Every day the news seems more outrageous than before. My fear is that when extreme and villainous behaviors becomes commonplace, people begin to lose their sense of outrage. The flood of bad behavior, bullying, and marginally legal actions is resulting in a narrowing of the definition of outrageous behavior. If you see something nearly every day, how can it still be outrageous? We are becoming numb.
The Tweets
The roller coaster ride often starts with an angry 4:00 am tweet from the President. These tweets range from attacking Mueller, the Democrats, his political rivals, Apple, GM, Facebook or anyone who may have criticized him. We’ve come to expect these tweets.
The Attacks on the Press
Sometime during the course of the day, it is likely that the President takes to bashing the press. That is, criticizing all press outlets other than Fox News. Fox News is becoming something equivalent to a state station, broadcasting the news according to the President’s position. In fact, the President often coordinates with Fox News. He had Sean Hannity stump for him at one of his rallies. Although this action was criticized in the press, it only got attention for about one day.
Russia
Every few days there a new finding regarding the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia, Wikileaks, or his past sexual escapades. The current evidence reveals that members of Trump’s inner team were dealing with Russia throughout the campaign. It appears, at a minimum, he directed paying off women he had sex with to keep their stories out of the press. It is illegal under the campaign financing laws not to report this payment.
The evidence further suggests that he was working a real estate deal with the Russians throughout the campaign. Although not illegal, he lied to the American people as he denied this during the campaign. This is also major conflict of interest and should be of great concern. But, a significant share of the American people appear not to care about Trump’s business conflicts of interest even when they cross into the foreign policy arena. How the populace would react to significant evidence of collusion with Russian is unknown.
The Slime
On at least a monthly basis, we learn about a member of the administration taking part in inappropriate, shady, or blatantly corrupt activities. First, there is Trump’s nepotism. He has his children and son-in-law serving in advisory roles in the White House. Second, Trump and his children refused to put their business interests in a blind trust. His children are still actively running the company. With a hotel down the street from the White House and business interests around the world, this is a huge conflict of interest.
Many of Trump’s staff have shady pasts or engaged in shady dealings while on staff. Several of Trump’s inner circle have been indicted for illegal business dealings such as Paul Manafort (former campaign manager) and Michael Cohen (former lawyer for Trump). Shady dealings extend to his political appointees as well. For example, when Scott Pruitt left EPA there were more than a dozen inquiries into his financial activities at the agency, including his first-class plane travel, his rental arrangement at $50 per night for an apartment from a lobbyist, and the building of a sound proof booth in his office. Trump claimed he was going to “drain the swamp” in Washington but instead he is King of the Swamp.
The Discord within the Administration
In just two years, there has been significant turnover in the Trump administration. CNN counts that 56 staffers have left the administration in the first 2 years [1]. Twenty of these individuals (36 percent) were either fired or pushed out. One gets the sense that there is constant infighting and turmoil. Bob Woodward’s book paints just such a picture which is genuinely frightening in that it undermines one’s confidence in the administration’s ability to handle a true crisis.
The Bragging
A final element contributing to the circus atmosphere of the Trump administration is his over the top claims of success. He has claimed a peace deal with North Korea and a trade agreement with China based on a few positive exchanges during dinner. He gave himself an “A+” in performance.
The Result
This constant barrage of bad behavior, outlandish accusations, chaos, and lies is making America numb. We are going into a protective mode where we stop watching the news, stop protesting, and stop speaking out. The danger is it may allow for outrageous political grabs for power to occur such as the current efforts in Wisconsin and Michigan. Without outrage, these events fall off the press coverage cycle and in the end may be successful.
[1} http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2017/08/politics/trump-admin-departures-trnd/