Welcome to Trumplandia, where feelings trump facts

In Donald's world, the truth is open to interpretation

What a weird world it is.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Image courtesy SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

I have spent a fair amount of time analyzing Donald Trump's rhetoric, but his performance last night at the final presidential debate blew most of his prior gambits out of the water.

"I will look at it at the time" might be the most contemptible statement the Republican nominee — who was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by their genitals, called Mexicans rapists, and proclaimed President Obama the "founder of ISIS" — has made yet. It's contemptible for obvious reasons; the democratic process depends on gracious concessions. But it's just as important to consider how cavalierly that phrase subordinates the most powerful nation in the world to Trump's whims. "I'll keep you in suspense," Trump said, as if America were a Bachelor contestant awaiting a rose instead of the other way round.

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Lili Loofbourow

Lili Loofbourow is the culture critic at TheWeek.com. She's also a special correspondent for the Los Angeles Review of Books and an editor for Beyond Criticism, a Bloomsbury Academic series dedicated to formally experimental criticism. Her writing has appeared in a variety of venues including The Guardian, Salon, The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and Slate.