The Troll Who Wasn’t There
On the very noticeable and welcome absence of Donald Trump
I’ve thought about Donald Trump every day for almost five years. Every single day, usually many times. I didn’t want to, but couldn’t help it. I bet many of you could say the same.
In spring 2016, as it became clear Trump would be the Republican nominee, I started saying my day was punctuated by “occasional moments of existential dread.” I was joking, but not really, in the way you do when processing something big, something you know you can’t change.
That discomfort jumped a level after he got elected and increased throughout his presidency, spiking in the worst moments, sometimes relaxing a little or plateauing, but never going away, always trending up, as Trump broke through democratic guardrails, established a new baseline, and then broke through more. I could think about other things, get invested in TV, movies, sports, or playing with my kids, but it always came back, including when I wished it wouldn’t.
On January 20, that changed.
Surely you notice his absence. I’m an international relations professor, a news junkie, and spend time on Twitter, so I’ve probably thought about the Trump presidency more than most — worrying about norms, institutions, global stability, and truth — but almost…
