The eternal themes of the Trump era

Yes, news breaks at a furious, exhausting pace. But coverage patterns have already begun to emerge, and they repeat themselves with remarkable regularity.

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | REUTERS/Joe Raedle/Pool, AnaMOMarques/iStock)

We're only 15 months into the Trump era, but it already feels like we're trapped in a simulation running a program modeled on Friedrich Nietzsche's concept of the "eternal return of the same."

Yes, news breaks at a furious, exhausting pace. It can seem impossible to keep up with the flood of new and alarming information that rains down on us weekly, daily, hourly. But patterns have already begun to emerge, and they repeat themselves with remarkable regularity. Think of them as epicycles of elite opinion, turning and returning forevermore — or at least until Donald Trump ceases to be the sun around which we orbit every minute of our conscious lives.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.