Trump has been "normalized."
He therefore can expect the unfair and vicious attacks a GOP president normally receives.
In 2016 and early 2017, leading Democrats and their media echo chamber fretted that Donald Trump might be “normalized.” Doing everything possible to prevent this, they succeeded in having Trump treated abnormally.
It was abnormal for rioters to rampage through the streets of Washington, D.C. just before Trump’s inauguration. It was abnormal for hundreds of thousands of disappointed liberals to march in Washington to protest his inauguration. Above all, it was abnormal for Democrats and the mainstream media to push the Russia collusion hoax for a couple of years.
So far, Trump hasn’t gotten abnormal treatment this time around. This week, there were no riots in D.C. There was no mass protest. And no story suggesting that Trump is a tool of Russia or China has gained currency. Claims that he’s a tool of rich businessmen are normal for a Republican president.
Yes, the Washington Post is running multiple anti-Trump stories on its front page these days. But the stories are based mostly, though not entirely, on substantive things Trump has done — i.e., his pardons, his executive orders, and the ones he has rescinded. These are fair game.
Trump has been “normalized.”
Some attribute this to fatigue by his enemies. Having now lost two elections to the guy, and this time having lost the popular vote, his enemies are said to be demoralized and thus unwilling or unable to devote as much energy as before to opposing Trump.
I don’t share this view. Demoralized, yes. Unwilling to fight hard and unfairly, no.
To me, the normalization of Trump means only that his enemies will treat him about the same way, but probably a little worse, than the way Republican presidents normally are treated once they take office. In other words, he will be treated viciously and unfairly by Democrats and the mainstream media.
Before they take office, most presidents (except Bush 43 and Trump in his first term) get a honeymoon period. This time, Trump got one, as well.
The honeymoon period often lasts until the new president gives his enemies something to shoot at — either a scandal or a vulnerable policy. Trump has been unusually quick to serve up policy targets, and the mainstream media is already auditioning some of them as potentially vulnerable.
But leading Democrats understand that the public isn’t likely to turn against Trump over a few decisions it disagrees with. Tim Kaine described what I take to be their approach to Trump this time around:
Choose your battles. There’s going to be plenty of them. We don’t need to chase after every reference to Greenland. Each person will have a slightly different take on it based on where they are and who their voters are, but choose your battles and pick the ones that really have to work with the citizens.
Look, then, for the MSM to run various Trump “outrages” up the flagpole and for Democrats like Kaine to see if “the citizens” salute.
Kaine is right to say that there will be plenty of possible battles for the Dems to fight. The ones most likely to succeed aren’t over the issues Trump campaigned on — an immigration crackdown, tariffs (unless the economy suffers), reducing regulations and the size of government (except as discussed below), pulling back from involvement in foreign wars, taking on DEI, and even those pardons.
The battles most likely to matter are ones that can’t now be foreseen. This was true in Trump’s first administration, as in most. For all the huffing and puffing about “collusion” with Russia, separating immigrant children from their parents, alleged racism, and so forth, what mattered in the end was the pandemic. That’s what cost Trump the 2020 election. (Events in Charlottesville also hurt Trump, fairly or not. These, too, were unforeseen.)
With any luck, we won’t have another pandemic in Trump’s second term. But there are bound to be disasters — either here, abroad, or both — for which Trump’s enemies will try to blame him. There’s also the possibility of a recession or a big new spike in inflation.
Because Trump’s policies and approach to governing are so radical and unorthodox, it will be easy for Democrats to blame him — fairly or unfairly, it won’t matter to them — for unforeseen disasters and setbacks. If inflation spikes, Trump’s tariffs will be blamed.
If there is an unforeseen health crisis or natural disaster (recall Hurricane Katrina), Democrats and their media allies will draw an allegedly straight line to cuts Trump made in government staffing and regulations, or to the policies of Robert Kennedy Jr. (if he’s confirmed). Regulations often exist to deal with or prevent a problem that’s unlikely to surface in their absence. But there are enough such problems that the odds of one of them surfacing aren’t low.
If one does, Trump will be blamed even if (1) the totality of his cuts benefits America and (2) the regulations and/or staff he cut wouldn’t have made a difference.
In the meantime, the honeymoon is over. The Post may be focused on substance, but other organs are resorting to trivia.
During an inaugural event, Elon Musk, the administration’s chief pantomime villain, told a crowd, “My heart goes out to you.” He then grabbed his chest with his hand and thrust his arm out towards the crowd as if throwing his heart to the crowd. Some in the media portrayed this as a fascist salute.
This sort of attack has no resonance. Neither will the pardons, a much more serious matter.
But it’s important for Trump’s enemies to make sure left-liberal outrage at Trump persists. Thus, we can expect a steady drumbeat of anti-Trump stories — some trivial some not — to keep energy levels high until something that might “work with the citizens” emerges.
That’s how it was with both of the Bush presidents and with Ronald Reagan. Frankly, that’s how Republican partisans tend to treat Democratic presidents, too. But their attacks aren’t amplified (and are often buried) by the mainstream media.
The good news for Trump is that he has been normalized. The bad news is that highly unfair treatment of GOP presidents is the norm.
You underestimate the damage that constantly riling up the base with false stories can do. It's not good for a Republic when something like 30 percent of the adults in this country and maybe more genuinely believe Musk was making a Nazi salute at the inauguration. Sure they called Bush Hitler etc. But no one really meant it then. These people (many of whom I know and used to think were sane) genuinely believe that Trump is going reintroduce the Third Reich. It's not good for the Republic.
Agree that he will be treated unfairly in the same manner by the MSM as are most Republicans, but the difference is that the number of voters who exist within that echo chamber is now the smallest ever and in the great majority of cases they have never and would never support Trump. The rise of alternative media ( including this platform) provides the average at least semi informed voter multiple sources of information, and the legacy MSM media so over-played their hand is attempting to discredit Trump that their credibility is at all time lows. I would guess that among the policies that Trump is committed to implementing , the one where he is most likely to over-play his hand and where there is the most disagreement among his supporters are tariffs, and if they appear to be inflationary he will rightly get blamed for that. I agree with you that the most serious actual and PR problem for him is likely to be something unexpected and for which he and his advisors are unprepared , but I am comforted somewhat by the fact that he has surrounded himself with largely competent and experienced people who will advise him well and that his instincts are correct the great majority of the time, as opposed to Biden who was wrong on almost every major issue, particularly in the foreign policy area, his whole career.