Why the worst is yet to come with Donald Trump
There is no bottom.
In just the last week, Donald Trump has:
suggested that “unfortunately or fortunately” stars have been able to grab women by the private parts for “millions” of years
praised January 6 as a “beautiful day” and said that he would pardon most of the people convicted that day
called a black police officer who shot and killed January 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt a “thug”
referred to a woman he has just been found liable of sexually assaulting as a “whack job.”
said that Republicans should allow the country to default on its debt
refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war with Russia
admitted he purposely removed classified documents from the White House as he was leaving the presidency
refused to say he would concede the 2024 election if he lost
suggested his child separation policy at the border worked as it was intended
And that was all in ONE town hall that lasted just over an hour!
What’s clear from Trump’s town hall performance is that if you thought his first term in office was over the top, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
The New York Times put it this way in a piece on Friday:
Mr. Trump’s provocations were hardly shocking. His time in office was often defined by a the-rules-don’t-apply-to-me approach to governance and a lack of interest in upholding the post-World War II national security order, and at 76 he is not bound to change much.
But his performance nonetheless signaled an escalation of his bid to bend the government to his wishes as he runs again for the White House, only this time with a greater command of the Republican Party’s pressure points and a plan to demolish the federal bureaucracy.
It’s worth remembering that Trump’s utter disregard for norms —or rules — picked up considerable momentum as his first term wore on.
Remember that as it became more and more clear that he would be the Republican nominee in 2016, Trump tried to suggest he would moderate his natural outsider instincts to respect the office of the presidency.
"I will be so presidential, you will be so bored,” Trump said in April 2016. “You'll say, ‘Can't he have a little more energy?’”
And, once he was elected, Trump sought to bring in establishment voices — and seemed willing to throw them bones when it came to his Cabinet picks. Installing Rex Tillerson, the former head of Exxon, as Secretary of State, for example, was seen as a Trumpian olive branch to the party establishment.
Even well into his first term — the first year, for sure — there were active debates about whether the presidency would change Trump.1
By the second half of his term, those debates were over. Trump had fired and/or run off any advisers who tried to constrain his natural instincts for chaos and norm-busting.
In his final two years, he took to appointing acting Cabinet Secretaries — bypassing the Senate confirmation process and giving him more operational control over all elements of the federal bureaucracy.
“I like acting. It gives me more flexibility,” Trump told reporters in 2019. “Do you understand that? I like acting. So we have a few that are acting. We have a great, great Cabinet.”
By the end of his term, Trump was actively trying to overturn the results of a presidential election — going as far as to call the Georgia Secretary of State and ask him to find votes that would make Trump the winner.
(At the CNN town hall this week, Trump said he was “owe[d]” those votes.)
The point is that there was a a clear movement over the course of Trump’s term to an increased ease with flouting norms. Like his lying while in office, it started (relatively) slowly and just kept picking up speed as he went along.
Which means that if he is elected again, he will almost certainly pick up where he left off. There will be no attempts to reach out to the party establishment or to put on a show of normality. It will be Trump unbound — all day, every day.
There’s also plenty of reason to believe that Trump will push even further into uncharted territory if he is elected to a second term.
Remember that, at heart, Trump is a reality TV personality. (This was true even before the concept of reality TV even existed.) He wants — and needs — eyeballs on him. And the only way to ensure that you keep the public’s interest is to do things that increasingly outlandish and outside the bounds.
Need evidence? Watch the show “Jackass.” Or look at the “Joker” meme the former president sent out on Truth Social this morning.
Trump knows all this -- innately. And he also now knows — far better than he did when he first ran for office — what a president can do if he is willing to push hard enough.2
Not for nothing: Trump is also helped by the consolidation of power within the executive branch that has been going on since, at least, George W. Bush’s presidency. The president retains more power today than at any point in decades.
Trump’s actions since becoming a candidate again all point to the likelihood that he will seek to fundamentally remake our notions of what a president can (and can’t) do in office. Which means he will push beyond the boundaries he already stretched during his first term.
The question: How far can those boundaries stretch before they break?
It didn’t.
A reminder: Had it not been for Mike Pence’s refusal, we could well have seen the overturning of a free and fair election in 2020.
Oh, this is ABSOLUTELY true. If/when he wins in November of 2024, his next Presidency will be a four-year carnage of vengeance against everyone and everything he thinks has "wronged him".
referred to a woman he has just been found liable of sexually assaulting as a “whack job.”
Don't forget he was also found liable of defamation on top of the sexual assault. You said it right, There really is no bottom. No low that he won't sink to.