it’s safe to say that the joke was on us.
Rather than reflecting upon this deeply sobering fact, maybe go out and celebrate Bloomsday instead.
