Trump s Presidential Demeanor Is on Display Again
How Trump obliterated norms and inverse the presidency
Trump fabricated the presidency all most him.
President Donald Trump's four years in the White House were marked by an unconventional, norm-busting approach to the country'due south institutions that volition probable outlive the 1-term leader, leaving a transformative and divisive legacy in Washington.
His brazen attempts to overturn the election that he lost, including encouraging his supporters to "fight like hell" and march to the Capitol, where they launched an insurrection just before he was set to leave function, capped a tumultuous tenure where critics say Trump repeatedly chipped abroad at the bedrock of American democracy.
From his earliest days as a candidate, through his attempts to subvert the 2020 election, the New York businessman-turned reality TV star reshaped the presidency to heart on him to a caste unlike any of his predecessors, exploiting the country'due south deepening divisions and fears and demanding loyalty above all else.
Seemingly impervious to scandal, he gained a legion of devotees to his "Make America Bully Again" mantra and its winner-takes-all, no-holds-barred approach that sidelined the Republican establishment and recast the party in his prototype.
The MAGA movement, fueled by massive rallies and an unrelenting social media blitz, helped him to pull off an improbable victory in 2016 with narrow margins in key states, despite losing the popular vote by nearly 3 meg.
Trump gave a vocalisation to many -- largely white, working class voters -- who felt they had been silenced or overlooked over the years, and focused his efforts on cultivating that base -- the "forgotten men and women of our state" as he said in his inaugural address.
A political outsider who prided himself on being a negotiator, he won key legislative victories such every bit tax cuts, trade deals and criminal justice reform. He also relied on executive actions and pressure level tactics to cajole allies and foes alike.
Condign the get-go president to be impeached twice reflected his unique approach to the presidency. In both instances, he was accused of using the powers of his function to try to cement his place in the White Business firm -- in ane case, past inviting foreign interference, and in the second, most unthinkable case, by inciting an insurrection; he denied both charges.
Throughout information technology all, Trump governed with a advised, unorthodox style in which he emphasized his personality and relationships, at once energizing and alienating the American electorate.
The Twitter president battles with truth
While it is not uncommon for politicians to find themselves preoccupied with optics and media coverage, Trump used the chaos he caused -- and his endless penchant for commenting on almost all matters -- to command attention in an unprecedented manner.
Embracing social media, he spoke directly through Twitter, issuing threats, insults, praise, directives and commentary to anybody from the public to prime number ministers. The access to his thoughts around the clock helped build his loyal fan base -- he reached more than 88 one thousand thousand followers -- and also gave unprecedented insight into what a sitting president of the U.s. was thinking, most at any moment.
Trump could be a king-maker or bring downward the guillotine on friend or foe alike with the touch of a button and many times, no 1 knew when he was going to strike, giving staffers grief.
Trump sometimes fired his Cabinet secretaries with tweets, from erstwhile Secretary of State King Tillerson to Defence force Secretary Mark Esper.
Sometimes, he would issue policy directives via Twitter, such as in 2018 and again the following year, when he threatened to shut the U.Due south.-Mexico border, or in 2017, when he appear he would ban transgender people from serving in the armed forces (the restrictions took consequence ii years afterwards).
Trump often traded in falsehoods on social media, where he could communicate relatively unchecked, only during his last days in office, he took that to a new level, elevating fringe conspiracy theories and spreading disinformation to his tens of millions of followers on Twitter and Facebook, in an attempt to create an alternative "reality" more favorable to him than the i covered by mainstream media outlets.
While other presidents have had strained relationships with certain news outlets or reporters, Trump took his grievances with the media to new levels, consistently labeling any report he didn't like "simulated news," taunting journalists and calling the mainstream printing the "enemy of the people."
That approach was emblematic of how his administration and allies treated facts and fact-checks -- as objects that could be molded in the crucible of the social media echo chamber.
It was his button to overturn the election despite no evidence of widespread fraud -- and his support of a trigger-happy, pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 -- that finally pushed social media platforms to step in. Trump has since disavowed the violence merely turn down to take responsibleness for whatsoever of what happened at the Capitol.
Twitter permanently suspended his account and Facebook and Instagram blocked him from posting through President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. YouTube suspended him for a calendar week, and several other companies took action, too.
Without Twitter, Trump spent his last days in function without a large social media following to whom he could fire off quick missives and retweet the baseless conspiracy theories that embodied the cease of his presidency.
Divider-in-primary
Trump'due south unique style has endeared him to many, as was evidenced by the crowds of thousands at his "Make America Cracking Once more" campaign rallies and core backers' steadfast willingness to support him no matter how much his positions morph. He unequivocally venerated constabulary enforcement, veterans and the military and appeared to ignore criticism around police in particular (although he never uttered a word about the officer who died in the Capitol siege).
"We desire to get along with everybody, and we will," he pledged at a campaign rally in 2016. "We're going to unite the country."
Just while candidate Trump had pledged to bring Americans together, in practice, he usually did the reverse: uniting his base at the expense of the rest of the country.
Trump often lamented the condition of cities and the piece of work of Democratic mayors and governors and blamed "blueish states" for crime and even the country of the coronavirus pandemic.
From the earliest days of his campaign, and throughout his presidency, the president courted controversy by staking out extreme positions, belittling political opponents and women and stoking racial and ethnic divisions.
Afterwards coming down the escalator in Trump Tower to denote his candidacy in 2015, he alleged the American dream "dead" and said Mexico was sending "people who have lots of problems" and "rapists" to the U.South.
Trump has made clearing a focus of his assistants, and taken a peculiarly divisive tack. He called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.Due south. under the pretext of stopping terrorism, building a wall on the southern edge, ending sanctuary cities and almost controversially, separating families at the border.
He long espoused and touted the racist "birther" conspiracy theory about President Obama, failed to denounce white supremacists and militias and regularly used the word thug and hinted at violence against Black Lives Thing protesters.
Despite months of protests over racial justice, fueled by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Trump did not acknowledge the reasons for the uprising, simply lamenting that there was looting and vandalism in cities.
Still Trump touts the economical gains he says he helped engender for African Americans, landmark criminal justice reform that reduce mandatory sentencing and edifice a new coalition of immature Black supporters of the Republican political party.
The division he encouraged hit a fever pitch in the concluding months of his presidency, as he sowed uncertainty in the electoral process and refused to have the reality that he lost. Instead, he convinced nearly of his supporters the system was rigged against him, potentially undermining faith in the electoral process for years to come, despite there being no evidence that was the case – and despite he and his allies declining over and over in courtroom as they challenged the results. He never retracted his lie that there was widespread electoral fraud, and he never chosen Biden to congratulate him on his win.
Trump has been i of the nigh unpopular presidents in modern U.South. history. His career average approval rating is the lowest for any president in mod polling, back to 1939, and he is the first president in that time never to achieve bulk approval at any signal.
The aforementioned polls have also highlighted the chasm between how Democrats and Republicans meet him, with Republicans typically widely blessing of him and his actions, distinguishing themselves from Democrats and Independents.
In the wake of the assault on the Capitol, Trump was prepare to get out role with but 38% of Americans approving of his task functioning, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Friday. Sixty percent disapproved, matching an all-time high for him.
Failure to drain the swamp
Elected in 2016 in ane of the most stunning political upsets of modernistic U.Due south. history, Trump had promised to "bleed the swamp" in Washington.
Only rather than drain the swamp, critics say he brought ethical compromise and alleged corruption to new heights, charges Trump has long sloughed off.
Trump long-resisted divesting himself of his myriad business interest, instead opting for a "separation" that put his business concern interests in a trust operated past his family. And unlike prior presidents, he has refused to release his tax returns, citing an ongoing audit.
The president has visited ane of his company'south properties -- either owned, managed or branded -- nearly one in three days of his presidency, often to play golf game, according to a New York Times count and his contempo travel. Doing so offers them free publicity and forces the government to spend money at that place, especially when he frequently stays overnight.
Trump appointed his daughter and son-in-police to key, unpaid White House positions, held numerous closed-door fundraisers with high-dollar donors, and lent his ear to wealthy members of his individual clubs -- such every bit Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Embankment, Florida -- who accept lobbied him on an array of issues. The assistants broke with precedent and refused to make the White Business firm guest listing publicly available.
While other presidents have hosted fundraisers and appointed family members to key positions, ethics experts have chosen Trump's approach "unprecedented."
His administration ignored the Hatch Deed, a federal law that prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in political action while in function, with one top adviser openly mocking it when she was institute to take violated it.
The president himself has blatantly used his public office in unprecedented ways to benefit himself politically.
Trump spent years turning official events into opportunities to go on political rants, attacking Democratic opponents and frequently blasting his typical campaign music playlist, ignoring limits on taxpayer coin being used for political ends.
His obliteration of the traditional -- and to some caste, legal -- separation between his official and political duties striking an apex this summer when he hosted a crowd of people at the White House for the Republican National Convention, accepting his party's nomination simply steps from the building.
Demanding loyalty, reshaping the judiciary
Throughout his presidency, Trump tested the strength of loyalty to him by demanding others to bend to his outlandish, and sometimes illegal, requests. If they didn't fall in line, they fell out of favor.
His latest push was to pressure level one of his staunchest supporters, Vice President Mike Pence, to use his position every bit president of the Senate to pass up Electoral Higher votes that would make Biden'southward win official.
Pence did non do then, and despite the fact that the law did not really afford him that power, Trump lashed out at his vice president. The president's supporters chanted "Hang Mike Pence!" as they stormed the Capitol.
The president as well flipped on Senate Bulk Leader Mitch McConnell when McConnell finally accepted Biden as the president-elect subsequently weeks of silence well-nigh the election results. McConnell and Trump's relationship faltered further after the insurrection.
Business firm Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also roughshod out of favor with the president -- despite years of solidly backing Trump -- subsequently he said the president bore responsibility for the mob attack and suggested censuring Trump – even though McCarthy ultimately voted against impeaching the president.
Members of Trump'southward own Cabinet were not safe from his loyalty checks either.
Early in his presidency, Trump attacked then-Chaser Full general Jeff Sessions for not doing plenty to cease the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election -- led by special counsel Robert Mueller and labeled a "witch hunt" past the president -- and for not pursuing Trump's own investigative imperatives. Trump so torpedoed Sessions' Senate candidacy in Alabama.
"This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Chaser General of the United States & then doesn't take the wisdom or courage to stare down & finish the phony Russia Witch Hunt," Trump said in March. "Recuses himself on FIRST Mean solar day in office, and the Mueller Scam begins!"
Trump even requested unwavering allegiance from leaders of the Justice Department, flouting the agency'southward tradition of independence from the White Firm.
The former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, told Congress in 2017 that Trump had asked him for "loyalty" a dinner and in a afterwards ane-on-i meeting in the Oval Office, and that Trump pressured him to end an investigation into a sometime U.S. national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Trump denied the accusations.
Meanwhile, Trump reshaped the federal judiciary by filling over i quarter of judgeships with the assist of a Republican-controlled Senate.
He saw three of his Supreme Court nominees confirmed, but even they were not above his transactional view of Washington. Before the 2020 election ended, Trump suggested he would need the Senate to move fast on his final nomination then that they could weigh in on his baseless allegations of electoral fraud. None of those allegations were substantiated and none of Trump's legal challenges to the terminal tally were successful.
"You're going to need nine justices up there," he said in September. "I recollect it'due south going to be very important."
'A very stable genius'
Trump's erratic behavior and penchant for chaos lent credence to those who questioned his mental stability from solar day one, including opponents who raised the question of whether the vice president and cabinet members should at some signal invoke the 25th Subpoena and strip Trump of his powers.
Afterwards he encouraged his supporters to "fight like hell" and march to Congress on Jan. 6 -- then waited hours to ask them to leave the Capitol -- the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on Pence to convene the Chiffonier and invoke the 25th Amendment. Pence declined.
While he is non the simply mercurial president to occupy the Oval Office, Trump's term was marked by persistent reports of his angry, fuming moods in the Oval Office and White Business firm residence. His Twitter feed ofttimes betrayed his mood, every bit he aired grievances publicly -- often late at night, or early on in the morn.
Never 1 to shy from negative coverage, in 2018, the president posted an unprecedented defense of his own mind, tweeting that Democrats were "screaming mental stability and intelligence." He wrote that "throughout my life, my 2 greatest assets take been mental stability and beingness, like, really smart."
He said his rise from the business concern world to entertainment -- and ultimately, the presidency -- fabricated him, in his view, "not smart, only genius....and a very stable genius at that!"
In fact, Trump had shot to fame by branding himself as a successful man of affairs -- despite at times evidence to the contrary.
Given to hyperbole throughout his life, he took his meteoric claims to new heights from his presidential perch.
He frequently compared himself to President Abraham Lincoln, who abolished slavery and is considered ane of the greatest American leaders in history.
"I've said that with regard to African American, the Black community, I've done more than any other president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln," Trump boasted in Nov. "And sometimes I say with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln, but let'due south requite him a lot of credit, correct?"
In a manner, he treated the presidency like the television show he hosted, "The Apprentice." He ensured he was the center of attention, as his advisers and staffers vied for influence and favor -- and leaders in Washington and worldwide scrambled to react.
Critics said his actions and words reflected a fragile ego coupled with longstanding insecurities.
Either style, Trump fabricated the presidency all near him.
ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas and Gary Langer contributed to this report.
This written report was featured in the Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2020, episode of "Start Here," ABC News' daily news podcast.
"First Here" offers a straightforward wait at the day's acme stories in twenty minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, the ABC News app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-legacy-obliterated-norms-chipped-institutions-end/story?id=75275806
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