Trump Is the New Normal In American Politics

First Read: “A week after Donald Trump’s upset presidential victory, a common refrain from liberals and Trump opponents is that he shouldn’t be normalized. Unfortunately for them, voters already normalized Trump — first the GOP voters who gave him the Republican presidential nomination, and then the general-election voters who gave him his Electoral College win. (In the popular vote, however, Trump now trails Hillary Clinton by 1.3 million votes and counting.) So voters have already normalized Trump as the incoming president.”

“Now where Trump critics have a point is that so many of his actions and behavior haven’t been normal, and they deserve scrutiny. The examples: His talk about jailing his opponent; his refusal to release his taxes; his suggestion (before he won) that the results would be rigged; and his disorderly transition with talk of a ‘Stalinesque purge.’ None of THAT is normal. But Trump as president-elect? That is the new normal.”