hellscape

And it isn't just the kooky QAnon conspiracy types — Trump managed through sheer repetition to convince otherwise normal people that his first term was a golden age of peace and prosperity and that the country today is a dystopian hellscape because the price of eggs is higher than it was five years ago.

Trump, too, has “learned” that his hellscape notions of law and justice are immune from legal consequence.

Incidents like these will lead to media coverage that gives further grist to those who insist L.A. is a hellscape that can’t be saved.

Next week, we face an election in which one campaign declares “Let’s turn the page!,” while the other looks at the country, pronounces it a hellscape, and promises to “Make America Great Again!”

It’s a hellscape that has become part of the terrain, like the palm trees that rise over Alvarado Street and the street lamps that have gone dead.