cloudy skies over trumpland

The first presidential race I covered in the Midwest was in 1976, when I tagged along with Ronald Reagan in his childhood territory of Illinois for a little newspaper called the Illinois Times. He was unsuccessful then. The second one was tagging along with George W. Bush in Iowa in 1999 for Life magazine. (Lest you think I neglected Democrats, I also tagged along with Al Gore in that race.) 

How the mighty have fallen. I was reduced to covering the Trump Train with no president in sight (not that he would have come to Missouri—unnecessary—even if he hadn't been in hospital) for no publication but me. But it's tough to break the habit of wanting to cover the news, and this was big news in Southern Missouri.

  I was disappointed in myself as a photographer and reporter: I did not get close enough. There was only one other guy in the hundred or so vehicles wearing a mask, and i feared Republican cooties. I am not as brave as I was when I was younger, and even then I was never much of a street reporter. So I remembered how to stake out vantage points, but I didn't go up and talk to people. I wasn't afraid—I was camoflaged in camo, right down to a camo mask—and the people weren't scary. They were just normal, flag-waving, misguided Americans. A few kids and teenagers, but mostly older. I only saw one Confederate flag and one very offensive sign. But alas. I can't wait for this to be over, if it ever is.