8/18/20
How many ways are there to say that this is not normal? That it is not normal for a president to employ transparently racist and sexist attacks. Or pressure his attorney general to prosecute his foes with an election looming. Or resist money for the Postal Service in order to stop people from voting by mail. Or embrace a conspiracy theorist running for Congress. Or condemn American cities to “rot.” President Trump, of course, long ago redefined what constitutes normal in the White House, but with 77 days left in a campaign that polls show he is losing, he is pushing all the boundaries at once. At the same time the champion of birtherism is again scraping the raw edges of America’s divisions over race, gender and national origin, he is propelling fringe ideas into mainstream conversation. And now, running as the incumbent, he has levers of power available to help salvage a flagging campaign. When the president recently promoted a “very impressive” doctor who blames various ailments on demon sperm and says treatments are being developed from alien DNA, it was barely a one-day story. When he endorsed a QAnon adherent running for Congress who warns that the world is controlled by a “global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles,” it did not last that long.
Even on Saturday shortly before midnight, Mr. Trump took no rest from stirring the pot. At 11:09 p.m., just 15 minutes after posting on Twitter a statement mourning the death of his younger brother, he retweeted a message urging the abandonment of cities that he, as president, represents. “Leave Democrat cities,” the message read. “Let them rot.” Mr. Trump repeated his use of incendiary terms in attacking Senator Kamala Harris, the designated vice-presidential candidate. “She was nastier and meaner and more vicious than Pocahontas,” he said in Minnesota, throwing in as a twofer the racist slurs. Mr. Trump said he had heard “that she doesn’t meet the requirements” for the vice presidency because her parents were immigrants, even though she was born in California. On the same day, the president played to old white fears by claiming on Twitter that “the ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me.” He seemed to acknowledge that he wanted to block money sought by Democrats for the Postal Service so as to stop mail-in voting. Unlike in 2016, when Mr. Trump’s comments on Mexicans, Muslims, women, veterans and people with disabilities generated shock, his remarks now carry extra weight because he has the power of the federal government at his disposal.
