How Will We Escape From Trump Hell?

The how makes a big difference

I don’t often ask for sympathy for late night comedy writers, but: Pity the poor, cursed souls who wrote for late night comedy shows between 2016 and 2020. Because Trump made our lives hell. For starters, he threw off our rhythm: Late night shows film in the early evening, but Trump would do twelve crazy things between dinner and bedtime that would make your piece instantly passé. Trump also made comedy writers unnecessary; I was reminded of this when I saw the pictures of shredded documents that Trump failed to flush down the toilet. You don’t need a comedy writer to bring out the funny in that — what zinger could I add that would enhance the actual thing? Trump’s presidency was four years of bad jokes, repetitive pieces, and situations that couldn’t be exaggerated for comedic effect. We all lived through Trump Hell, but comedy writers were condemned to the circle where Satan whips you with barbed wire while you write infinite jokes about “covfefe”.

Of course, I’m being glib: Trump’s presidency was some serious shit. I won’t go on a diatribe about how I agree with Dick Cheney that Trump is a unique threat to democracy, and how we must uphold the rule of law blah blah wankity wank — you’ve heard all that before. Suffice it to say: I’m very glad that Trump doesn’t hold office and I hope that he never does again.

Of course, Trump isn’t gone. The raid on Mar-a-Lago reminded us that there are still chapters in this story. And — ugh…fuck — they matter, and — God, kill me now — we need to talk about them. Because Trump will eventually exit the political stage, but how he leaves will determine how much we’re haunted by his (probably metaphorical) ghost.