In January of 2017, a few days before the inauguration of Donald Trump, Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote a piece warning of a “hellscape of lies and distorted reality” awaiting journalists covering the new president. She was, unfortunately, right: The Trump presidency brought dishonesty at unprecedented and unfathomable levels. Now, as the sun sets on the era, we — both journalists and the public — must get ready for another kind of dishonesty: widespread distortions of the historical record.
As a journalist, I’m generally hesitant to make public predictions; it’s my business to write about what has happened, not what might.
