Charlie Warzel: “If President Trump has one true skill, it is conjuring up alternate realities and getting his supporters to accept them. The examples are everywhere: dismissing stories he doesn’t like as ‘fake news’ from corrupt media, casting the January 6 rioters as victims, election denial… Trump builds a world, and by virtue of his power and influence, all of us end up living in it in some way or another.”“That era may be coming to a close, in large part because of the way he and his administration have bungled the war in Iran. Trump seems unable to spin this conflict, divert sufficient attention away from it with a new controversy, or end it outright. His social-media posts, which once acted as a de facto assignment editor for the mainstream media, no longer command the same attention or respect… His alternate universe is no match for the harsh reality of war.”