It is no exaggeration to say that a bizarre new phase in human history began Jan. 20 as Donald J. Trump became the world's most powerful man. All bets, to put it mildly, are off.
Those entrusted to report on and analyze the contemporary world are especially befuddled. One can condemn Trump's open loathing for the mainstream media. But there's no avoiding the fact that he and other impresarios of social media have managed to make their version of reality prevail precisely because public trust in newsgatherers and pundits is at an all-time low.
Nor do the failures of the traditional media exist only on Trump's hyper-active Twitter feed. As far back as 2012, I wrote that the contradictions between "democratic politics, which respect the opinions of the majority, and the imperatives of global capitalism, which is geared toward the creation of private wealth," were becoming intolerable. Yet I, too, was among the commentators who failed to gauge the depth and intensity of the anger that was building up over growing inequality of income and opportunity.