Reality sets in on President Donald Trump

Few would have predicted this a year ago, but Donald Trump is now the 45th president of the United States.

Forget reality TV. Here is the new reality: Donald Trump is the 45th president of the United States. Hold the phone — that would be just part of our advice for the new commander-in-chief. Trump took the oath Friday, succeeding President Barack Obama. Clouded by Mother Nature, who chose to rain on Trump’s parade, and veiled by protests and boycotts, we applaud the outgoing president for one final, classy moment. What lies ahead is what will define Mr. Trump — and his presidency. Clearly, this is going to take some getting used to — on all sides. Trump is not going to be like every other president. That became evident as he slayed a series of what most pundits considered far more likely — and more qualified — Republican candidates. One by one, Trump knocked them off, using his reality TV kitsch and appeal to a wide swath of disaffected Americans to galvanize a heretofore unrecognized political alliance. They were the disaffected, those who felt marginalized, left out of the discussion, looked down upon by the “elites.” Or as so incredulously synthesized by Democratic standard bearer Hillary Clinton in a single word, the “deplorables.”

Trump wrapped his arms around those “deplorables,” and rode their anger all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

But that was Trump the Campaigner. Now we await Trump the President. And it is our hope that he is just that, more presidential. This is not reality TV, where the billionaire real estate mogul thrived in his most natural element — with the cameras directly on him — as he dispatched those who did not meet his standards with a terse “You’re Fired.”

That worked on TV. It likely will be a tad more problematic on a world stage, with the prestige of America and the imprimatur of the most powerful office in the world at his fingertips. Where to start? How about this simple suggestion, Mr. President. Put down your phone.

Your delight in taking to Twitter at all hours of the night belies the prestige of your new office. You bypass, an end endaround, if you will, a media you clearly distrust. The truth is you now need to be better than that. Larger than that. You are no longer a TV host, nor a candidate. You are the president of the United States. Please act like it. Your first press conference, at which you decided to take your fight with several networks public, was embarrassing and beneath the dignity of the office you now hold, as well as the long list of men who have sat in the Oval Office before you. A few hours later, you were engaged in still one more Twitter fight, this time on the occasion of the holiday marking the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with a man who walked along with King. That would be Congressman John Lewis, who openly questioned the legitimacy of your presidency. Again, we wish the congressman had not gone there. But even more, we wish you, Mr. Trump, had acted presidential, instead of your trademark trigger finger backlash — the angry, caustic Twitter retort.

We are not here to quibble with your presidency, nor question or even deny it. Clearly there were a lot of people in the nation’s capital who are doing just that. No doubt they are fueled by many members of Congress — including many from right here in our own area — who have decided to boycott the day. We wish they had made another choice. The transfer of power, and the handoff of the mantle of the presidency, are key planks in the greatest Democratic experiment in the world’s history, and ignoring it belies the importance of just such an event. President Trump. They are the two words that most experts — including almost all of us in the media — never expected to write.

Having said that, we caution the nation’s new leader that coming to grips with his new surroundings may just be Job 1, especially for our 45th president. The truth of the matter, Mr. Trump, is that unlike so much of your public life to this point, this is no longer about you. This is not a hotel, nor a casino. It’s not your latest resort, it’s not a business venture, part of the Trump brand, something to simply slap your name on. You now must do something you at times seem incapable of doing, putting yourself and your own concerns in the background. This is no longer your business, President Trump. It’s all of ours business. It’s about the people who elected you. All of them. Including the more than 2 million who formed a popular vote majority for Hillary Clinton. They await the Trump Presidency. In your own parlance, Mr. Trump, you’ve been hired. Please don’t disappoint us.