Commentators grapple with a 'postmodern presidency' that treats reality as negotiable

—Writers at Persuasion and The New Yorker are independently wrestling with what it means to have a presidency that treats factual reality as one option among many, rather than a constraint. Persuasion frames it as a "postmodern presidency" that borrows from academic theory's skepticism of objective truth and applies it to executive governance. The New Yorker's reading list format captures the disorientation felt by observers trying to track an administration whose claims bear little relationship to verifiable events.