Last year, when the presidential season got going, I made an observation: Donald Trump would often say “the Republicans” or sometimes even “you Republicans,” as though they were foreign to him, and he to them. Yet he was running for the Republican nomination. Which he now has in the bag.

I myself have had to start saying “the Republicans,” and I find it very hard. Sometimes I slip up, saying “we” and “us.” Those words come naturally to my lips. I used them for so long. Indeed, I was a Republican a lot longer — decades longer — than Trump has been.

Divorced people may tell you about a similar transition. For years, they said “we,” “our,” “us.” To revert to “I,” “my,” “me” can be shocking.

As I recall, I registered as a Republican as soon as I was old enough to vote. I certainly remember my first vote: It was cast in Michigan’s gubernatorial election of 1982. I voted for the Republican nominee, Richard Headlee, a businessman, reformer, and humanitarian. He lost — as many of my candidates would go on to do. The winner was Democrat Jim Blanchard, who, after serving two terms as Michigan’s governor, became President Clinton’s ambassador to Canada.

To the best of my recollection, I have never voted for a Democrat, for any office. Divorced from the GOP or not, I’m not about to start now.