How President Trump became the GOP鈥檚 鈥榥ew normal鈥�
| Washington
On Election Day 2016, Ari Fleischer was so unhappy with the choices for president he left his ballot blank.听
It pained him to do so. Mr. Fleischer is a staunch Republican; he had served as President George W. Bush鈥檚 press secretary. But, he says in an interview, GOP nominee Donald Trump had gone too far, starting with the so-called Muslim ban.
Now, Mr. Fleischer says, if the election were held today he鈥檇 vote for President Trump. His change of heart is 鈥減olicy-driven,鈥� he says, pointing to tax reform, deregulation, and even Mr. Trump鈥檚 use of tariffs as a tool to change China鈥檚 behavior, a profound shift in the Republican approach to trade.听
Why We Wrote This
That President Trump has changed political discourse and the presidency is beyond doubt. But that鈥檚 not to say his provocative style will be the way of the future.
Not that Mr. Trump gets a blank check. 鈥淓verybody still needs to speak up when the president rhetorically goes too far,鈥� Mr. Fleischer says.听
A test of this approach 鈥� applaud Mr. Trump on policy, clap back on ugly rhetoric 鈥� hit Republicans on Sunday morning. The president went on a against a group of Democratic congresswomen of color 鈥� calling on them to 鈥済o back鈥� to their countries of origin, though all but one are American-born. By Monday afternoon, only about a dozen Republicans in Congress had contradicted him.听
One of Mr. Trump鈥檚 closest allies on Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, doubled down on the president鈥檚 point.听
鈥淲e all know that AOC and this crowd are a bunch of communists. ... They鈥檙e anti-Semitic. They鈥檙e anti-America,鈥� Senator Graham said on Fox News, referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who was born in New York.听聽
Mr. Trump then reinforced Mr. Graham鈥檚 commentary by tweeting it out.听
For his part, Mr. Fleischer Monday that Mr. Trump鈥檚 statement was 鈥渃ompletely inappropriate.鈥� But he says the incident doesn鈥檛 change his support for the president.
Indeed, Mr. Trump鈥檚 incendiary tweet and the limited negative response from elected Republicans may be the biggest proof yet that, after 2 陆 years in office, Mr. Trump has thoroughly taken over the Republican Party and normalized rhetoric that would once have been unthinkable in modern political discourse.听
Democrats, from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on down, have blasted Mr. Trump. The president鈥檚 plan has 鈥渁lways been about making America white again,鈥� Speaker Pelosi . 鈥淭HIS is what racism looks like,鈥� Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who is African American and one of the members targeted by Mr. Trump. Speaker Pelosi announced Monday there will be a House resolution condemning the president鈥檚 tweets.
At a White House event Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump accused Ms. Pelosi of being racist when she tweeted that he wants to 鈥渕ake America white again.鈥� He also said 鈥渋t doesn鈥檛 concern me鈥� that many people saw the tweets as racist 鈥渂ecause many people agree with me.鈥�
On Capitol Hill, negative Republican reactions began trickling in Monday afternoon. The two African American GOP members 鈥� Rep. Will Hurd of Texas and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina 鈥� registered their objections. Most of the other Republicans who pushed back on Mr. Trump have been known to criticize him before, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. She said she disagrees 鈥渟trongly鈥� with House progressives on policy but called Mr. Trump鈥檚 tweet 鈥渨ay over the line.鈥�
GOP support for Trump鈥檚 tweets also kept coming in, including a from Sen. Steve Daines, R-MT, who concluded, 鈥淚 stand with @realDonaldTrump.鈥� In a on a Baltimore radio station, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., defended Trump鈥檚 tweets as 鈥渃learly鈥� not racist.
Even before the Sunday tweetstorm, Mr. Trump鈥檚 ownership of the GOP was clear. He faces no serious challenge for his party鈥檚 presidential nomination in 2020, and the ranks of Republican 鈥渘ever Trumpers鈥� have . Among rank-and-file voters overall, approval for Mr. Trump is near an , though still below 50%.
In the 鈥渘ew normal鈥� of the Trump presidency, the unusual has become the usual. To Trump fans, the strong economy, crackdown on illegal immigration, and revamping of international trade are all happy outcomes of an outsider president willing to take on the forces of business as usual.听
鈥淲hat he鈥檚 doing is amazing for our country, and that should be normal,鈥� says Buckaroo Lennox, an author and musician in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, who supports the president.听
To the opposition, there鈥檚 nothing 鈥渘ormal鈥� about a president who traffics in racist rhetoric, separates migrant children from their families, and calls the press 鈥渢he enemy of the people.鈥澛�
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of the anti-Trump Indivisible movement, blames both major parties for the current state of affairs.听
鈥淭he political system is making choices every day about how much of this we accept,鈥� Ms. Greenberg says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 true of the Republicans who鈥檝e lined up behind Trump 鈥� and it鈥檚 true of Democrats who have chosen not to move aggressively toward impeachment.鈥澛�
Defining 鈥渘ormal鈥�
The word 鈥渘ormal鈥� is deceptively simple. It can refer to a statistical norm in scientifically measurable phenomena, such as weather, and it can also be deployed in the highly subjective world of politics. The philosopher Ian Hacking once called the use of the word 鈥渙ne of the most powerful ideological tools of the 20th century.鈥澛�
During the 2016 campaign, critics warned against 鈥渘ormalizing鈥� Mr. Trump. Late-night host Jimmy Fallon took grief for tousling the candidate鈥檚 hair during an appearance on his show, a moment that .听
After the election, calls to resist normalizing the Trump presidency rang loudly. 鈥淣ot my president,鈥� protesters shouted, refusing on principle to utter the words 鈥淧resident鈥� and 鈥淭rump鈥� in succession.听
After all, the argument still goes, Mr. Trump didn鈥檛 win the popular vote. And it鈥檚 possible, some say, that Russian meddling swung the 2016 election his way. No less a figure than former President Jimmy Carter recently that as fact, though without evidence.听
There鈥檚 nothing new in trying to delegitimize a sitting president. Look no further than the 鈥渂irther鈥� movement 鈥� fueled by Mr. Trump himself 鈥� that sought to cast doubt on President Barack Obama鈥檚 American citizenship.听
But Mr. Trump may well be the first president to inspire demands that the media not normalize his behavior and thus the very legitimacy of his presidency.听
Mr. Trump鈥檚 habit of making false statements聽鈥� whether he is misspeaking, dissembling, exaggerating in a way typical for politicians and salesmen, or lying outright 鈥� has employed legions of fact-checkers, and challenged newsrooms to examine exactly how to describe utterances that aren鈥檛 true.听
But the press can鈥檛 win.听
鈥淧eople complain that the media are normalizing Trump simply by virtue of covering him all the time,鈥� says Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguist who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley School of Information. 鈥淓verything he does becomes a story. People just get used to Trump being Trump, and there鈥檚 no way around it.鈥澛�
The daily barrage of news about the president and his administration may have led, in some ways, to a sense of 鈥渋ndignation fatigue鈥� among critics that at times can appear to be capitulation.听
鈥淥bviously there are still people fighting what they consider to be the good fight,鈥� says Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. 鈥淏ut that level of white-heat intensity just can鈥檛 be sustained, day in and day out, minute after minute. Though that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 gone away in people鈥檚 minds or that it doesn鈥檛 flare up again.鈥澛犅�
Impact on the presidency
The 2020 presidential race is still taking shape. Democrats are in the early rounds of figuring out who their nominee will be. Once the nominee is clear, the battle will be joined and the energy that went into the 2018 midterms and into a variety of causes 鈥� from climate change and guns to abortion and women鈥檚 rights 鈥� will channel into a presidential cycle that could be the most explosive in generations.听
That Mr. Trump has changed politics and the presidency is beyond doubt. His use of Twitter to communicate directly to the public is an innovation from which there is no pulling back. But that鈥檚 not to say Mr. Trump鈥檚 provocative style will be the way of the future.听
鈥淚t is difficult to imagine a successor with either the will, stomach, flair, or necessity for doing what he does or how he does it,鈥� writes presidential historian David Pietrusza in an email. 鈥淧residential candidates may for the time being follow in his tweet-steps but I doubt if any subsequent White House occupant would.鈥�
In the past, outsize presidential personalities have often been followed by more conventional figures: Martin Van Buren succeeded Andrew Jackson, the first populist president, whose portrait hangs in the Trump Oval Office. William Howard Taft followed Teddy Roosevelt. Warren Harding followed Woodrow Wilson.
鈥淎s low hemlines follow high hemlines,鈥� Mr. Pietrusza writes, 鈥渋t would not surprise me if his 2020 or 2024 successor might comport him or herself in vastly more subdued ways.鈥�
