There is something very ominous going on not quite under the radar. There’s no question that many people have objected to the normalization of Donald Trump’s behavior, but the fact is that it proceeds apace, enabled by the very people that should be resisting it.
As the entire world knows, Trump sunk to a new low (for the period subsequent to his inauguration) in a recent tweet about Mika Brzezinksi. Unfortunately, when Trump sinks to a new low, it simply seems to make his previous depths the new normal. Consider this from the Boston Globe, a by no means unique reaction:
The overwhelmingly negative response to the president’s language was striking, even at a time when politicians and perhaps the rest of the nation long ago became accustomed to the unconventional ways that Trump communicates. And the reaction bodes poorly for a president who is already struggling to rally his own party around his agenda, which includes a health care overhaul has stalled in the Senate, a tax reform proposal that has made little to no progress, and an infrastructure bill that still seems merely aspirational. (Emphasis added)
via The Boston Globe
Have you become “accustomed” to the “unconventional” ways that Trump communicates? I haven’t. I work hard at remaining appalled, and I’d argue that it is the job of the media to remain appalled with me. This process of normalization was predicted, but that doesn’t mean it has to be. The media can resist, just as the rest of us must. After all, the continued existence of a free media is very much at risk, and I’m assuming they care.
The Brezinzski tweet did break new post-inauguration ground, though there are certainly echoes of remarks he made about Meghan Kelly during the campaign. Given the position Trump currently holds, it would only be expected that he would refrain from this sort of behavior, assuming he was a mentally stable person. But he’s not, and it’s really time that, in articles such as that linked to above, his obvious mental illness be acknowledged and confronted. For the most part, it’s an unacknowledged looming presence. Everyone in the media knows he’s seriously mentally ill. At Fox, they don’t care. For the rest, there appears to be an unwritten rule that you don’t go there. We can hint at it, but we mustn’t say it out loud. We can only hope that someone at the Pentagon has put out the word that his orders are not to be obeyed until a grown up signs off on them.
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