Why does Trump get away with it when others don’t? For several reasons. First, many celebrities and political candidates with long and sordid backgrounds enjoy a discount rate on their bad behavior. What are you going to say about Trump that hasn’t already been said? His antics are baked into the cake of how he’s perceived by the public.
Next, a good portion of the electorate likely believes what the president is saying, even if they don’t like the way he’s saying it. That support and the support of a cowed Republican Congress allows the president leeway to say things without immediate political consequences.
The next test comes in November when the nation will see whether the president’s words and deeds have an electoral consequence. But repudiation is not a forgone conclusion. In fact, it will take the president’s opponents, both from the left and right, an inordinate amount of time, work and energy to communicate to voters that what we daily see and hear from our chief executive is not normal, nor healthy for the Republic.
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