The Trump presidency reality show has been canceled

The New York Times

"If Donald Trump’s loss still seems somehow unreal, and not just to the president’s lawyers, it may be the aftereffect of having spent years trapped in his personal Truman Show," says James Poniewozik. "It’s distorted our sense of what’s normal. Was it ever not like this? Was there a time when each day didn’t rattle us awake to the blaring alarm clock of his Fox News livetweets? American life, since Mr. Trump’s escalator ride on June 16, 2015, had been like a Willy Wonka ironic punishment: You like TV, do you? Then you shall live inside TV — forever! And then, one day, the show was canceled...The former Apprentice host and lifelong media hound dominated the 2016 campaign by knowing what TV wanted. Before he ran for office, Mr. Trump flourished in reality TV, cable news and even pro wrestling, genres that thrive on the same thing he does: conflict. He was a perfect fit for the You’re fired ethos of Mark Burnett’s pseudo-business competition because he, like The Apprentice, saw competition and fighting as the most productive state of existence. This made his presidency an eyeball magnet, for cheerleaders and hate-watchers alike. He was the show’s biggest superfan, consuming hours of TV news, a magic mirror reflecting him, every day. He trumpeted his Nielsen ratings as if they were jobs reports. He told advisers to think of every day of his administration as an episode of a reality show. Mr. Trump has often said, not without justification, that the news networks were addicted to him as much as he was to them: 'Without me, their ratings are going down the tubes.' But the Trump presidency proved something else as well. People may like to watch exciting TV shows. They do not necessarily want to live inside one."