We can say with absolute certainty that the Chicago Cubs ended a 108-year spell of futility and won the World Series. The Curse of the Billy Goat is dead. We also know with absolute certainty that on the dawn following the last out, the sun rose over Chicago, my dad’s hometown, at 7:26 a.m.

But with nearly everything else, we choose to believe what we want. Segregation lives. Reality no longer bites — it sorts. This coming Election Day, separate theaters for red and blue voters will open so that viewers can get their political news inside the comfort of their own fact bubbles.

Of all the concerns facing a Madam President, governing in a post-truth environment may be the biggest challenge. Perhaps a third of American adults now believe a few Big Lies. And those Big Lies may be nearly impossible to dislodge, because in the course of this awful election, even fact-checking became suspect.

Take it from Rush Limbaugh, long divorced from reality, as well as from three wives. Earlier this year, he told his listeners not to fall for the independent, nonpartisan outlets that try to referee the statements of politicians. “There is no fact-checking,” he said, “just vehicles to do partisan journalism.”