Consider how you might try to explain the personality and presidency of Donald Trump to someone who knows nothing about him or how he has governed.
It’s not as easy as you might think. He’s hugely abnormal in his approach. He has smashed conventional wisdom over and over again. He has undermined the idea of objective facts. He has transformed how social media is used in politics.
Showing, my English teachers always told me, is better than telling. So, rather than try to explain Trump in words, I would suggest you could simply show this unknowing person trying to understand the President the events of the past week.
Consider:
* Trump backs off his threat, made via Twitter, that he would close the border with Mexico unless the country works more aggressively to stop caravans of immigrants moving toward the United States. Trump gives Mexico a one-year reprieve after Republican elected officials panic at the economic impact of such a move. Trump insists his position never changed.
* Trump promises voters that he – along with Republicans in Congress – will propose and pass a replacement health care law to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Republicans panic, knowing they a) have no legislation and b) couldn’t pass anything even if they had it. Trump recants, insisting he said all along the legislation would be passed after Republicans retake the House in 2020.
* Trump delivers a nearly 90-minute speech to House Republicans in which he veers wildly off script – claiming, among other things, that the noise from wind turbines can cause cancer and that Democrats are winning close elections because of election fraud, an allegation for which he provides no evidence.
* Trump tweets Joe Biden’s video explaining his conduct around women – altered so that Biden appears to be massaging his own shoulders (among other things).
There’s more, but you get the idea. For any other president, a week like this one would set off a slew of stories about the chaos in the White House and the dangers of a chief executive who says and does whatever the hell he wants.
For Trump, it’s sort of a normal week.
The Point: Trump has so drastically changed what we expect out of a president and a White House that it’s sometimes hard not to lose sight of just how enormous the chasm is between how he acts and how all of our past presidents have acted. But, make no mistake: It a MASSIVE gap.
Below, the week that was in 24 headlines.
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
- Trump signs memo aimed at stopping counterfeit goods
- House panel authorizes subpoena for Mueller report
- Kudlow says Trump still fully behind Moore nomination
- DHS Secy holds ‘emergency’ call with Cabinet to discuss border
- Pompeo names Morgan Ortagus as State Department spokeswoman
- Key House Democrat requests Trump’s tax returns from IRS
- Trump says he’s ‘not concerned’ with security breach at Mar-a-Lago
- NYT, WaPo: Some Mueller investigators say report is worse for Trump than Barr says
Thursday:
- Justice Department defends Barr’s summary of Mueller report
- Mueller team investigators express frustration over Barr’s letter
- Trump says he’s recommending Herman Cain to Fed
- Trump says US-China trade pact could be done in ‘weeks’
- DHS Secy on border situation: ‘We have an emergency’
- Trump to nominate Jovita Carranza as SBA administration
- Michael Cohen tells Congress he has more to add
- Trump backpedals: ‘I don’t think we’ll ever have to close the border’
Friday:
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