Goodbye to Trump’s outrage bombs and hello to Biden’s first press conference

The act of newsgathering has changed hugely in the past few months since The Donald left 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, writes Dave Maclean

After four years at the top, Trump is a shadow of the figure he once was (EPA)

My flight path along the Florida coastline the other day made me wonder whether I’d be able to peer down at Mar-a-Lago, the new permanent home of Donald Trump.

I dozed off post-pretzels before we reached that point of the coastline, so I’ll never know, but the very idea of the man who loomed so large in all of our lives for so long suddenly being just a silent speck somewhere down there in the Sunshine State really hit me.

I say silent because his removal from the public discourse has been swift, and brutally effective. He was reduced from a man who could – at any hour – dominate the domestic and international news cycle to someone who issues occasional missives as formal statements which land from time to time like relics from another era. Despite his recent promises to start a new social media network and support certain loyal Republican candidates from afar, he is a shadow of the figure he once was.