You forgot to mention the part where thousands of American children and other vulnerable people are at risk of disability and death from previously eradicated diseases due to the feckless and fraudulent espousal of antivax propaganda.
9
And don’t forget Obama eating the Dijon mustard...ha
5
Ironic you should frame it that way because not becoming numb to what is unacceptable is what got Trump elected. Like the absurdity that men can become women. Like the twisting of language to call good people "racist" and "white supremacist" with all of the baggage those terms carry. Like the denial and rewriting of our history. Like the lie that police target black men when most black men are killed by other black men. Like the takeover of our educational and media institutions by the Marxist left. Like the emergence of communists as contenders to the presidency. Like the idea that borders don't matter. Like the idea that white men are bad because they are white men.
No reasonable person denies that Trump is an odious person but he is the one who had the courage to call out these increasingly ridiculous lies. Anyone who thinks his election was about policy or economics is mistaken ... his appeal was and remains as a bastion against the creeping liberalism you espouse.
1
Amen!!!
2
It would be easier for the Russians to elect a potato than Trump in America.
But a potato is ineligible.
Since Trump is corrupt and pliable as any person on Earth, they try their old Soviet Style techniques to push what they have.
Trump cannot win the popular vote, with his popularity dropped since the last election. Voters who were conned in 2016 won't fall for his lies again.
The only way he can win is by analyzing the same Republican polling data for the Electoral College with Russian statecraft, and using the stolen psychographic profiles from social media and machine learning/neural network techniques to target the requisite voters in purple states to win with a certain level of statistical confidence.
The difference in 2020 is that Democrats can do the exact same thing, but far more easily than can Trump and the Russians.
The Democratic candidate will win the popular vote.
What Democrats and the private sector need to do is use Democratic private polling data, psychographic profiles from unstructured social media data derived from artificial intelligence techniques to target the requisite voters in red and purple states to ensure the Electoral College vote is won with a high level of confidence along with the popular vote.
Statistical techniques for evaluating voting irregularities and paper ballots where they exist will serve as confirmation. There are other techniques.
There are solutions to protect democracy in America.
2
You might become inured to political dysfunction, but you don't get used to pollution. In hotspots, it has a tendency to keep getting worse, and make you commensurately sick.
2
So Trump "lied" about not having time to go play golf”? The only thing that story proves is that Nick Kristof has no sense of proportion.
When voters elected Trump they knew that he had an uncontrollable tendency to tell fibs. They knew that he was coarse and vulgar and tacky and bombastic. They elected him anyway.
Kristof's error is to assume that Trump supporters endorse everything he does -- and he scores easy debating points about their hypocrisy. But most support him despite his blemishes rather than because of them.
The 2016 election was not a beauty contest. Many people voted for Trump, not because they considered him to be a perfect role model for their kids, but because the alternative was Clinton. And they'll vote for him again because he is not Warren. And they will be right if she is his opponent.
Many of those voters just don't agree with Kristof's progressive laundry list of what's wrong with America. They simply don't believe the nursery tale that the tragedy that girls and boys are pimped in American cities BECAUSE some hedge fund tycoons are rich. It is just not true that the poor are poor because the rich are rich.
Nor is it true that American kids are 57% more likely to die than kids in other advanced nations BECAUSE the US does not provide universal health care. Comparisons of infant mortality rates are very misleading, and US health care isn't to blame for automobile accidents and gun homicides.
That is just for starters.
3
"Don't Let Trump Make You Numb?"
How about saying what's really going on here.
And that's the 'Normalization' of Trump's Lying, Spinning, and Exaggerating as if it's Okay, it's acceptable behavior, simply 'Trump being Trump'.
But what we must recognize is who it is, just who is that 40-plus percent 'Likely Trump Voter' who believes it's acceptable for Trump to outright lie.
And then realize just how much the Evangelicals have to do with the support we see for a president who outright lies.
Evangelicals believe ttheir supporting Trump may be their last chance to get rid of Abortion in America, to finally rid the United States of 'A Woman's Right to Chose'.
Just look at the optics every time you see Trump at a rally standing behind a microphone and all those placards stating 'Women for Trump'.
Oh, Really? Those individuals believe it was Okay for Trump to thrust his hands into womens' underwear and grab their private parts, then profess to his buddies on the record, "They like it."
It's Trump's behavior getting 'Normalized', more 'Trump Being Trump so just accept the notion', like what Mulvaney declared two weeks ago, 'Get use to it.' Basically, Mulvaney was saying, 'as disgusting as this man is, well, it's Okay, you have to look at the big picture'.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is an Evangelical as well. He has a history of lying as well as he administers what he believes is what's right for our country.
Need I go on with this?
9
Trump wonders why he is always in the crosshairs of the media. It is for this reason: He is a thoughtless incompetent and we need to be reminded of that every day. Hats off to the media...the "enemy of the people," anything but that....
4
"Scandal and dysfunction dribble out from Washington day by day, numbing us so that we may forget just how unprecedented and outrageous the trends are."
Mr. Kristof, you know better. Scandal and dysfunction do NOT dribble out from Washington day by day - scandal and dysfunction dribble out from THE REPUBLICAN PARTY day by day, and this reluctance of the press to name names is destroying this country. It's called FALSE EQUIVALENCY.
Democrats may be mildly corrupt, incompetent, milquetoast, disorganized and most of the time, spineless. They do, however still have some scruples and while they have too often catered to the rich, by definition Democrats represent the poor, minorities, and yes, the intelligent voter.
Republicans are an organized mafia impersonating a political party, with no morals, no ethics, no vision, and no principles save for opportunism, expedience, greed and power. They serve the their plutocrat masters and their corporate owners. They are racists, sexists, homophones and xenophobes, who have no regard for democratic principles and procedures, who vilify, and demonize their opponents, who lie as a matter of course, who use any means to justify their ends. And that is a fascist theocratic plutocracy where 90 percent of Americans are reduced to serfs.
To pretend the problem is in "Washington" is a disservice to truth and the American people. The problem is with the Republican Party, and in 2020 it has to go where it belongs: to the ash heap of history.
7
A great eye opening column Mr. Kristof. And that is why I read the Times hibitualey. I just don't know what we are going to do with the millions who look up to trump as some sought of Robin Hood.
He is a Hood who Robs that's for sure.
How do we convince that mob?
2
Republicans like Lindsey Graham hold much of the blame here. Graham overlooks the gutting of our Republic so he can remain politically relevant. Senator Graham, you will certainly go down in history as having an impact on this country but not in the way you think. Your behavior is dangerous and despicable. You have no shame.
6
Putin’s puppet lies faster than people can type. So many senators, congressmen, public officials have sold their souls to the devil. How many lies have they told to gain favor from their leader. May they all be ashamed one day soon.
2
Everyone be sure to read what AmarilloMike (NYT pick) has to say. It's laughable and tragic and wrong. Sorry Mike, but your man will not be re-elected. Why? Antipathy. That means the opposite of sympathy. The majority want a couple of things. First, the elimination of the Electoral College. Second, a president who doesn't govern with anger and hate. Who doesn't belittle those with disabilities or war heroes who were POWS. Simple human decency must prevail, and it will. I can thank Trump for one thing, he has brought those who believe in humility and honor an awareness of what ineptitude is.
3
Much of the numbness is in the media. For example, less than a year ago Trump tried to shut down the country as a terror tactic to extort billions of dollars out of Congress. That's an impeachable crime right there, but when is the last time you even heard a media source bring it up?
3
My admiration of the good people, living in countries with far more intense issues than our own, staying true to their better angels continues to grow.
Trump and his enablers continue to amplify their depravity on a daily basis, and I find it stressful. Yet, I do not face the circumstances of the good people living in Iraq, North Korea, or Syria.
Those living in true hellholes are positive examples of why I strive to keep my family resiliant against these current tides, and aware of what we were and what makes America truly great.
2
It was the 2016 election, that showed America will never become numb to what is unacceptable.
Nicholas,
Great piece, but you left out Trump's repeated public defending of white nationalists and neo-Nazis, not to mention he and his sons' dissemination of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, during the worst rise of anti-Semitic violence in recent American history.
1
"Don’t Let Trump Make You Numb to What’s Unacceptable"
Excuse me but isn't that the job of true journalism?
I remember the NY Times making torture, acceptable.
Making a past president with a kill list, acceptable.
Not investigating anyone for torture, acceptable.
Not sending one bankster to prison for 2008 crash, acceptable.
Locking up whistle blowers and torturing them, acceptable.
Bailing out billionaires over everyone else, acceptable.
Starting illegal wars, acceptable.
Rigging a primary, acceptable.
Having a private position for the donor class, acceptable.
Calling democratic candidates "Russian assets", acceptable
And standing up against illegal wars Unacceptable.
Just ask your former Middle East bureau chief, Chris Hedges.
Trump is absolutely Unacceptable but getting an accurate tally on what is Acceptable/Unacceptable from the NY Times is
not probable.
2
Well said!!! You hit the nail on the head!
1
Probably won't happen but maybe someone could send this column to Ryan Zimmerman and Kurt Suzuki, the Washington Nationals who went out of their way this week to normalize an absurd, dangerous criminally-encrusted president.
I've been numb since the Clintons rose to prominence. They both should be in prison, both for several different things. They've lived as though the laws that apply to the rest of us don't apply to them. Which, apparently, turns out to be true.
1
I just hope that, in the grand scheme of genetic-inspired social AI algorithms, that our ability to resist adapting to Trump's indecency exceeds our unconscious willingness to accept hooey generated by conservative propaganda. Fascism is knocking on the front door and we have a strange nihilism that can't resist opening the door.
1
Nothing is acceptable in this horrendous presidency and his loyal lackeys.
Imagine this, another crook and domestic abuser is attempting his run for Senate: Corey Lewandowski
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/porter/552806/
If this isn't a joke I wouldn't be surprise that he will get some votes and will be welcome by members of the senate who completed their total capitulation to trump...considering the present makeup of the senate one more crook and liar will be just what they looking for.
3
I can't understand why people continue to stand behind the crazy old fool who is Donald Trump.
3
And you didn't even mention his support of the NRA, and our country's ever-growing gun violence!
Since the night Trump was elected, I've been filled with angst and dread. It's like a waking nightmare that never goes away. I will never get used to it,
3
In 1973 Democrates used a legal trick ( a phony Constitutional right) to remove a key issue, abortion, from democratic control. Apparently they thought opposition to abortion would apathy as as a result. (didn't work). So now they're complaining that people are numb when their rights are under attack.
1
@Charlesbalpha
Your premises are lies. The Democratic party had nothing to do with Roe v Wade. The lawyers who had represented Norma McCorvey (Roe) in her unsuccessful effort to get legal approval for an abortion continued to appeal the case, seeking to have the law that forbade her abortion overturned, even after McCorvey gave birth. The case ended up in the US Supreme Court, and the Roe v Wade decision was the result, by a 7-2 vote. Of the seven justices in the majority, five were appointed by Republican presidents, two by Democrats. Of the two justices in the minority, one was appointed by a Democrat and one by a Republican. Some conservatives were unhappy with the Court's jurisprudence, which did however rely on previous precedents including the previously recognized right to privacy. There was no "legal trick" and no "phony Constitutional right." Your entire comment is false, except perhaps for your apparent acknowledgment at the very end that "rights are under attack," i.e., currently, by the Trump administration (though I suspect that acknowledgment may be inadvertent on your part).
1
It looks as if while Democrats are forced to fight the game in accord with NFL rules, Trump fights back with UFC 's anything goes rules, and Republicans back him up.
It's unfair but there are many UFC fans in US.
It's a tough fight.
@uji10jo
As is well known, Trump has contempt for all rules and is famously proud of his ability to get away with violating them.
1
Thank you Mr. Kristof for reminding us not to accept the current situation as the new normal. I do not accept the current low level of public discourse. I am so angry that I have pledged to myself to participate only in civil discourse that increases understanding and not in bitter, partisan rhetoric or name-calling. I very much appreciate the folks who take the time to comment in the New York Times -- almost all have thoughtful comments and good insights. This is what democracy looks like when it is working.
5
Thanks for this review, Nick. One wonders, is Trump's America what we really are? When I see his rallies, when I see Republicans who support Trump elected over and over because we accept gerrymandering and voter suppression, when I see Trump lie and cheat on a daily basis and his base eats it up, when I see Fox News echoing his talking points everyday, I think maybe this is the real America, one I do not fit into.
Yet I read the Times regularly, and I see his high crimes and misdemeanors documented and read about the good things happening in areas other than politics, and I think there is hope. It seems very clear to me that the Civil War continues today fought on different terms. For now it is minority rule as long as Republicans representing maybe 40 percent of the population dominate the Senate. I long to see this turned around. At 76 I hope I live long enough to celebrate it. I will be voting for Elizabeth Warren.
5
People always cite the slowly-boiling-the-frog thing, but in actual fact, the frog will jump out when the water gets too hot, regardless of how slowly or quickly that happens. It's only us humans who lack the sense to save ourselves, assuring ourselves that everything is fine as we slowly, slowly boil into soup.
I am in my 80's and sorry to say I am numb and weary, and I feel helpless. If still alive, I will vote for the Democratic candidate next November in my overwhelmingly blue state and then watch as a few swing states decide who will be president.
6
@mjs Ah, mjs we are in the same situation. I look back on past elections and wonder what happen to us.
Remember when John McCane a hero and Republican explained to a women, who trashed talked Obama that Obama was a decent man and good citizen.
Those days are gone, thanks to a President more like that women than a decent person and good citizen.
@mjs Hang in there!
I will never get used to the inequality I see in this country on a daily basis.
2
Oh, and that multibillion-dollar wall is now being cut open by smugglers with $100 saws. Only $75, delivered, with your senior discount.
1
Nick,
It's all about ethnicity.It's never about lost or outsourced jobs. Nor it was about income inequality. The jobs are never coming back and wages as stagnant as ever.
But if he point finger at all non-whites as the cause of all problems, he's their hero. And for that alone, he gets a pass and a blessing-from evangelicas- for anything immoral or outrageous he did, or will ever do.
5
Only Trump loyalists are finding his morals, behavior, and lawlessness acceptable.
No one else is.
28
Just this morning, one of my therapy clients leaned forward, glowered at me and said, "Doesn't it seem we're actually in a battle of good versus evil?" He was talking about the difference between Trump with the Republicans and everyone else. It feels preposterous in this country, doesn't it? And yet it's true. Who knew there were this many people around us who are so morally challenged?
44
Thank you for bringing Kathleen Hall Jamieson to the fore. I used to see her on PBS and now miss her voice.
1
Lord knows I try to pay attention to all of it--to let it sink in but tag it as unacceptable, deplorable, not normal. How could this be happening? How could it have come to this? Nothing justifies this. Good grief. This isn't about blue collar workers. Trump's voters, who made $10,000 more per year than Clinton's, were motivated by racial resentment. This is demagogues, and fascism. Lies, racism, ginned up fear. Doing whatever it takes to preserve unearned and unmerited white conservative entitlements and dominance. Burning society to the ground. Filling the pockets of billionaire grifter Republicans. I am not numb. It is tearing me apart, It is tearing our beloved country apart. This morning alone:
The Democrat prevailed in a close election for governor of Kentucky. The pro-Trump Republican candidate is making baseless, inflammatory claims of voter fraud, refusing to concede, and is apparently hoping that the election will be thrown to the legislature in which the Republicans have a supermajority Testimony by Vindman and others has shown us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Trump and his gang did everything the whistle-blower said they did. Trump and his Trumpies are perpetuating an online attack on Vindman that is nothing but lies, conspiracy theories. I will not dignify their ridiculous claims by repeating them here.
7
We all need to be reminded not to become inured to the ghastly behavior originating in the White House, and Nicholas Kristof deserves our thanks for his warning. From disbelief to outrage to frustration, many Americans feel exhausted from feeling so strongly every single day about the disfunction of our government.
We need to hang on to our anger, and bring our best game to voting in the 2020 election--our country depends on us.
6
We're not getting dripped into anything. Outrage is simply exhausting. If you haven't taken Trump's measure by now and rejected him, you probably never will. I don't see any point in losing sleep over his continued abhorrence. Either law or election will prevail. Otherwise, we'll continue to wallow in national disgrace. Admitting I'm a United States citizen is hard enough already. I don't want to think about the embarrassments I'd forgotten. I know Trump is terrible. You don't need to remind me.
1
I find the news that Hunter Biden was collecting millions of dollars from foreign companies who were buying influence with his father absolutely unacceptable.
3
@rpe123 … I agree, but that has nothing to do with extorsion carried out by a U.S. President.
4
Please point to the evidence of this “influence”?
@W.A. Spitzer Not to mention the issue that rpe123 raises is complete baloney.
I wish I could be numb to it all. The searing anger I feel is definitely not good for my health. I'm glad we have a good public health system here.
3
Mr. Kristof I agree with most everything you have written about the president. Frankly, I'm ashamed and embarrassed to have this man in the White House. But, frankly, I don't have good feelings about most of the occupants in the Capitol building or in the Supreme Court.
There is so much more to this than just voting Trump out of office. Republicans support him because corporate money keeps them working in Congress. No longer is the constitution even valid to these elected officials. Citizens United was the worst Supreme Court decision ever to be handed down and the corporate lobby employs these public officers. To those Democrats who say they won’t vote if their candidate is not nominated, I say to them that their non-vote is essentially a vote for Trump. When will people wake up from this bad dream.
3
I can't speak to what others feel, but I know that my friends and I are not numb to Mr. Trump's daily outrages. We also recognize when he is trying to distract us from more important issues like his extortion of Ukraine. Many of us have used our outrage to fuel local political efforts to replace him in 2020 if not before.
Some of us are running for local office in 2020. One of us made a valiant effort in a run for mayor of his city, but unfortunately did not prevail against a Republican machine there. One of us is running for the state legislature in 2020. Another ran for local city council but did not win. It's tough; we're all Democrats in a state that turned on Democrats after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed. We keep pushing forward, knowing that we are the ones who speak for the poor and disenfranchised. Trump certain does not.
7
It’s not about who is or who isn’t accepting it.
It’s about making sure we get enough of those who don’t accept it to get to the polls so we do something about it.
57
@Bronx Jon
Precisely Jon. We can talk until we are blue in the face.
The fact is, focus on rational candidates who can actually take the next election.
My call is Pete Buttigieg. I keep telling others to listen more to what he is saying. He’s the only candidate who isn’t making Trump his pick-up line.
He is arguing real issues. He independent in his thinking; doesn’t feel the need to follow the herd.
I think Pete Buttigieg can easily beat Trump. But it comes down to us.
21
I’m a huge fan of Pete as well. Listening to him is the opposite of trump. He’s calming & intelligent. I’ve never donated more to a candidate and I truly hope he goes all the way.
9
Is it really so hard to believe that Trump is a Russian asset? One that they have been cultivating for a very long time? All the evidence supports that conclusion.
443
@Hmakav I have come to suspect that Trump's position vis-a-vis various despicable world leaders has more to do with opportunism than idealogy or even blackmail: he wants to do business with them. He wants that name on big towers in Moscow, Ankara, those beautiful North Korean beaches ...
11
@Hmakav
So right.
I am sick to death of hearing, "we don't have any actual PROOF that Trump is a Russian asset."
What do people need, Vladimir Putin going on Fox News and laying it all out with a Power Point presentation?
23
@Hmakav
You said "Is it really so hard to believe that Trump is a Russian asset?"
It's almost impossible *not* to think he is; certainly he's playing by Putin's playbook, Whether he's just a fool who's been manipulated or whether Vlad is holding a gun to his head isn't really known yet but he's trashing all our alliances, getting in bed with some serious bad actors, sowing discord in the US, attacking the media, etc, etc. It's perfect, you know.
22
Probably Trump's single greatest political strength right now is the legitimate and widespread fear that the alternative would be a Warren presidency, who doesn't appear at all vetted to be president - to millions of voters who don't like Trump but are afraid of Warren.
2
@David They say it's Warren. She is addressing real problems. She has gotten people's attention. She knows a lot of this stuff won't fly. The real truth is millions won't vote for a women,many hundreds of thousands because they don't like women,period.
@David You may be correct, but the notion that they think Trump is vetted in any meaningful way just points to delusional people.
“Doesn’t appears to be vetted”....really? Isn’t that the point of a primary? You want to talk about “lack of vetting”, you are referring to the wrong side of the aisle...i mean, Trump?
I’m not numb, but I admit to looking away. One can keep their eyes on a car crash for only so long before succumbing to pervasive depression.
2
Please, highlight some of the outstanding inequality when it comes Trump and his personal immigration exclusions, in particular, Melania's actually immigration experiences including, but not limited to her recent anchoring her immediate family, which, if I am not mistaken is another of Trump's prohibitions to all other immigrants.
2
Did I notice that Trump’s new campaign slogan is “Keep America Great Again?”. If so, this sounds like Bush’s “Mission Accomplished”. Wishful thinking at best, a lie at worst. America’s standing in the world has steadily declined. I see it wherever I travel (and I do that a lot). We have become both distrusted and a laughing stock, quite an achievement... of the wrong kind.
2
Thanks for reminding us, Mr. Kristoff, that all that we are seeing unfold is a total anomaly. This level of corruption at the highest levels, the defying of the norms that have kept our democracy in tact since the founding of the country. the lies and fabrications Trump has mounted - none of this is even close to normal. He has done enough egregiously illegal acts to have been prosecuted and jailed more than once.
Let's hope the further revelations we are bound to hear in this impeachment process will finally be the nail in the coffin.
Trump and his band of crooks must go so that once again we will see the restoration of our societal values, norms and integrity.
Vote Democrat in 2020.
4
Very strong points. Very persuasive logic.
And sadly, to the NY Time's readership, completely ineffective at changing anyone's mind on Trump.
5
@Brad Steele Agreed. However, we don't need to change the minds of Trump's base, we need to make sure millennials vote and hopefully some of them read the NYT.
5
@Brad Steele The article's purpose is not to change people's mind on Trump.
I'll believe you are sincere when you write about the Epstein cover up at ABC and the full extent of who was involved in this most heinous set of events. The charges are criminal and need to be investigated.
1
It is not as if I needed reminding, but we created this mess, the "we" being American voters, and it is clear from the pronouncements of Moscow Mitch that nothing will happen in the Senate regarding removal of this quasi-Manchurian Candidate, so it will fall to those same American voters to clean it up. Fooled once, shame on you, fooled twice, I don't think so.
3
Too late. I can't adapt to the country we have become.I won't make a list;we all know them now. If he's reelected,so be it. There are good democrats but the country won't want any of them.They're too nice,civil people. The country wants a monster. They got one. We live with it until we die.
1
I look at this a bit differently. We Americans tend to see ourselves as the center of the universe and the keepers of all that is noble. Trump is not so much of an anomaly as he is revelatory. We have long put up with falling short of the ideals that we pretend are our core principles. Are we really post racial? post misogynistic?
Trump has revealed that much of who we thought we were is a Disney like facade.
How easily a good portion of America cheered this fascist as he attacked the core of our foundation.
Some 80% of registered Republicans approve of Trump, even after these three years of disgraceful performance.
I am afraid that when it comes to Trump, this is us!
5
Come election day we *must* vote this guy and his supporters out of office!
No excuses. Vote!
2
America, we are better than this. Getting better STARTS with getting rid of Trump.
3
I wish that the DNC or some citizens group would publish the long list of Trump atrocities on roadside electronic billboards that would occupy a prime location in every Trump-supporting district across the country. This flashing display of horror would serve as a reminder to these people of what kind of person they are supporting. This most likely wouldn't change minds, but at least these people would be constantly confronted with their choice.
4
Trump isn't the only one causing my numbness. It's also the Republican politicians, who - in lock step - have normalized just about everything he has done.
15
All true. Now how do you get this piece read repeatedly on Fox News for a week. Or longer.
The propaganda released every day by that network to its legions of followers is astounding. But worse than that is that the audience believes every word as gospel.
Fox News is destroying the country as much as Trump is and like Trump, they are being paid to do it.
14
We need a forecaster about "Trump Weather" in our country to remind us daily of the social and political environment we're inhaling. We could have a "swamp" meter as well as a "total lies" meter. Could create many new jobs in forecasting.
5
Going from Obama to Trump has felt less like a frog in a beaker and more like being tossed into a boiling kettle. Voters can be fooled but most Trump voters apparently don’t feel that they were fooled because they still support him. Given that continued support, he must be a symptom of some malignancy lurking in our society. There seems to be a significant part of our population that wants to flip the bird at civility and decency and flaunt that desire on a regular basis. I hope this is a temporary phenomenon but I have my doubts.
6
It is useful to remember that most people in this country are decent, compassionate, kindly people who are more inclined to help those in need than to hinder those in need. There wouldn't be as much indignation and outrage as there is by what is going on politically and socially if we were all as loathsome as Trump.
1
As much as I agree with the article, I don't have much hope that this will happen. Just look at white evangelicals, who not only are overwhelmingly silent about so much gross misbehavior and evil, but continue to openly cheer on the president who created this mess.
I doubt the evangelicals or the rest of the 36% of Americans who make up Trump's base are ever going to change.
4
From the first day of his "presidency" my greatest fear has been that I would become inured to his abhorrent speech and behavior. Every night since, as I watch the evening news, I find myself screaming my outrage at the TV as lies and more lies spew from Trump, Pence and the cabal of GOP sycophants that surrounds them; as institution after institution is sabotaged and vilified; as alliances that have endured wars, both hot and cold, are tossed aside and dictators greeted as friends.
You are spot on Nicholas: This is not normal, and, calling it out helps us persist in our resistance to the daily onslaught of horrors being unleashed by this sociopathic president.
Thank you!
6
Every single Trump supporter should be forced to sit still and quietly in a chair and have this column read to him/her.
1
Dostoevsky noted that "Man can get used to anything, the beast." How true, you warn us, with respect to swallowing the "daily drip" from President Trump. We are, indeed, getting used to the propaganda and corruption that oozes vilely from an ego more at home with fascism than with any form of altruism or care for what is good for the people. Politic calculation aside, how can impeachment be anything but a moral imperative at this juncture?
33
13,400 false statements? I'm out of date. I thought it was 11,000, and that was last week.
31
It's unfortunate that Kristof used Jim Simons as an exemplar of the wealth of billionaires because Simons uses his wealth for the greater good. The first example that I knew about is "Math for America", started more than a decade ago. It awards fellowships for students to earn a master's degree in math provided that they commit to teaching in high schools. At Stony Brook University, he founded the "Simons Center for Geometry and Physics", a high-powered research institute and more recently in the university's health sciences he founded the "Center for Transformational Medicine". Most recently in New York City he started the "Flatiron Institute" which houses the "Center for Computational Astrophysics" and a similar center for the neurosciences. These organizations are generously funded, are recognized globally for their research contributions, and enrich our community
through their public outreach.
Simons is a world-class mathematician. If he's an example of anything it is of how thoughtfully
some billionaires use their wealth.
1
An opinion that opens with a false fable is suspect from the outset.
The boiling frog is a fable describing a frog being slowly boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put in tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of sinister threats that arise gradually rather than suddenly.
While some 19th-century experiments suggested that the underlying premise is true if the heating is sufficiently gradual, according to contemporary biologists the premise is false: a frog that is gradually heated will jump out.[3][4] Indeed, thermoregulation by changing location is a fundamentally necessary survival strategy for frogs and other ectotherms.
2
@Terry
A conventional if outdated analogy is hardly a false fable or a basis for finding the rest of the piece suspect. There are valid neurological and psychological analogues (homologues?) for progressively diminished responses to repeated or slowly increasing stimuli, even if we can't use frog-in-a-saucepan anymore, and I have no doubt you get the point.
3
How can a fable be “false” if in is essence is a moral story, a tale to teach a lesson?
@AmarilloMike. You’re blaming the wrong people for the demise of American manufacturing. Neither white collar citizens (nor democratic voters) planned and organized it; American CEO’s and their shareholders have been in the drivers seat for decades. Apparently corporations are American citizens with rights until it’s inconvenient, or it costs them money. This war we’ve been in is not Left vs Right; it’s the ultra wealthy/powerful vs everyone else, but the powers that be have convinced the little people to harp at each other while they steal the money and run.
5
Don't worry Nick, Trump has only sharpened our awareness of the looming menace of socialism and statism being pedaled by Sanders, Warren, et al.
1
@BearBoy ….I wish you would have begun by defining what you think socialism is? When we found public schools, build roads, establish national parks, devise a monetary system, make laws, provide for an army....all of theses things are a form of socialism. You should begin by reading the Preamble to the U.S. Constitutions which lays out the purpose of our government: To form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, secure the blessings of liberty... . Which of these things does not sound like socialism?
6
Coequal in significance to the tax reduction aspect of the legislation mentioned by Mr Kristof is that legislation’s facilitation of the inter generational transfer of wealth. Read Thomas Piketty on both inequality in income and wealth and also on the inter generational transfer of wealth and the latter’s relation to the maintenance of power and control over the economy and society.
1
One other thing to point out about Trump's failure to "drain the swamp":
Not only has he had the largest turnover of any administration as Mr. Kristof notes but Trump also has the greatest number of lobbyists working for his administration: a staggering 281 by the halfway mark of his tenure. That amounts to 1 out of every 14 political appointees - four times as many lobbyists as Obama had appointed six years into office.
In another classic gaslighting maneuver, Trump has deliberately expanded the swamp from the moment he stepped into office even while he leads the chant of "Drain the Swamp!" at his rallies, promises that he is doing so, and his camp followers believe him.
The ways in which his base and other voters have been conned is stunning in its depth and breadth.
Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/we-found-a-staggering-281-lobbyists-whove-worked-in-the-trump-administration
3
Mr. Kristof gives us a whole list of problems that he wants to place on Trumps shoulders. He list 60,000 foster kids gone missing since 2000. Trump wasn’t president for 16 years while that was going on. The homeless children didn’t just start with Trump. We all knew how many wives he had when he was elected. I thought we had pretty much decided cheating husbands did not disqualify someone from being president when Clinton was in office. Mr. Kristof wants to revisit the election. Trump didn’t need the Russians. He had Hilary. That is pretty well described in Donna Brazile’s book about the election and Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's Doomed Campaign. We are getting use to millions of new jobs, expanding wages, and the lowest unemployment in half a century. If everything is as bad as Mr. Kristof thinks it is, why are the Democrats so afraid of Trump being on the ballot next year.
1
@Ron Respectively, are you worried about those without health care, the quality of our water and air and environment in general, is this level of inequality acceptable, are you ok with the influence of big money in politics, is lying a standard that is acceptable generally, stagnating wages for the working class (despite Wall Street and unemployment numbers) and do you worry at all about the rise in hate crimes, white supremacy, or on a bigger scale the relinquishing of our leadership role in the world when it comes to things like fighting the spread of nuclear weapons, stopping the spread of influence in the Middle East by Iran and Russia, and fighting to reduce carbon emissions and our long term dependence on oil? New jobs, expanding wages and low unemployment - yes these are good. This will help particularly if it trickles down to the lower income and no-income people who need it the most. But it is more than that. And we have become numb to these things which are unacceptable. Just my opinion.
4
@Ron "I thought we had pretty much decided cheating husbands did not disqualify someone from being president when Clinton was in office." Did Republicans decide this? That is not what I remember.
3
@Ron
You're deflecting, denying, and changing the subject. Your description of the economy is way too rosy, and some of the credit for improvement goes to the fruition of Obama's policies that the Republicans unconscionably acted to thwart for purely political ends. And you're completely ignoring Trump's hateful, destructive, lawless lunacy.
1
You need a stronger concluding paragraph. We are resilient, we can adapt, look at recent examples like WWII. In the nick of time we turned ourselves into a war economy overnight and led the defeat of one of the most dangerous dictators eve. Yes, we had to, our backs were against the wall. But no more than they are today, and your article points that out most clearly. I wish you would have urged American to muster their courage, their morality, their drive, their intelligence, their grit and their "can do spirit" and to face these challenges head on. We have a few leaders who are pointing out the courageous paths we need to follow to enable us, to be blunt, to survive. We must go Big, We are beyond the time of half measures. If Trump were leading such an effort I would vote for him. But, we have been served up the opposite, we have become Trumpetized to the point where facts have little meaning, integrity has vanished as a value, partisanship and picking sides has replaced any logic or rationale thought. What could possibly be a bigger crisis than this? The daily drip has become a full on faucet - just in case you are not paying attention to current events. We are in the age of abstraction, the Trump Era, the era of unacceptable consequences. We must act. The clock was ticking up, now it is ticking down like a time bomb. We need bold action. Where are the bold leaders showing the bold paths that must be taken? Need I point them out? Courage eveyone, Courage.
1
@George Olson
Let me point out that the "war economy" of WWII was in large part a socialist economy.
4
This is all true. I wonder why, after two plus years, we need to be reminded. I mean, obviously we do, but THAT we do is worse than what we have to be reminded OF.
1
I seriously thought about running for President because, after watching Trump, I realized all I have to do is lie about everything, tell people how great I am without any proof, call people names, and kiss up to Fox News. Hey, being President is easy. But then I awoke and remembered, mom and dad didn’t raise me that way.
4
It's more than just Trump, though.
This has been what the GOP has been moving toward for decades now: more acceptance of Republican corruption as "business as usual", more treating Democratic business as usual as "unprecedented corruption."
It does not matter how upright and outstanding liberals and progressives actually are, because Republicans keep cherry-picking a few bad seeds and treating them as representative of the lot of us, while decrying actual movements of their own factions as one-offs and unrepresentative.
Until we can move past this lamentable Republican tendency to over-simplify and demonize their political foes, something which Democrats have started reflecting back after decades of mostly-unanswered Republican attacks, we will keep living in a dystopian bubble. This will likely last long after Trump.
This should not be normal.
2
@Jacob Sommer This "lamentable Republican tendency" would be significantly decreased by the disappearance of the FOX network.
2
We are living in the best of times right now, not everyone realizes it. Unfortunately, the good times don't last as long as we want them to.
2
Excellent per your writing, Kristof. All that you write about the current president -- not "our" current president--is accurate and shameful. Trump bludgeons with walls, cages, Muslim travel bans, the press, those who want to stop gun carnage with his words and actions. The GOP did not need to be pushed but was carried along in the sweep that resulted in their rule over all in the presidency, Congress, Supreme Court, many states and legislatures. The tyranny of the majority is absolute and must be changed.
1
america is on the verge of collapse. and the silver lining to trump is he will push it over the edge. and when america falls, the rest of the planet stands a much better chance of surviving.
2
Thank you for this reminder. The daily shock of the latest outrage by this imposter of a human being does wear us down. We struggle to remember what it is to be a decent American, the kind the world used to admire - and will again, if we keep our sanity and vote.
1
Accustomed? Are you kidding? I just keep becoming more and more depressed with each day that this con man holds office. I just hope that this nightmare doesn't last another five years!
Heaven help us!
5
Uncomfortably Numb. Apologies to Pink Floyd.
4
The issue I have with the article is simply this: the long downward spiral for this country and its collective ethos began long before Pres. Trump. Mr. Kristof, put the blame where it belongs: on a public school system that fails to objectively teach civics and denigrates the overall accomplishments of the U.S. [If we were so bad, immigrants wouldn't be rushing to our shores]; on politicians who enter the Beltway and forfeit their own morals for the sake of re-election; on your paper and the whole lot of the MSM who slant their coverage to suit their agendas then rail against politicians who use social media - rank hypocrisy; and on an ignorant electorate which is the product of the failed school system. We have plenty of people with degrees but sadly most have no understanding of the past and shallow thoughts about today. BTW, dystopia existed under Pres. Obama - had he united us instead of dividing us, Pres. Trump would not have happened so Democrats have themselves to thank for this situation. Pres. Trump is a symptom, not the cause.
1
Today on Morning Joe the editor of Newsweek spoke about how we need to be making plans now for if and when Trump either refuses to hand over documents if SC tells him to or refuses to leave the White House if he loses or is convicted of his impeachment (fat chance on any conviction - McConnell has already said he won't be convicted and Graham, Chair of the Judiciary says he won't even read the transcripts!). He's saying we will need to have the military get involved.
A peaceful transition of power has been America's hallmark, proving to other countries it can be done. But with Trump there are big, big worries about that.
He's a terrible man and he and Putin stole the 2016 election (handing over polling data to Russian KGB, using Cambridge Analytica illegally, etc.). He deserves to be kicked out so no other tyrant wannabe rises in this country. If we let this all 'slide' as the Republicans want, our country is gone.
And speaking of Republicans, vote them all out. Every. Single. One. They are evil enablers who want one party rule forever and if they ever get it again, it will be a very sad day for America. Social Security? Bye bye. Medicare? Bye bye. Old people dying in the streets? Yep. Any hope for civil rights for all 'others' besides white straight males? Gone.
They are the ones who could stop this nightmare. They could go to Trump right now and tell him to leave, it's over. That's the enormous power they have. But they are cowards, all of them.
4
Trump is attacking the foundations of DEMOCRACY, daily.
This destruction may not be reversible, in the USA, and globally.
Climate change is not reversible, and dictatorship may remain.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me suggest the DEMOCRACY song, of Leonard Cohen (1992).
"Democracy is coming to the USA"
Perhaps, if Democrats used this song and focus on DEMOCRACY,
voters would start to wake up to the threat of world DEMOCRACY.
The Times could discuss the words of the DEMOCRACY song.
"Democracy is coming to the USA?
-------------------------------------------
Yesterday Mr. Kristof Shared this fine column. Today there is a report that the Senate is close to passing a federal anti-cruelty to animals statute. Perhaps there is an opportunity. Advocates for victims of partner violence probably recall that initial legal protections were won for children and women under states’ animal welfare laws. Hmmmm .....
Trump's awesome! His immigration plan is much better then anything the Democrats are offering.
6
@John
Maybe you could provide just the tiniest bit evidence for your claims? Does Trump really have a plan? What is it better than what the Democrats are offering? The vast majority of Americans want safe, sane and humane immigration and border policies, which are what the Democrats have proposed.
16
@John: What plan? I'm still waiting for Trump's plan. It certainly doesn't punish employers who knowingly hire illegals. Nor has he made the Federal E-Verify program that spots illegal identity mandatory. Nor has Trump done anything about the 90% if illegals who fly in from Europe of Asia.
25
@John
How would you know? Can you give us your understanding of what the Democrats are offering? (I mean what the Democrats are actually offering, not whatever caricature you'd be getting from Fox or Rush, etc.)
2
"America is not, as President Trump once called it, a “hellhole.” It is a nation of enormous strengths and resources, but we need to muster them now."
But clearly, as demonstrated by your article, America is Both a "hellhole" (you documented that yourself) AND "a nation of enormous strengths and resources".
This battle must be fought.
1
The people who need to hear this message don’t read the New York Times. You’re going to have to get out of the the choir loft
6
Thank you.
Very depressing rehash of all that is wrong w trumpism and America.
Damage has been ongoing now and no one seems to be able to fix this or stop it any longer.
Do you realize the states are less cohesive than ever. ?
We need regional realignment into city states and separate countries or unions. South and southwest. North and north west. Seaboards. Mountains. Lakes regions. Open up for a constitutional convention . We are ready to either divide this country into regions/ countries with distinct differences and social constructs. Some want apartheid. Others love diversity. Some house the billionaires booties and some need drastic assistance.
Military is trumpian and industry under unions is dead.
Infrastructure was needed since Bush.
Real America is a hysterical uninformed mess. Yes ! Western Europe seems sad for us ...,.., but are they really?
If this happened in their countries America would respond to stop the dictator. Right? Like with Hitler and Stalin? No?
Amen! The man is evil incarnate!
2
This reads like a rap sheet for Mr. Trump. Its shocking that anybody even has to produce a list like this for the POTUS.
1
Mr. Kristof take a look at your New York Times 401K Plan
Nov. 1, 2016, NYT stock $13.00
Nov. 7, 2019, NYT stock $31.00
Don't Worry Be Happy
2
@P&L
1. It's a bubble. Our whole society including the economy is becoming more unstable and fragile.
2. It's not worth it, being bought off to accept evil and the destruction of American values and institutions just because the stock market's up.
That's kind of the point of the article.
5
I think you meant to say the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Saddam has WMDs.
I remember, and find the NYTs fake news factory unacceptable.
Trump is POTUS because this newspaper elected him. And he'll win again thanks to you.
1
President Obama was no passive president and I am tired of you insulting his presidency to make some remote comment about a ignorant old white bigoted man who is a disgrace to this country.
Minorities know what decency is we cant say that about the white superiority people in this country. You dont see any minorities caught up in the web of Russian adoration do you.? do you see any cult worshippers outside of Ben Carson who had a injury to his brain.
The only white male people I see everyday giving testimony about how anti American the Trump administration is are federal white government people who refuse to believe in the Russian and cult system that Trump has implemented in the white house.
You should identify the white people who voted Trump into office in the first place. They always seem to have issues. Minorities have always had self respect despite the hatred of the white people who are always in charge. Minorities unlike white folks are not trying to get over at every opportunity.
Many Americans love America and it is clear that the GOP do not
5
Times’ columnists and both sidism and breathless excitement over fascist games is the threat to numbing me.
Thank you very much.
1
He is evil. But death would still become him
Thanks for mentioning that "he has ripped children from parents at the border,..." The NYT should have a box on the front page above the fold every day reporting: X number of children separated from parents and locked in concentration-camp cages for Y to Z days.
1
And you didn't really mention the hate he is spreading and the rise of white supremacy.
3
Amen.
1
Don't be numb. VOTE!
4
Please voters end this national nightmare. This is not the country we are! I am not going have 232 years of Constitutional Law end over this con artist in the White House. Everything he says is a lie. He is a criminal and for whatever reason, Republican Senators have subjugated themselves to this Flim-Flam man at the sacrifice of our country. Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Mike Pompeo, William Barr should resign because they have violated their oath to the American people. Make America Great Again is a dystopian lie that the gullible have bought into, while they are becoming the most disenfranchised. They are the frogs who can't feel the water heating up around them.
5
I wouldn’t call the past three years “Trumpian dysfunction.” I’d call it the Age of Stupidity...
6
A truly incredible piece of absurd propaganda that shows why the Democrats are going to get creamed yet again and Trump’s election is almost inevitable. The comparison between Trump’s Scottish mother and illegal immigrants from the Third World is just the tip of the iceberg of Democrat cluelessness. Btw, I will never vote GOP lest you think I am a Trumpist or traditional conservative both of whom I despise.
3
@Peter
I don't accept your premise, though I agree the immigration analogy is shallow. And it's "Democratic," not "Democrat." Democratic is the name of the party as well as the adjective. Democrat refers to individual members of the party.
1
Donald Trump can do so many outrageous and or / illogical things because he has his apologists and cronies to make up excuses for his bad behavior or to trivialize any criticism as coming from a snowflake, a liberal, a Socialist, etc.
And in your litany of errors, you left out 2 telling ones: Donald Trump saluted a North Korean general and walked in front of the Queen of England. This is his foreign policy in a nutshell: kiss up to dictators and disrespect our longtime allies.
1
Nor should we become inured to the pitiful American education system which produces citizens who cannot think critically enough to see through Trump and dump him. Trump is despicable and destructive, yes. He is, however, the symptom of a deep disease -- anti-intellectualism.
8
Crush Trump in the name of God, democracy, and truth
2
Judging by recent reader comments to a variety of articles here, both news and opinion, it's probably the people who *don't* read the New York Times who most need to hear what's in column.
1
I agree, adapting to this loutish, brutal buffoon would be a travesty. Trump is an aberration, a bully, a person who mocks disabled people and bullies those who are weaker than himself.
He encourages violence against people who are not white, not white evangelical Christians by his constant verbal attacks on anyone who is different. His apologies for neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen after their violent attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia encourage fringe elements who subsequently attack synagogues, immigrant communities and people of color.
The constant chants of “lock her up”, “send them back”, etc. make his rallies take on the appearance of plain clothes Ku Klux Klan rallies. He is a physical example of all that is crass and evil in American politics.
3
I was skimming the column so fast today that I miss read “the press secretary last month…“ As “the press secretary of the month…“
Go ahead and color me numb.
He is such a despicable person.
In our house, we keep the TV turned off in order to prevent our grandchildren from seeing or hearing him. In contrast, President Obama is so professional and articulate.
1
Many pundits claimed that Trump won in 2016 because his voters, decent and sincere people, felt "left behind." I've always believed it was their racism, their bigotry and their xenophobia that led them to vote for him. And I was right.
The past three years have been an unmitigated disaster for this nation. And we are now seeing the beginnings of a totalitarian regime with Trump's consolidation of absolute power. He has a toadying Supreme Court that has upheld his Muslim ban and his ridiculous "wall" stunt, with absolutely no factual showing supporting either.
But none of this bothers his voters. They have no problem living under a dictatorship as long as their "leader" tells them that as whites, they are the "real Americans". Fast forward to the present. I still believe that hatred is what drives Trump's voters. They don't have a "beautiful" health care plan. They didn't get their jobs back. Most of them are just one hospital visit from bankruptcy, and higher education is increasingly out of their reach. Their "president" has done nothing to make their lives better. But he has told them that the KKK and neo-Nazis are some very fine people. And for this, they'll trade away their children's future.
What Trump voters really want is to hate their fellow brown skinned Americans. And Trump needs to keep feeding the beast. Soon the internment of Hispanic children won't be enough to satisfy his voters' hatred. Trump violating every standard of decency? How about his voters?
5
Thanks !
Nicholas, Nicholas, Nicholas. My boy.
You fail to understand.
Trump’s malfeasance and poor behavior are a feature, not a bug, to his supporters. They want to be him. Cruelty towards non-whites and non-Christians, philandering and pugnacious isolation “taking care of your own” while ensconced in a moral halo that puts one above the law is what Trumoers admire about this president.
It’s a do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do presidency and it excites his base to no end. They want to be him - an unaccountable white cis WASP male with all the trimmings. The king.
2
@Shiloh 2012
I don't know about the moral halo part. The rest might be true. Who wouldn't want to be a perpetual 2-year old, never having to take "no" for an answer, never suffering negative consequences for throwing a violent tantrum any time you don't get your way, never having to share, or take turns, or clean up your mess, or respect the rights of others, or earn the things you want. And you get the sense he's such a happy, serene man, too, don't you. Being above the law, I think, reflects that he thinks everyone else actually IS just like him, they're just not as good as getting away with stuff. That's what he's really the King of.
1
I once created "a saying" (I create "sayings" all the time). This one is: "The most thankless task: trying to counter irrational arguments with rational ones". Which means: there is no rational argument against Trump and his minions. The only conclusion is, Trump + etc. (family, enablers, apologists) are an abomination, a freak show in the civilized world and a constant insult to the intellect. Neither established facts, nor tradition, nor logic will sway or convince them. Remember how the Nazis came to power in 1933? It was a coincidence of unfortunate misjudgements, stupid coincidences, bad judgement, power hungriness, gullability and cowardice. Another saying to finish: "Ignorance is rampant." I do hope we will come out of this without major damage.
1
If Duffy was a leader of this, we apologize.
We have no idea what this was about.
Sean Duffy is an incredibly smart person. It's a shame we didn't put his intelligence to better purpose.
His father made this town, and his child just fixed my teeth.
They're an amazing family. Increcredible success in this place in the woods. You want want dentistry done? They're the best.
Aweful reality of things? Or reality good of things? I'm not sure.
In summary....All roads lead to Putin.
2
$5 is The Manchurian candidate
How many have read the books or seen the movies?
I have
2
ho hum nick. you didn't need trump to demand an honorable platform for the racism of the odious Charles Murray. The rest is noise.
Trump has an out sized ego, He is a narcissist and a bully. He is a pathological liar. He is soulless. For all we know he may be a Russian operative, a plant. And yet he is still only one man. What I worry about more are the people we see standing behind him in rallies with racist slogans, MAGA hats and chanting "Send her back" or "Lock her up". Who are these people? They are not my fellow Americans. They are a cult that has a narrow focus and follow basic tribal instincts. Many of us will never become numb to them or be willing to forgive and forget them. They have put us on our guard and we will act accordingly to protect our nation, our constitution and our institutions.
1
If this was a classy place, he’d be asked to leave. Let’s get some class, “folks”.
P. S. Don’t you hate it when Presidents use THAT word?
Amen brother, amen.
1
Dead on right, and incredibly shameful and depressing. Welcome to Trump's MAGA! Brought to you by Fox, Russia & the 'base.'
We have a choice; we can do better -- Vote!
3
Trump's antics and tactics are precisely what the Constitution was created to defend against - someone with a skewed vision of right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable. The faction of this country that voted for that idiot would gladly let it all burn if it meant the promise of a disingenuous tax cut. With patriots like this modern incarnation of the GOP, who needs traitors??? The most discernible threat to this country's growth, security and future is the cult-like Republican Party driven by folks with zero respect for anything, including themselves. I don't trust a Republican to cave and admit that 2+2=4 if it meant contradicting a Republican talking head pushing a crazy math conspiracy theory.
1
today at a free concert I saw what looked like Donald Trump Junior - even with the same blond bouffant wave
a big band jazz group - about 30 players came on stage - and all promptly tuned their brass instruments - after a couple of minutes of that the conductor walked on stage ready to start the first tune
as he counted down 'and a one, and a two ...' a grumble came from the back, it was the drummer - a blond red-face pouting spoiled-face junior version of the DT - exclaiming that he wasn't ready
he then spent the next minute or more adjusting his drum kit - but his pouting tweaking and preparations were so patently precious that when he finally signaled his readiness, after keeping both his conductor, his 30 band-mates, and the hundreds of audience waiting, the conductor clapped his hands - at this 'performance'
it was so obvious he just wanted spoilt brat attention - and would do anything to get it - he didn't care about how others felt - he just felt he needed and must get that attention - looka me!! looka me!!!
Major R Soul Jnr.
"American kids ages 1 through 19 are 57 percent more likely to die than those in other advanced nations"
Google that phrase, and you see, "The major cause of death in children aged 1 to 19 years is not cancer or other another medical condition." It is car accidents, and guns.
It is also not true of all Americans aged 1 to 19. Black Americans suffer more than twice the rate of all others. Black rates are over 1,000 per million, while everyone else is well under 500 per million, (ranging from 420 to 458). https://www.childtrends.org/indicators/infant-child-and-teen-mortality
Americans other than blacks are not so much higher than the rest of the developed world, while blacks die in such huge numbers they distort the entire database.
The extra black deaths are overwhelmingly from violence.
I am a major proponent of fixing our disastrous medical care system. However, deaths among our kids aged 1-19 are not that same problem. Among them, it is a vast killing of black youth by violence.
3
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! I hear and read all over from people thinking that the Trump swamp is unstoppable. I disagree.
Every lie is a lie and every maltreatment of others is an outrage. People need to treat him like the buffoon he is. I would like every one of his vile statements to be treated like the weak wisecracks of a jerk. His cadre of scared sycophants will either sink with him or defect.
All of the things in this article are bad, but only a few of them are High Crimes. Trump is not just rude.
Trump regularly attacks the Constitution, for example, by calling for violence against citizens without due process. Weakening the Constitution by contradicting it as president is a High Crime. Contradicting the First Amendment, by saying "the press is the enemy of the People," then calling for violence against journalists is a High Crime.
Going on TV to ask China to interfere in our elections is a High Crime.
Letting Republicans claim that attacking the Constitution on TV is just comedy is helping Trump NORMALIZE HIGH CRIMES.This is far more dangerous than normalizing crude and rude behavior.
THE CONSTITUTION IS NOT FUNNY.
Too many soldiers died protecting it.
Trump has exhibited a blatant PATTERN of attacking every principle of the Constitution designed to end all limits on his power.
Trump literally acts like a king, because he knows that if he gets away with it long enough he will be king. That is why he talks about "16 years," in office, without mentioning Constitutional term limits or the need to amend them (a High Crime), then tells Xi that "president for life is just like king."
Trump keeps committing High Crimes ON TV. Is Kristof calling calling them High Crimes, or just "unacceptable?"
Read the Constitution and every time Trump contradicts it call it a High Crime.
You can't impeach or win this election without explaining High Crimes to voters.
2
Trump isn’t the cause of the political, social and moral breakdown in America, he’s the result.
@JFB
Well he's both. He's an active agent of chaos, and has claimed as much explicitly.
2
I think the left is very clear about Trump's moral failings. I.e., they are indeed sensitive.
The right is plain rejoicing his moral, intellectual, ethical failings. For them, he is their role model. He does, what they only dream of doing. They are feeling no moral, intellectual quandary.
The center is given to "who knows? who is to say? what do we really know, I mean really? on the one hand this, and on the other hand that. What is the truth, anyway? Isn't truth an opinion?"
40% of voters are disengaged beyond measure.
Calling on us to heighten our sensitivity means each group becomes more sensitive about its own position. The right chortles with every display, every evidence, of Trump's moral and ethical failure; the center only redoubles its equivocation, the left only finds fault with whomever is trying to get their vote, the disaffected are even more disaffected. The left has no interest in any candidate running for their attention; they want some messiah to come in and solve all problems at once. They don't want someone, if that someone, is a real person.
Ergo: what you are calling for makes sense only in an academic sense; it has no real world significance.
Trump loves name calling; I wonder if he would appreciate being called "PRESIDENT POTHOLE" which is not only accurate, but reflects an everyday annoyance and dangers caused by the absence of his promised infrastructure spending: (Promises Made, Promises NOT kept!)
I read and greatly enjoyed Mr. Kristof's column in the print edition today, including the mention of James Simon's $4 million A DAY in come. Then I turned the page and saw the full-page Harry Winston ad. Jarring juxtaposition to say the least.
2
I thought the Republicans were the only normal people in the House when it almost fell in 2008. I wish they had held to their positions. They fell to Wall Street jerks.
Don't fail us now! These same Republicans us today! Act reasonable, please.
I'm pretty sure this president is a criminal. Vote with moral conscience.
I wanted you to vote away the bailout. I thought the bailout was wrong, and I was in agreement with Republicanans on this.
What took your soul? Was it politics? Money? Or politics?
1
@Dave
Opposing the bailout was an expression of the kind of ideological purity that taken to extremes exacerbates suffering on the grand scale. "Mixed economy" is what actually works, and has worked, the best. You have to balance the bicycle to keep from crashing, every second your riding it. Government has an active role to play. As a practical matter, the bailout should have been bigger; Republicans opposed it both on ideological grounds and to deny Obama a chance at clearer and bigger success, i.e., on sheer political grounds.
1
Trump will remain an enormous embarrassment to our Nation's history for centuries.
We let the hate, fear and prejudice of some out of hiding, allowing them to use our antiquated electoral system to achieve his election.
It appears now that a correction is in process.
The rock has been lifted and the light is chewing up the vermin.
Good riddance!
2
Trump's litany of evil deeds and sociopathic behaviour makes him disconcertingly similar to the other despised sociopath - King Jong Un. When will we see the last of them?
1
Liberalism has caused America to go numb.
We fixed that in 2016.
We will continue to make Liberalism irrelevant again in 2020.
Enjoy!
Your point being? as Homer Simpson would ask
2
Too late.
1
Unspeakably poor quality, high prices and filthy practices put jobs elsewhere.
@northlander
In other words, "greed is good."
"A $10 Billion Wall Meets a $100 Saw"
The "WALL" does its job about as well as any other of Donald Trump's failed, bankrupt businesses......
Only this time the American public are the sucker investors……
6
It's Republican Party dysfunction. The entire party owns it. Never forget. Anyone with time on his/her hands could do well to find ways to break through the wall of misinformation from Fox and other propaganda sources, especially in rural locations where there are few other sources of information. Then vote for massive change in Nov 2020.
2
Well done Mr. Kristof. Trump is a pathological liar and grifter and election day won't arrive too soon.
3
I'm not growing numb.
I'm more and more outraged by the day.
It motivates me to call my "representatives".
And to talk to people.
And to work for change by doing my job to be a part of my community, to volunteer to help those who need help.
The hair I have left is gray...the mind I have left isn't going to let this malice permeate my perspective.
4
Would any of this have occurred if Trump had gotten a dog?
2
Perhaps, but please do have compassion for all dogs.
1
Too late. Our less than united US of A has already adapted to holding our president to a lower standard than so many individuals who have violated civil procedures and many who have been convicted of actual crimes. We have promoted and ensured the privilege of a president far more dangerous than incompetent and stupid.
I don't feel numb. I feel shame.
3
Donald Trump's biggest crime is that he's made disgusting behavior by a World "Leader: almost acceptable. We've become sensitized to his constant character assassination by lies, insults to our intelligence by constantly denying that he said (or tweeted) what is public record, and hate mongering.
1
Daily I roil with disgust not only for Donald Trump and his supporters, but also for the people whose names are household words for millions of Americans. Why are they silent? Why do they not raise their voices against this madman who is our president? Why do they continue to remain passive as sheep while Trump and the majority of the Republicans in Congress rip this country to shreds?
4
You articulate everything so factually that isn't it all obvious?!? Yet you have the @AmarilloMike of the voters who brush it all aside to point to alternative-facts (did those evolve from 'lies') to justify that they were wrong. Can't admit they were wrong. He's no job creator (the middle class is still shrinking and he's riding what the previous administration implemented), he's about the least Christian person in his beliefs compounded by his outright actions, his immigration actions are beyond cruel, his love affair and deference to Putin are alarming, and on and on and on. It just won't matter as his base won't budge because it is so hard to admit you were wrong about him and that has become more important than our country and what it used to stand for including our values.
2
Yes, it seems that Persistent Trump Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a real thing. The litany of his callousness doesn't begin to get at his criminality which will be on TV next week for all to see. You have painted a portrait of a man who is truly evil (perhaps a false god who is really the second coming of Satan is more appropriate). That he has marshaled the Republican Party into his enablers, willing accomplices, and now defenders is the biggest threat to our nation since the Civil War. As with that war for the very survival of our Union under the Constitution, Trump represents virulent white racism where he found "good people" among neo-Nazis marching in support of a Confederate general who sought to overthrow our government and make slavery the law of the land while chanting, "Jews will not replace us." This is the very mortal threat he poses to the nation and the world. We ignore this threat, as the frog in the slowly heating water that gradually boils him to death, at our peril.
2
I sincerely hope that the children of those people who continue to support Trump after three years, grow up to be just like him, a walking, talking facsimile. After all, he's done so much for the country as just one man, just imagine how much we could accomplish if there was a, deceitful, misogynistic, racist, Trump in every family!
1
And imagine the years of Thanksgiving dinners to come.
1
I pray that trump and his cretinous friends and family will be in prison soon enough. None of this behavior is normal or acceptable. Thank you, Mr. Kristof for keeping this disdain alive.
It will undoubtedly take a while to recover - but be thankful for those hard working, serious government employees who care about their roles and our nation.
Those that voted for, support and enable ( GOP) this horrid man, trump, will still be here. But the greater number for good must prevail.
Imagine if this moronic cretin was our president in 1939- we’d be speaking German and Japanese now. (speaking historically- With no offense to our many, many great German and Japanese friends.)
4
Trump rose to political prominence by promoting his racist Birtherism lie. Trump learned from promoting his racist Birtherism lie that some people would believe the most outrageous lies that he could fabricate rather than the truth and the facts. Once he understood that fact, he knew that he could control such people via his lies.
How anyone could adapt and become numb to Trump’s incessant, pathological lying is beyond me?
Liars cannot not be trusted, and nothing Trump says or tweets is believable or trustworthy
3
Ah, now I feel better........
Just joking.
Numb? Never! However, anger, disgust, frustration, and tiredness are taking a toll on relationships with family, friends, and neighbors.
5
GREAT article!!!
You nailed it!
1
There are voters out there who belong
to a group who does believe
that Donald Trump does nothing wrong
even though he is a thief.
To lie and cheat is in Trump’s genes.
He’s phony and a con.
“The end will justify the means!”
Morality is gone.
Abandon allies. Promote hate.
Throw values overboard.
Promote yourself at any rate.
Civility be gored.
There are voters out there who don’t see
our future is at stake.
Elect someone with dignity
not a gangster on the take!
2
I’m sorry, but how. Either listen and become furious, knowing you cannot change anything as one little voter (not being big oil, pharma, lobbies...). Or turn it off and save your mental health.
1
A neighbor of mine has a solution. Get a group of six friends together and assign one person each week to monitor the outrageousness. The monitor position rotates each week. Get together once a week and the designated monitor reports back. This mitigates the damage.
Ah it was Obama's passivity, not Mitch McConnell's refusal to make a public statement about Russian interference and the NY Times over the top coverage of Hillary's server that resulted in swinging the election to Trump. Let's not numb ourselves to continual stream of false equivalencies and omissions made by writers whose primary concern is to create the appearance of evenhandedness, a form of ersatz integrity that is the coin of the realm on the NY Times op ed page.
1
My answer to all the rude, crude and crass behavior of the current administration is: RESIST...
3
Please...for simple clarity, let’s call a toad a “Toad”. “President”
Trump is the total manifestation of a Sociopathic Personality
Disorder. He is fully enjoying, unapologetically, his chronic occupation of our Center Of Attention. While an “elected” Servant Of the People, he serves Only Himself. In his Presence in his Diagnosis, he is Beyond Treatment. Meanwhile, We, the
People, are, desperately, in Need of it!
1
A great reminder to all Americans. The constant drip of the 24-hour news cycle, combined with the Republican-majority senate, the hegemony of the NRA lobby, and a stacked Supreme Court leave many of us feeling helpless. We need to re energize against this dangerous, selfish and narcissistic buffoon.
3
About 4 years too late for this column and in the wrong media venue!
2
Thank you for reminding us.
How about devoting an entire Editorial section to one question—
Hey Republicans, what is a high crime or misdemeanor worthy of impeachment?
It might be good to have some idea, since, according to their newfound leniency, we aren’t there yet.
2
For whatever reasons, my previous posts were not approved.
So, I will ask one question: What American would be willing to die for Trump’s/Giuliani’s Ukraine foreign policy scheme?
Crazy American. Trump *is* a Manchurian candidate. Not maybe, not seems like. He is.
Trump is rotten, and his mistreatment of immigrants is terrible, yet we all seem to have forgotten - gotten used to - the fact that we were governed not so long ago by war criminals and torturers who invaded multiple countries (Afghanistan, Iraq), started forever wars, locked people up for decades (Gitmo), tortured them (Abu Ghraib) and completely crashed the economy at home (2008). A few years ago, you wrote expose on cruelty to chickens in the agricultural industry, but most Americans seem completely numb and accept horrific cruelty to animals. It's not just Trump, but so many other people and things that we accept, which are completely unacceptable. Homelessness, war, gun violence, racism, extreme inequality, poverty...
"Let us not be numbed..." What a breath of fresh air! I cannot begin to count the number of Democrats who tell me that they no longer watch the news because "it's too upsetting", and "it's always the same, and I can't do anything about it".
I am always horrified by these reactions. Unfailingly I say, "If you let yourself become numbed by the horror of what djt is doing to our democracy, you will be giving him the victory. STOP being 'numbed'! Start watching the news again every night [ideally Rachel Maddow, but I never say that], start reading the NYT and the WaPo online every day. If you don't, things will only continue to get worse." Some people get it. Some people don't.
1
Nick,
You are way behind times. Trump is no longer a valid choice for decent people. Warren and Sanders are. They will win despite the last resort efforts of the center right press and its pundits like you.
The Times dislikes my comments and only publishes a few I send.
This one is not likely to make it. Still, please look at yourself in the mirror, you claim to have Armenian, Polish, Oregon farmer and recently some Anglo-Saxon heritage (my head is spinning), you may rewrite this piece differently. Unless you just were a bright Harvard undergrad who got the short end of the draw and ended up in Pennypacker and South House (Cabot now) back to back :-)
1
Mr Kristof:
Thank you for taking the time to interact with the readers.
Very impressive and classy.
This column is a great summary of the awfulness of this "administration". Thank you.
2
Becoming used to abuse, then apologizing for the abuser, is the definition of a pathology.
In the two months after Trump's inauguration, I counted 11 scandals that in the past would have bounced the incumbent out on his ear. I quit counting and tabulating after the first 2 months because it was so depressing and shocking I couldn't continue. I have not, however, been complacent; I'm still shocked and appalled every single day by the behavior of not only Trump, but by his entire corrupt administration and the Republican caucus that supports its debasement of this country's values.
2
President Obama's "passivity" was due to McConnell'as threat to accuse him of partisanship in the election. At the time it was threat to be taken seriously considering how much abuse President Obama had already endured by the very "partisan" GOP. Added to this I would say that "hindsight" is a wonderful thing to have.
2
We continue to be appalled that Americans voted Trump into office.
We forget that almost 3 million more votes were cast for Hillary Clinton than for Trump. American citizens did not vote Trump into office.
The electors to the Electoral College should have done their duty and kept this unqualified imposter out of the Presidency. The Electoral College voted Trump into office.
We've got to abolish the EC, or choose another way to vote, where each person's vote counts - one person, one vote.
Why not just call them lies? Referring to Trump's utterances as falsehoods insulates him, and the American public as well, from responsibility for his attrocious behavior.
I don't want to get numb, but I don't know how else to protect myself. The daily onslaught of horrific news and the unending parade of acts deliberately meant to harm us has drained me of energy--and sometimes of hope. The evil is almost unbelievable, and the rabid support of those who approve it is sickening. What can we DO between now and the day he is finally gone???
Let us not ignore another element: that the dangerous, unfit-for- office-liar has lifted the cleanup work at many EPA superfund sites across the country; three sites are in Nebraska.
I digress for a moment: the pathetically weak governor rickets of this state, like trump, professes to be pro-life. Yet, they work in concert to restrict access to health care across this state, cut myriad of child & maternal health programs, and-- by dropping EPA superfund sites, they assure lethal/toxic contaminants like arsenic, mercury & lead once again leak into already contaminated Nebraska water and air. Ah yes: Make America Contaminated Again. The winners here are the companies & corporations that introduced the poisons into our air and water and soil years ago, and now they run with bags-o-cash that trump handed to them four days ago. So the number of Nebraskans with cancers, pulmonary fibrosis, etc. will grow. They can thank trump & ricketts for the deaths and suffering as they watch the daily spectacle of trump in his circus center-ring. Oh, and those who reap cash from the suffering and dying from toxic air-water-soil are big pharma & revenue-seeking corporate-owned hosptials and their clinics.
Returning to your Opinion piece today: it is on target and focused. Thank you
I am more frightened by the now completely amoral GOP and the many seemingly intelligent people who continue to support this sorry excuse for a man. I am frightened for the voice and bravado he has given the underbelly of America. I am frightened because if we don't take back the Oval Office and the Senate, trump and the GOP will consider themselves given a mandate for more, much more, of the same and we will have lost our democracy, a democracy we now see is much more fragile than we thought. Nicholas Kristof is right, we too easily become accustomed to what is and we can never afford to become accustomed to the ethos and behaviors of the current administration. I go through Penn Station fairly regularly and it has become the norm to see armed soldiers and police with vests and assault rifles. Because Penn Station is a potential terrorist target. And trump and his minions invite more terrorism every day, both foreign and domestic. We are less safe in every way now than we were 3 years ago.
Trump suspended use of Congressionally directed federal taxes for his own political ends. That is wrongful use of federal funds. Lock him up.
Just imagine when he's gone.
The silence will startle us awake as did the end of the bombing for Anne Frank.
We may have withdrawal symptoms, or PTSD. But we'll march on, as in the Marseillaise.
With one side shouting "facts" and the other side shouting "alternative facts", I believe that the choice next November actually boils down to this: 1) Hmmm, I feel good about this guy, let's go another 4-years; or 2) Let's move on, this daily flood of crazy is exhausting. We can mine and throw "facts" all day long but, in a year, as always, it's down to how do you feel about the job that one man has done or not done, after living in the White House for 4-years. -C
Rest assured that there is very little numbing occurring since I feel more distressed by the week at what our government is doing and the lack of concern by the vast majority of his supporters. My daily life since November 2016 includes an underlying fear, that is terrifyingly realized on a weekly basis, that the President and his minions will continue to willingly and knowingly deepen their commitment into this morass of unconstitutional, deceptive, inhumane, punitive, undemocratic, corrupt, greedy decisionmaking. My only hope is that they will all take each other down before they bring our country or our planet to a point of chaos beyond recovery.
The minions are beginning to realize that the president will thrown any of them under the bus without hesitation because he has never been held accountable or faced consequences for his bankruptcies, lies, sexual predation, tax evasion or illegal housing discrimination and thinks that he is immune both as president and as a private citizen.
Sociopath: a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.
Republicans, single-minded anti-abortion supporters, evangelicals and other christians have harnessed their reputations and futures to a sociopath. I hope that there are real consequences for all who are allowing and supporting this travesty.
Rather than being numbed by the tRumpesphere, I am continuously horrified by how degraded and mean spirited it has become. I am appalled by his supporters and the twisted logic they use to justify support for an immoral, puerile womanizer. If one has eyes to see and ears to hear, then it would seem that this travesty of an administration needs to come to an end. Perhaps, if one would ask oneself this question, Would I accept or wish my children to be like tRump?, then the answer might lead to a different opinion of their ‘chosen’ leader.
Agreed. I keep reminding myself this is not normal. I’m incredulous that there has been nothing in our system of government, to date, to stop this man, not scandal, not law and order, not Congress, not his vile and despicable self, not kids in cages, will the Constitution? His republican accomplices not only have allowed his transgressions to grow bolder and more audacious, they have defended him with indefensible, convoluted, ridiculous obfuscation (see Graham, McCarthy, Nunes, Jordan to name a few). And for McConnell to preempt the impeachment by stating that if it were held today the Senate would not remove, is outrageous. For a man who railed against the original investigation into Russia’s election meddling to then go and hit up another country by withholding taxpayer dollars to help him personally in the upcoming election shows exactly how above the law he believes himself to be. Or as he and his garbage spewing press secretary believe “chosen one.” Perhaps had the release of a candidate’s tax returns been mandatory we would have been able to stop this horror show before it even started?!
1
Bless you Nick for gathering muster time energy effort to write this timely column.
America is. Land of hope. Despite its Rocky history of slavery and mistreatment of natives. Our country has shone its beacon of light to distant souls far and wide, who were looking for this land of possibilities beyond their wildest dreams. As an immigrant myself I can say from the bottom of my heart that America is a land where freedom is in the air we breathe the water we drink and the food we nourish with.
Although Trump at this moment is an aberration he is also a reminder that he voices millions of souls who think like him, who are disgusted with the system for not delivering, fed up of lawmakers who somehow forget what they were send to do and for our kids lacking the basic services that other developed countries in the world take for granted. These disillusioned folks may be right in their point of view but it is the “how” that matters now. Trump is not the how. The whole world was laughing at us when he got elected, and now they are simply shrugging and saying Americans are truly stupid people, for all their wealth prosperity advancement universities start ups huge companies..they still have homeless people poverty opioid addiction violence gun deaths. and no one can do anything unless Americans open their eyes.
1
Yes! This is not normal.
I wish we could get through to the folks in his MAGA hats who show up at his rallies full of hate and anger.
I think that Regan would have been, and many thoughtful Republicans are, embarrassed by all this. Why don't they try to take back their party from the extremists?
1
You left out this draft dodger's love for veterans and the military.
@Don Feferman
Except POWs like McCain.
Oh, I don’t know. Nothing seems outrageous anymore, and Trump has made lying as acceptable as breathing.
Just wait until Supreme Court justices begin defending Trump on Twitter.
1
Vulgar, vicious and vindictive, Donald Trump’s toxic persona is disturbing enough. But his greedy and short-sighted policies are a threat to our present—and our future. In just three years, Trump has:
• Enacted a massive tax cut for the wealthy and corporations that has increased economic inequality and spiked the national debt to one trillion dollars
• Withdrawn from the Paris climate accords, threatening the lives of billions across the globe
• Weakened our NATO alliances while coddling strongmen and despots
• Dismantled the nuclear proliferation treaty with Iran, ratcheting up Middle East tensions
• Thrashed the Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, opening the door for China’s dominance in Asia
• Slashed regulations protecting the environment, worker safety, public health and consumer fraud
• Shut down the government and declared a bogus national emergency to bypass congressional appropriations and build a useless border wall with Mexico
The substance of this despot more than equals his reprehensible character.
1
So happy to hear from you again!!
We need your voice.
1
No no, you’ve got it all wrong. Nobody’s perfect, so The Don has made a few errors along the way. But, truly, he’s perfect. Always has been and always will be. But despite any little bumps on the road, the truth is that he is defending the American public, every day. This is what really matters. He’s the only one willing to rise above the stench of elitist self-righteousness and speak in defense of the common man. He’s the only one willing to tell it like it really is, not all that fake politically correct stuff. He speaks for me, and he ain’t Mr. Niceguy about it, because nice is fake and The Don is real. Get over it. All Praises to The Don!
(No, I don’t really think this, but many do, and you can think ill of them, but they are there, and may well re-elect him.)
The Republican orthodoxy has always been, you guys play by the rules, we don’t. They would never tolerate a Democrat getting away with what they allow Trump to get away with but they have allowed Trump to destroy the boundaries so any future President may even be worst than Trump. Even with the current impeachment investigation, they act like the rules don’t apply to them, they are somehow disconnected from the process, they have no idea what the problem is, get over yourself seems to be their credo. By voiding themselves from any responsibility for Trumps behavior they are, in fact, totally responsible for his behavior, behavior they would never tolerate if he were a Democrat. They are guilty of willful ignorance, thereby enabling an ignorant deviate to trample the once sacred normalities of Presidential conduct. Trump is just being Trump, the Republicans have lost their way and opened the door to the beginning of the end.
1
In the New York Review of Books, very shortly after the 2016 election, Masha Gessen--who profoundly knows her stuff--wrote about rules for surviving autocracy (authoritarianism). https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/ Some of the rules imply guarding against what Mr. Kristof writes here. They all are still worth keeping in mind every day that Trump remains in office--which I hope (maybe against hope) won't be for long now!
1
Trump is unacceptable. Thanks to Mr. Kristoff for devoting a column to reminding us of that.
I don't understand people (such as @AmarilloMike) who accept the pathological lying, the wanton cruelty, and the corruption. Not only by Trump, but by his entire cabinet and his children. He has taken the United States of America, and turned it's Department of State and Department of Justice into his personal enforcers.
He must be impeached, even if the corrupt Republicans in the Senate acquit him. And he must be soundly humiliated in the 2020 elections.
Trump blatantly tells the world that the US is a rogue state and thieving, racketeering superpower that will not hesitate to use both its military and economic might to serve the interests, not of the American people but, of the handful who always profit from such practices. What Trump has done, is to deprive naive people of the false claim that their country is "spreading democracy", that they have "values", that they "care for the oppressed and downtrodden". Trump has NOT changed US policies one iota. By saying things like "we are after some country's oil and nothing more" or "we will offer you protection for a price", Trump is not doing anything different than his predecessors had done, other than dispensing with the pretense.
Trump is as much a criminal as Hillary, Obama and a long line of their predecessors. Nothing more, nothing less.
1
Please! The flagrant violations of law among him and his family and his administration is simply nauseating. Repuiblicans bringing cell phones and pizza into a secure hearing was just the icing on the cake.
WHEN will these people be held to account for their violations of the law???
I'm starting to think there is NO equal justice under the law, that all our tributes to being a great country was really just a lie.
While I think that the man in the white house is being manipulated by Putin, I think a more insidious influence on him is right wing media. Aside from his moral failings, his lying and his self dealing, which are all his own doings, all of his talking points, the things he claims to be concerned about, even the Biden/Ukraine affair, are all taken from right wing radio/tv issues that they have been hammering for years. The people the orange man appeals to are those who have been listening to those same tropes for years.
Along comes a man (sic) who simply says "I Believe", and the believe him and see him as their savior.
There is no hope for those people, because they are unreachable.
I don't get it. Who's getting numb? Some people, sadly, are born numb. Some aspire to being numb, through party affiliation.
Some politicians are suggesting we all get numb and wait for the election. But the group most numb is our Senate.
I don't own a torch or a pitch fork. I have a voting lever and I'm informed by our free press. As the great philosopher Porky Pig said "That's all folks".
1
In a recent NBC/WSJ poll, respondents said that Trump was "honest and trustworthy". This scares me that 27 percent of our Country is so brainwashed; like a cult. How do we fix this damage?
1
I am traveling to Asia soon. Even the taxi drivers know about Trump. I am cringing already.
Trump’s authoritarianism, racism, patriarchy, and climate denial deserve a mention as Unacceptables. Kristof himself is lost in the “daily dribble” of Midtown media that doesn’t get that many of us see Trump, the Republican Party, Fox News, and Trump’s base as an existential threat to democracy, our way of life, any possibility of our children living in a just and decent world, and the future of civilization.
We can do better than this. Thats a political assumption. Some of us can do better than this. Some of us can't do better than us. Some of us don't want to. We need to convert the cant's and don't want to's into can-do better than this. Try my philosophy. Most people are basically good and human kindness is in abundance and you don’t have to look too far to find it. Democrats need to understand this.
My most fervent wish is this whole descent into madness could swiftly end. I would hope the push for impeachment could be rendered moot through the divine intervention of a serious stroke to our sitting president. It has happened before, although his wife Edith kept then President Wilson closeted. I cannot see Melania acting as a shadow president for her husband.
If not inexorable ageing, we must rely on the coming election to leave our president to sink into the swamp of lies he has laid before us.
Our president does not lead us. He feeds his needs from the heartwood of the nation as a leech feeds itself from the blood of its victim after secreting an anesthetic so we are less aware of the bite.
This is not normal. He is not normal but both he and this will end.
It's emotionally and psychologically impossible to maintain the daily outrage that Trump delivers. These are the times that try everyone's souls. As a citizen, aside from voting, the only thing I think that mitigates against the air of hatred that hangs heavy in this land is to "be kind" every minute of every day to whomever crosses my path. It's the only way I can cope. Watching so called Christians at his hate rallies spewing hate is more than I can stand.
Evangelicals and adult white males without a college education are a formidable force, and they consider anything that Trump opposes to be socialism (even if they don't know what that means). It seems the "deplorables" really are deplorable.
1
Donald Trump isn't "the Chosen One", despite his braggardry that he is, and he's no genius, either. He's the most unfit and unacceptable president ever elected. Trump is a drowning bigot in America's daily reality TV show and will be put paid to starting next week.
The Halls of Congress will resound for the coming months with the democratic impeachment of Donald J. Trump. His sway over his Republican enablers and base is crashing. VA and KY Democrats turned those red states blue on Tuesday. Honor, and dignity have done a vanishing act under our 45th President. Time to impeach, remove and replace Trump.
Those same American kids age 1 to 19 who are 57% more likely to die here in the U.S. than in other advanced nations are the same group that are being influenced by a lying commander and chief.
Those same kids, the sons and daughters of the republican politicians who are enabling a lying and corrupt president are by example teaching their children that lying is okay.
Evangelicals for Trump are doing the same.
The fallout in our society will be very hard to fix.
Many people have accused Trump of projection: basically accusing others of his own failings and crimes. Never has this been as clearly indicated as in this essay. Trump is a 6-year old calling out to his nanny to reprimand him.
Amoral and lascivious--and the second coming to hopelessly deluded evangelicals.
Corruption both domestic (emoluments, obstruction) and foreign (campaign finance violations and abuse of power)
Nanny isn't there who will rebuke and rein him in. No wonder he thinks he's the second coming.
We MUST be nanny and remove this abomination.
No, it sounds like people are abandoning this total nightmare to save themselves.
Get out! This ship is going down!
Don't forget his 3rd immigrant wife brought her parents to the U.S. to make them citizens in what lazy 45 describes as "chain migration".
And don't forget his mocking of the Gold Star Khan family and military heroes John McCain and Robert Mueller.
And of course his constant misogyny, especially toward intelligent, competent women. He cannot stand smart women and apparently neither can his deplorable supporters.
But he gave us a wall paid for by Mexico, and great infrastructure and great health care at a lower price and he's halving the deficit and winning the trade wars. That's what his deplorable supporters believe and yet none of it is true.
The NYT readers are very upset about the investigation into Trump's dealings with Ukraine. They are seeking impeachment.
Once you drift away from the NYT and its readers, I get the feeling the rest of the country doesn't much care. Biden is done and Warren is in. They want America to get back to work. They'll make up their mind about Trump on November 3, 2020.
11
Bravo, Mr. Kristof. Your quote from a senior European official is what we should ALL be saying because it has become so obvious to anyone with any common sense: "If your president isn't a Manchurian candidate, he's doing a pretty good imitation of one." There's only one person in this world who most appreciates everything Trump does -- because his country has set him up for it over the past 3 decades: Vladimir Putin. Russia started to watch and buy Trump back in the late 1980s. It's all there in open source web sites, if anyone cares to search or use other reputable journalists' publications, such as Luke Harding of the Guardian. Or our own David Corn of Mother Jones. Now here's the real reason to impeach him ASAP, if we could all only understand. Fox News? How about it?
Every day I have the sense that our great melting pot is becoming in fact, as mentioned in this article, a pot of water with all of us being heated up and numbed by outrageous media content. We seem to be quickly losing our sense any shared values that up to this point were hallmark to the world.
The views from abroad are feedback as to how our words and actions are felt by others - if we care to listen. Just today our european NATO partner has questioned the key tennent of NATO based on US behavior and unilateral actions.
Throw away all the relationship and goodwill made since the last WW?
We do need to wake up. And we need to stop calling each other names. We are not in kindergarten here. We need to respect a plurality of views and beliefs. That caring for others rights is what made America great in the first place!
And we need to drop divisiveness now (before it is too late) and all stand together as a nation - or we will all surely lose. Are we asleep already as to what there is to lose?
2
I’m a genealogist and long ago lost track of the number of my ancestors who fought in wars to create, protect and defend this nation, beginning with the Revolution and continuing to the present day. A number of them died in the process. When I look at what Trump and his cronies have done to this country that they all fought for, it breaks my heart. What would they think of us if they could see what we’ve allowed to happen?
73
I know my contribution doesn't matter.
I have great empathy towards this, but it will never matter.
I wish you all well. I've decided to go away. I just need the chance.
3
@Dave
Every serious contribution matters just as Mr. Kristoff taking the time to remind us that this daily assault is not normal.
We will recover. It only seems like we won't because people are just being quiet and hoping that the coming deluge we're about to experience will be enough to convince those friends, family and neighbors that DJT is not their friend.
You must stay focused like a beacon in the night for the moment when you can be seen through the fog.
Rest now and wait for story to unfold for everyone.
11
So while the left got used to watching blue collar middle class citizens being decimated by globalization the rest of us saw it for the travesty it was. And so we voted for Trump. And we will again. And he will get four more years.
Trump's basic campaign promises were: "I'll seal the borders; I'll deport the usurpers; I'll bring back tariffs'; Y'all will watch the good times roll."
He's done a pretty good job of fulfilling those promises. Black and Latino unemployment rates are at historic lows. The general unemployment rate is near the historic low. Many citizens that have served prison time are getting job offers.
America should put citizens first and then the rest of the world.
That statement' isn't racist or xenophobic although many patriophobes will see it that way.
Normalcy, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. And we have the beheld the devastation that globalization and open borders inflicted on our blue collar citizens. We don't accept their plight as an acceptable normal.
42
@AmarilloMike The blue-collar middle class got decimated starting with the Reagan war on the middle class and continuing till present day, with corporate welfare, privatization, pay that didn't keep up with inflation, and wealth inequality not seen since the Gilded Age. And globalization only works when employers make the decision to make more money by sending their factories overseas. And those immigrants are the ones guaranteeing corporate profit by working on the cheap for employers who want to increase their margin. Stop giving them jobs, and punish the employers who do.
And all that's just for starters.
295
@AmarilloMike
"America should put citizens first"
so then why is his Attorney General in Court trying to kick millions of Americans off of health insurance with no plan to replace it?
641
@Tom Buckley What happened to coal, which Trump promised to bring back big-time? Oh, yeah - it's failing and going bankrupt, and those jobs are gone forever, too - as most everyone knew would happen.
I don't think Trump's the best predictor of energy policy, but he is opening up national parks and historic sites for drilling as a favor to big oil and gas.
320
Thank you Mr. Kristoff for another of your excellent articles. I don’t know why we aren’t using the term Manchurian candidate more. Or why we aren’t shining more light on the Dear Leader’s traitorous relationship with Russia. His attacks on Ukraine serve two masters: himself and Putin. But your paper just shined a disturbingly unflattering light on white non college educated Americans who would vote for Trump still over any of the socialist Democrats seeking their party’s nomination. These are the
same people who would benefit most from these candidates programs. I wish I could be more charitable toward such woefully lacking Americans.
What Americans have gotten used to -- over almost the entire time of its existence -- is hubris. All the truly good things about our founding values, hard work and sacrifice are undermined by our smug assumption that we are the only indispensable, even infallible, country.
The ability to love anyone or anything whole-heartedly requires the willingness to see, identify and labor to correct their inevitable flaws. Patriotism has become synonymous with blindness to and refusal to admit errors, prejudices and injustices. The love that insists on worthiness and works to correct defects is now called hatred.
When the United States was new, it regarded itself as an experiment in a new form of self-government. The whole enterprise was creative and courageous and exhilarating. Isn't that admirable enough?
The labor movement, the women's movement, the civil rights movement, and today the climate movement rose up against the premature self-satisfaction of their milieu. They acknowledged both the wrong-doing of others and their own complicity, recognizing a responsibility to act as a patriotic duty. They risked their lives for the values they upheld.
Can you imagine Trump putting on a hard hat and going underground with coal miners? Or occupying a station in a chicken processing plant, alongside the poorest, least skilled American workers? No, he's too busy "protecting their jobs," so that the last dollar of profit can be extracted for their bosses.
1
Even if taken in by the sugar high of irresponsible tax cuts, low interest rates, low unemployment rates (somewhat caused by baby boomers retiring in serious numbers), there are a large number of voters that believe Trump's undelivered promises are changing things for the better and are willing to sell their souls for a few potential dollars in their pocket that will likely never materialize. The task it hand appears to be that just like in totalitarian countries in the last century that they are trading their values in for benefits that aren't going to materialize. Opponents (including Republicans) need to persuade them that there is no lasting reward and very soon they could be the other that he has abandoned and is the new target of rants. Bottom line, even if Trump delivered on his promises (which hasn't happened), voters need to ask themselves do you want to live in a society akin to Russia where for a few potential crumbs you allow the leader and his cronies to twist the law into an unrecognizable pretzel and just go about doing what reflects and does well for themselves
3
I too travel abroad frequently and have lived and worked in the UK. I am embarrassed when I speak of the US president, policies and current state of affairs to Europeans that I know. They often question me on just what exactly has happened to the beacon of hope they once viewed the US as; the country that rescued the world from tyranny and set the standard for behavior in terms of freedom, tolerance and justice. Now I only shrug my shoulders and answer with one word: trump.
4
The water in the beaker was heating up well before Trump. Republicans long ago embraced the war on objective reality as a political tactic. Remember the conspiracy theory about the death of Vincent Foster that launched a congressional probe? Remember how the Republican leadership played along? Even NY Times columnist Bill Safire got in on the act. Remember the repeated denials about the state of the war in Iraq? The denigration of climate scientists? The lies about healthcare reform? About who pays the estate tax? About immigrants?
For how long were we dismissing the Republican war on the truth as just so much "playing politics"? For how long did we remain complacent as conspiracy minded Republicans were rewarded at the polls, falsely confident that ultimately the truth will out?
By the time what few Republicans of integrity and conscience took a stand, they were already irrelevant. Nobody cared what they thought about Trump.
If in 2016 just two Republican senators of conscience had decided to become independents and caucus with the Democrats instead of siding with Trump's enablers, we would not be in the position we are in today.
3
This whole situation teaches me, an Atheist/Agnostic, that it's fool's play to turn to Christianity for moral values. Many of these "Christians", who Jesus would have difficulty giving the time of day to, have sold out the entire bible they claim to worship as the 'word of god' in order to gain a little power to press their incoherent belief system onto others: misery loves company, they say.
"But not all Christians are like that", you say? Well, then they, like me, have a duty to speak out, loudly, plainly, and not hidden behind some defenses that allows us to remain anonymous. There are dozens of quotes could be used here, along the lines of Rev. Martin Niemoller's famous poem.
4
I never would have believed that there would be a President who would insult and berate citizens-and entire cities-of this country. I remember after he was elected telling a friend "I don't know how he will be able to handle the job because he can not take criticism of any kind, and when you are President you can't just lash out at citizens, you JUST CAN"T." Apparently I was wrong, you can. When he says entire cities like Chicago and Baltimore are unlivable, I just stare in utter amazement. I can't help but think isn't that an indictment of his leadership? I mean, these are communities in the US, which he is the head of the National government, I thought he said "I alone can fix it." Why hasn't he fixed it, or even attempted to introduce something that would try to fix these communities instead of just complaining. Anyone can complain, only real leaders attempt to offer solutions.
The fact that we have a President who attacks the citizens of this country-who he works for-is truly the most shocking thing that has ever happened in my lifetime.
3
Frogs actually will try to leave a water container if it is being heated! (See the wiki page on "boiling frog".) Rather than using the age-old metaphor, it is actually a better story that these tiny creatures know better than we do to notice the gradual impairment of their environment and take action. As this administration and Senate (it's bigger than Trump) roll back protection of our health and well-being by allowing more assaults on our air, water and earth while ignoring the increasing threats from climate change, I can only hope we have the sense of frogs to get active and jump to a better place...meaning voting for governance and making cultural shifts that promote our sustainable existence on this earth!
3
"Let’s not let ourselves be numbed by the daily drip into accepting a level of Trumpian dysfunction that should always be unacceptable."
This is precisely what Democratic presidential candidates are doing when they insist that they need to talk about "big, bold" ideas on the campaign rail and steer clear of criticizing Trump. They're normalizing him when they assert that voters only want to hear about how their lives can be improved--through better health care, free college, reparations, etc. The 2020 election shouldn't be about policy exclusively. Voters' lives will be improved when this man is out of office. Democrats should say so.
3
I too think people are just numbed out to the vile and outrageous conduct of Trump and his cohorts who occupy the White House. Other columnists in the NY Times-M. Goldberg and D. Leonard (sp?) along with David K. Johnston have expressed disbelief that people are not hitting the streets and protesting all of this. Citizens in many other countries are doing so. Furthermore, I read a good article on the front page of today's Times about the travesty of the Flint water crisis, how it has impacted the cognitive and learning abilities of children and the complete inability of the education system there to deal with the learning difficulties of said children (funding significantly below what is needed). Also, people don't vote: In the county where I live which includes the Quad Cities only 14.75% of eligible voters voted in local city and school board elections! Another commenter said only 10% turned out in Flint, MI! People don't even bother to vote and maybe they justifiably feel the elected officials simply are not responsive to their concerns? Sorry, for the rant, but I feel better now.
2
Thanks, but your and similar commentary may not matter. I am completely flummoxed by his supporters. I cannot fathom why farmers, coal miners and Evangelicals support this man. Desperate? Delusional? Greedy? To paraphrase, have they no decency? Have they no understanding of how our country is governed and functions? Of ethics and morals? Sadly, I say no. Our Century of progress was the 20th, when remarkable technological, scientific and social advances made the USA a world leader and model, despite our flaws. I cannot help but wonder if we are witnessing the end of our initial experiment in Democracy, just as Chinese dynasties collapsed, just as the Romans and Greeks declined. I try to stay optimistic and vote in every election. Onward.
3
An enormously important point here: the malignancy that drips out from the Trump administration must never be normalized. We can take short retreats to refresh our souls, but must continue to battle this beast that threatens our democratic republic. Thank you, Mr. Kristof, for your continuous exhortation s.
9
I appreciate your thoughts and columns, as always, Mr. Kristof, but most of us know all of these things already, those who support Trump and those who do not. It is important to keep reminding us, but I would much rather see and work as part of a strategy to do “a Virginia” on a national scale and replace, eventually, the entire Congress. I am hopeful that here in Wisconsin, second only to the US Congress and presidency as a laughingstock around the world, we can do the same with our State Assembly. That will be hard, hard work but we must do it if we are to survive. I would love to see your thoughts about SPECIFIC strategies we can use to get us there—I know of none so far. Thank you, again, for your fine work.
6
Thank you Nicholas for your encouragement during a very dark time in America’s history. There will be light at the end of the Trump tunnel. Maybe some of his judicial appointments will bring common sense to their courtrooms. Hopefully the Trump debacle will be over sooner than later. November 2020?
2
This old man wonders whether it might take a lifetime to come to the realization that Mr Kristof's injunction is the only way finally to proceed in life: humans can and must identify and resist in all things unacceptable levels of dysfunction.
And to do so without letting one's resolve be chipped away at by the concomitant realization that the so far in recorded history the dysfunctionaries just keep on coming.
3
Cogent, and crystal clear. If only America at large would listen and learn, rather than relish in the now ensuing tribal warfare. How Christians, the poor, and the under educated came to embrace Trump is a reverse miracle that is hard to comprehend, except that he offered to a tribe to belong to (the wrong one for their interests it turns out). And they are clinging to it.
As a result, even while Democratic leaders are diligently using the proper rules of governance in carrying out the Impeachment Inquiry, the Republicans are playing dirty politics, working to undermine the rule of law. A monstrous level of malfeasance by our elected officials, from Trump, Mitch, and the entire Republican cadre. Will any one of them step up to their true responsibility? (Mitt Romney, are you listening?)
7
I am not numb, I am horrified by what Trump does every day. He should not be the president of anything and certainly not of this country. Beware of people who are in love with themselves.
7
When I used to travel overseas during the nineties, I was asked about Bill Clinton, " how did he get elected?"
Funny, I never got that question when I travelled during the Clinton years. Pretty unanimously I got positive opinions on Clinton and Obama- not so Reagan, Bush and Trump.
11
I sleep better knowing there are good people like you in the world. I sincerely hope we all can remember your advice.
6
Enough reporting on the problem. You are only preaching to the choir.
What I'd like to hear from the NYT - its reporters, investigators, anaylsts and OpEd writers and contributors - is a solution. How do we heal the country? What is our path forward out of this morass?
I don't think anyone here is willing to accept that this is the new normal or acceptable on any level.
When you have an answer, please get back to me.
7
Easy to ignore him ...have since he came down the escalator. Have never read a single tweet, not watched his ramblings ever. Am more numb over Republicans ignoring their oath of office and trump breaking our laws.
36
From the article, "And Trump tweeted a supporter’s praise likening him to “the second coming of God.” Actually the quote was closer to "God, a second coming"...use your imagination to set the context...
3
He also just called himself the greatest president ever. And the crowd behind him laughed it up.
Some of it he's doing to troll but there's a side that kind of believes it in this weird insecure way...
2
The Republican party has no clothes.
4
Trump will never stop lying and sooner or later
will betray everyone. His plan is to numb people into
submission and wear people out.
don't fall for it
4
I can't figure out if Trump is actually gifted at deception or that his racism is shared by millions of people. I hope it's the former.
44
@nzierler His racism is shared by many millions of Americans.
9
Hi,
Perhaps useful to mention, too, that the USA is the only country in the world where the term "school shooting" is in common usage, where teachers have been advised to carry or have quick access to firearms and where evacuation drills in schools and other places include, as a matter of course, responding to the danger of one or more active shooters. And Trump's abject and continuing subservience to the NRA.
As indeed vis-à-vis the naked number of guns in circulation, and the effect this has on health and safety. I'm thinking suicides and accidental deaths, mostly. Those who want to kill will find a way.
And of course the fact that the USA finds the funds, year after year, to spend more on "defense" than the next eight or so countries COMBINED (and these include the ones you are arming against, Russia, China, North Korea, ...). Pity you haven't actually WON a war since WW2, though.
Keep up the good work.
8
I desperately want to get back to a world where I don't feel a warm fuzzy for John Bolton for any reason. Let me simply hate the man. Is that too much to ask?
Reasonable and decent people might support Don Trump's general policies. But how anyone can support the man himself and his execution of those policies is simply beyond my comprehension.
9
Great column, Mr. Kristoff , as usual . The concerned citizens of our country , who hold dear our precious Constitution and our democracy need to be forever vigilant of our government ( not just the terrible administrations - like that of Grifter trump ,
but the decent ones, too ) to see that those that run our government hold true and fast to the wonderful ideals that helped
form our wonderful country from its origins .Call and write to your elected representatives on all levels, local, state and federal,
denounce corruption , demand accountability . . . and above all VOTE BLUE ( and sweep those corrupt republicans out to pasture ). If the GOP loses badly with trump , maybe they will begin to reconsider their loyalties .
3
Ironic that this commentary came today. I was just reading that the University of Alabama student government warned students not to protest during tRump's visit there this weekend for "the big game." They will be "ejected" and their season tickets revoked.
Four years ago, this would be a huge story. But on a day in which the paper also described the President asking the Attorney general to publicly lie about a crime he committed, suppression of free speech at a university seems penny ante.
The frog is boiling...
16
I cannot/will not/accept Trump as acceptable in any way. What he does having going for him is outrage fatigue. He churns chaos all day long every day. I usually watch or listen to news 3-4 hours per day. But there are some days when I just have to turn it off and go sit in my barn and look at my horses. They make sense. They instill peace. They make me glad I am on this planet. Trump gets away with so much simply because no normal person can summon the constant outrage necessary to deal with him. To do so would dehumanize the rests of us.
9
@Susan You'd be better off to spend no more than 3-4 minutes a day watching the news, if that, if you feel you must, and the rest of your day doing other things. Watching the United States get torn apart from within is deeply demoralizing.
Excellent column, but it would have been better if Mr. Kristof had been able to offer suggestions as to how we (the public and media) can work to minimize the "normalization" of Trump's bad and illegal behavior without increasing the current partisan divide in our politics. The Press could call out false statements made by politicians, including Trump, as willful lies and not merely "fake" or "alternate" facts, and correcting Trump, Trump spokespeople or Congressmen when they state falsehoods (i.e., lie). However, this tactic places the media member at risk of never being chosen to ask Trump a question again. Maybe public shaming of elected officials who repeat false claims or "mis-state" facts should be an acceptable response to bad behavior. However, given that much of the public get their news from sources that merely serve to reinforce their existing opinions, it is not clear how effective these measures would be; indeed, they may actually be counter-productive. While I am in favor of confronting bad behavior head-on, I believe that the only lasting solution is to actually teach civics starting early on in all schools. Many Americans either do not know or have forgotten how our gov't and society is structured and meant to function - knowledge that is necessary for Americans to make good electoral decisions. Along with this, Trump must be removed from office. Remember, a fish rots from the head, and Trump is the main cause of the current rot within the GOP.
3
Excellent. I’m proud that Democrats in the House have said to Trump: Enough! Presidents do not shake down foreign leaders. That is not normal and unacceptable. It violates the Constitution and in the case of Ukraine, cost the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. It is indecent and immoral.
6
A much needed caution. I hear more and more people saying they turn off the TV and don't read newspapers because they are sick and tired of Trump. These are the folks who are less likely to vote. We need to keep the "sick and tired" people engaged because they are the ones who can truly make a difference at the polls.
6
A crucial aspect of human behavior is our ability to adapt over time to difficult, even excruciating circumstances. But just as critical is our need to examine those circumstances and judge what keeps us human vs what degrades and demeans us over time.
In a twisted metaphorical microcosm, via media we've watched the Republicans adapt to Trump's engagement with the Ukraine and the quid pro quo as L Graham has shifted gears faster than a twenty-year-old in a new Corvette.
As Mr Kristof says, we simply CANNOT adjust to what this charade of a leader says, does, or expects us to believe is normal. He has tried to make us prisoners of his bizarro-world take on truth. He has cartooned-ized a political landscape in the country that millions of followers accept as humane and real, allowing others to suffer and struggle. His language has been manipulated so painfully that comedy can still be wrung from it, but the bitter truth of it will finally be outed as fascistic and sinister.
Even voting him out in 2020, if that becomes possible, will require something of a long-term exorcism by those now -- and then -- functioning way beyond the dysfunctional. Let's hope there are a few of those folks Trump, Barr, McConnell, Graham, and others haven't silenced by then.
5
The numbness stems from our powerlessness. How can you not feel numb, knowing that the rightful outcome of an election can be undone by the Electoral College? Or that even if and when Trump is gone, the hatred, xenophobia, racism and cruelty he has unleashed and encouraged in his followers will still be with us? You can protest, you can march, you can donate to good candidates, but this game is rigged. You can fight the power, but the alternative to shutting down is to feel great pain over what this country has become, and is likely to remain.
4
I am numb already.
The world always seemed crazy and chaotic to me, but boy the last 3 years have been next level insane.
End of Rome kind of vibe, lets burn the pantheon on our way out.
How can we not get discouraged when we see ZERO GOP congressmen voting to authorize and impeachment investigation ? Nothing to see here, moving on. Insanely destructive behavior. I guess it is only about power and money to them.
If it was all a game or a play, that would be fine. But we live in a world just made up of egos, we live in a world were children starve while we waste food, we live in a world were the zip code you are born in is a better predictor of success than anything else, we live in a world destroying its future through destruction of its environment.
So while I am getting numb, I am still quite mad just does not hurt as much.
5
Sorry, but this IS the new normal. Citizens United created our new normal. Politicians lying to further the interests of a corporation or an industry is the new normal. Trump is just a symptom. Corporate greed won. Money matters, people starving do not. As Buddha once said, “if we do not change direction we are liable to end up where we are headed”. With the amount of propaganda and gaslighting we are subjected to, changing direction seems rather hopeless.
2
It is absolutely shocking to read about the continuing aggravating abuses that Trump is putting on our country. All of this is happening and the GOP and Evangelicals still don't see anything wrong. Unbelievable. "the genius of our great president' is actually believed by some people.
How did the US get into this mess? It can't continue unless we choose to have a country that continues its downward slide into third world status. [I worked in a third world country for two years and the picture isn't pretty.]
4
Mr. Kristof:
Perhaps your best article yet, though I'd be hard pressed to make that distinction. You are entirely correct in what you say - it is shameful and horrifying even to think that we have grown "numb" to all the scandal that has come out of this present administration. Listening to old tapes of Senator Lindsey Graham saying that the Republican party would be "destroyed" if it nominated Donald Trump as its candidate for presidency, and now listening to Senator Graham defending President Trump no matter what he says or does or tweets is very sickening to me, as is this whole political nightmare. This is so entirely different than what went down in the Watergate Scandal during the Richard Nixon Administration, and I just cannot understand why anyone would believe that this current president is above the law. And that's just the tip of the iceberg - the moral corruption that has seeped out of this White House ever since President Trump claimed possession of the Oval Office in January of 2017, has been a continuous river of lies and deceit. How and why the evangelicals cannot see that is beyond my comprehension.
5
The biggest danger of Trump is his birthing of a new standard of "normal" for unethical, immoral and illegal behavior. The playbook is simple and straightforward: The alleged act is always denied, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and the accusers slandered, no matter their reputation, lack of motive to lie, or service to our nation. Never a mea culpa, never an apology.
This has nothing to do with the substance of what he has done or not done. This has to do with ethics, truth, decency, loyalty and honor. Donald Trump has shown none of those qualities as president. Frankly, looking at his personal history, that should surprise no one.
2
Complacency? I am more taken back by the large percentage of Americans who still think he's the best president we've every had and believe that 'liberals' are making all this news up to delegitimatize this president. How can our nation come back together someday when so citizens actually embrace and enable this deviant behavior? I am a loss about all this.
4
I'm numb to criticism of Trump at this point. It's been non-stop from the day he was elected.
All the moral preening has been especially difficult to take. The same people raging about an Access Hollywood tape voted for Hillary Clinton, who was complicit in her husband's sexual assaults by going after his victims to destroy their reputations.
They are now celebrating CIA heads who openly lied to Congress during questioning about Russian interference, and have turned Adam Schiff who openly lied to Americans about Russian collusion into a god.
Let's not pretend one side of this epic partisan battle occupies the moral high ground. It doesn't.
1
And let's not forget Trump fakes empathy after mass shootings and lies about his desire for gun control.
4
It would appear, Mr Kristol, that your livelihood also depends on readers being numb to your conflating issues and ignoring facts to support your assertions. For instance, your assertion about the higher infant and child mortality rates being a function of the nation’s healthcare system. By merely following the link in the article, one can discover that this ignores the fact that the reported numbers reflect factual differences in how infant mortality rates are calculated and reported as well as the significantly higher teen mortality rates attributable to gun violence and vehicular deaths. All are certainly problems in their own right which need to be addressed but ignoring facts to support your assertions sounds suspiciously like precisely what you are failing about.
How you could put Trump and Jim Simons in the same column baffles me. Yes, Simons is rich, but so are many others who actually share Trump's disgusting character. Why couldn't you have picked one of them? Simons makes his money from using his brain, he is a theoretical mathematician, he has signed "the pledge," he's a strong Democrat, he has suffered several personal tragedies, he gives millions to higher education, autism research, and other causes. He is not a callous, immoral, criminal "genius" like our president. He is a decent man who has done well and does good. They shouldn't share ink space.
3
You can describe what Trump is subjecting us to as akin to a frog in a beaker, creeping incrementalism, being numbed by familiarity, lulled into complacency, or sliding down a slippery national slope. It doesn't matter.
What does matter is that Americans are being subject to never-before-gaslighting by an emotionally aberrational president, accompanied by a chorus appointees, core supporters and Republicans who have no regard for the truth.
It's gone way beyond being stunning, through. It's downright dangerous, as it tears at the fabric of our society in ways that may never be eliminated from our national system. It is like a virus that saps our strength and, while its symptoms may recede here or there for a while or two, we are unlikely to ever be rid of it.
These are trying times. We should, decidedly, not adapt to Trump's outrageous behavior. Nor is it about policy, per se, though that, too, is important. It is about things we were supposed to learn in grammar school, things which Trump apparently didn't learn or simply doesn't care about.
It is about juvenile schoolyard taunts, blaming your kid brother for eating all of the freshly baked cookies, repeatedly punching your little sister when no one is looking, and denying that you stole money, again and again, from Dad's wallet. It is about tarnishing the Golden Rule.
And it's on us to do something about it. That's what elections are for. The decision is ours. It's time to decide what you want a president to be.
2
What’s unacceptable is the whistle blower’s attorney saying this is the first step in a coup. And he said that in January 2017. What’s unacceptable is Zaid fishing for people to sue the Trump hotel. This guy gives ambulance chasers a bad name.
And yet his base continues to idolize him at the unknown expense to themselves and the horrific consequences to countless millions
at home and abroad. Complacency is complicity and to the Trump Party that is the price for admission, while withdrawal comes with viciously scurrilous attacks. 'Never Trumpers' versus
fanatical non-believers stoked by the real 'fake news' prevaricators who have poisoned the truth to become lies. This corrupt administration, from the very top down, has sold our country out to its most formidable sworn enemies at the lowest cost. Channeling the outrage to courage to end this shame is required if our democracy is to survive.
3
Good point, Nick.
The Dem candidates are equally "numbing" and dumbing down.
In fact, save Biden, there's no one else worth a ballot.
1
‘Normal’ has become a two syllable delusion.
Human brains are truly, truly remarkable, but they never evolved to process , let alone handle, the constant barrage of chaos slamming in upon us beyond the speed of light.
To borrow a meme from our current youth, OK Tech ... Time to program that algorithm for reigning in this madness!
1
Trump’s behavior is not normal, and Republicans have enabled it for almost three years. The question we voters should ask when we vote in 2020 is what kind of country we want for ourselves and our children and grandchildren. Do we want a country where a broken healthcare system is normal? Do we want a country where our president promotes white supremacist tropes as normal and denigrates people of color? Do we want a country where it’s normal for self-dealing government officials to take money from taxpayers and foreign governments? Do we want a country where it’s normal for the rights of some citizens to be repressed or taken away entirely because they’re minorities? Do we want a country where it’s normal for foreign policy to be determined by the world’s dictators? Now imagine a reelected Donald Trump who will have no constraints on his behavior because the voters have given him the right to ignore the Constitution and do absolutely anything he wants! That scenario is frightening beyond belief.
4
Nicholas Kristof, I admire your heartfelt comments and writing about people's lives all over the world. Clearly and constantly, nothing, he who will not be named, believes or does is normal. I want to make a request that you choose a different picture to top your articles. Showing literally the face of he who is not normal made me choose not to post the article on my social media. So I am putting out a request that when you and other laudatory reporters write the truths that I believe and want to share that the photo accompanying the articles doesn't have his face nor that of any of those other dangerous people who work with him.
2
Call a spade a spade, Trump’s corruption could not exist without an fully functional criminal infrastructure. The Republican Party has been corrupt for decades, and had become more radical and more destructive and corrosive under Obama. Trump did not have to take over the Republican Party. It was already made for Trump. You can easily see the deep connection of the Republican Party to Russia and you can see the nearly complete involvement of top Republicans in the Ukraine scandal. The degeneracy, rot, and corruption of the Republican Party is the single greatest threat we face as a nation. Are troubles have only begun.
2
Thank you for writing this outstanding column Mr. Kristoff. I would love it if every voter in the United States read it. It would surely open their eyes as to what is going on with this corrupt and dishonest President.
2
Donald Trump is not the President of the United States. He is the leader of a cult. His divisive rhetoric is tearing the nation apart, and it is intentional. His goal is to keep his followers in a frenzy to ensure they will all turn out in 2020.
He had overwhelming support from farmers, but will those his trade policies bankrupted still support him? Probably. He promise the return of coal. How has that worked out? He had a health care plan that was better and cheaper than Obamacare. Millions fewer people are insured now, but perhaps he will unveil his plan 2021.
Trump cares nothing about the country or even his voters. He cares only about Donald Trump, and the fame and money he can gain from his con.
3
In answer to Nicholas Kristof's warning in this Opinion: some of us are so concerned about the country's direction that it's a great relief to be engaged in something or someone else, that is other than D. Trump. We cannot stand the noise of Trump, and we're not numb. We better understand the Germans as the Nazi surge overcame their country. We are reminded of white supremacy and political corruption on a daily basis. We are sick about the failure of public school education, frightened by the hatred and nauseated by the lies and the chaos. We write letters to legislators and to newspapers; we donate to environmental causes; we work for candidates; we moan with friends and family; keep up with the news and either plan to do more in our community, or protest against gun violence or shrivel up alone on the couch. We know that lots of people aren't paying attention or too busy or too comfortable with the way things are. That's a problem. Americans are not organized, too divided and always on the verge of giving up.
2
Lately, CNN has been interviewing Trump supporters which is very educational. The other day I saw a panel of six women who by their answers appeared to have been born into a state of brain numbness and showed no signs of recovering soon, if ever. One panelist when asked if she would vote for Trump if he shot and killed a person on 5th Avenue responded without hesitation "it would depend what the person had done".
That is what we are up against.
In the old days (as Trump would say) people like that would be sat in a corner on a stool with a dunce cap. As a matter of fact all those wearing a MAGA hats should be given a dunce cap as a substitute when they enter his rallies.
3
Based on conversations with local Trump supporters, that train left the station a long time ago. No act of Trump no matter how vile, how unchristian or breaking the law would sway them from their support of Trump. Any report of Trump breaking the law or his behavior is automatically classified as a witch hunt, political or fake news.
2
Elizabeth Warren is the answer. She is everything Trump isn't.
2
Thank-you for this. America has lost its moral compass. Don’t let the GOP fool you. They are all for a Kleptocratic government, and all for leaving the masses behind.
USA is definitely on a downward spiral compared to other countries, and we are not accustomed to this. So the grifters and corrupt are coming to the surface while the principled are buried by the money spent to betray, the lawyers paid to undermine the rule of law.
2
Before reading Kristof’s important catalog of Trump sins and self-contradictions, I was feeling dread that so much talk of impeachment would become undermined by the length of the process, which tells Trump voters that it’s not such a big deal—especially because the isolationist base really doesn’t tune in to foreign relations.
Leaders in the impeachment process must TEACH voters why Trump’s self-serving extortion of a foreign administration for personal political gain is not just a “strong man” showing shrewdness that sycophants admire. “He’s a mover,” the Trumpist feels. “What a manipulator! The guy knows his business. What’s it to me?”
The anti-Washington, anti-intellectual Trumpist likely buys into the Republican Senate line that bad form in foreign policy is no high crime.
The rhetoric of fidelity to our Constitution is just that to Trumpists who want to change the channel against all the complexity of law and noble norms of leadership that is "elitist."
Trump’s misogyny is shared by the typical MAGA man. “What’s the problem, baby?” His crudeness is what good ol’ boys do.
Good political leadership has a major educational challenge ahead, for putting Swamp Man permanently on some putting green.
2
I am not inured to Trump's debased personality and behavior but exhausted by it. Evangelicals must have drunk his Kool-aid to support such an immoral person. Melania I had heard was here on a "genius visa." He has pulled this country down the rabbit hole so that all we the held true and sacred has been sullied. Senators, congresspersons, and state governors cannot be so unintelligent as to see what he is yet have attached themselves to him like barnacles. I hope that once he is out of office everyone can look back on this era as a lesson never to be repeated.
1
When will the Republicans in the Congress along with the Evangelicals admit to their shameful support of the shameful behavior of Trump? Not only politically but in his private life as well. Is selling their souls to get a few conservative judges appointed to the courts worth it? I sure don't think so but I am none of the above. WAKE UP! The you are helping to tear the fabric of the society.When will the Republicans in the Congress along with the Evangelicals admit to their shameful support of the shameful behavior of Trump? Not only politically but in his private life as well. Is selling their souls to get a few conservative judges appointed to the courts worth it? I sure don't think so but I am none of the above. WAKE UP! The you are helping to tear the fabric of the society.
1
Mr. Kristof,
I feel not numb but stunned by fear of what is happening. I have two small children and I worry the political, social, and moral breakdown you mention will become even worse. Sometimes I wonder if trump behaves this way because he is just incompetent, corrupt, and not terribly bright. But other times I wonder if he knows exactly what he's doing, purposely working with an enemy nation to destroy our country. And I would like to know what, if anything, is being done about this. I have faith in our intelligence community, but trump is still there, dismantling our country piece by piece.
1
Trump is rotten to his for as this article documents, but he was embraced by a bimodal base of supporters for simple reasons. The high end, the oligarchs and wannabes, will do anything to avoid paying a reasonable share of taxes, and the combination of Moscow Mitch and Trump and GOP lackeys passed their dream tax bill. The not high end are the people who feel left out or passed up or looked down on and were willing to try anything to change their status. This group goes to trumps rallies and jumps for joy at all the promises, none of which the con man president has delivered, for example, no manufacturing jobs, no infrastructure, no health care, no education, no big wins against nuclear wannabes, no leadership of the free world, etc. And now these people are unwilling to loose face by admitting, even to themselves, that they were conned.
2
It's not that what trump does is acceptable... it's that this country has finally been exposed as evil and a fraud. It is the land of cowards and corrupt grifters. I see no reason to try and save it from itself. I might even be convinced that trumps election (and re-election) is exactly the punishment this country needs. I won't vote for him myself, but this political chaos is well and truly deserved.
So far, sadly, it hasn't had any tangible impact on real life. Until that happens, there will be no hope of escaping the political chaos. It's what his supporters wanted. Yours and my so-called fellow citizens have become something else... maybe not yet an enemy, but certainly not worthy of any consideration.
Please don't make Jim Simons a bogeyman- even just as an example. He heads a major philanthropic organization that does much to make the world a better place.
1
"Don't Let Trump Make You Numb to What's Unacceptable."
I'm staying out of this Nicholas because your headline is what I was saying years ago, you know, when the media fell in love with him.
When he won I thought he was going to say things like; "I'd like to thank my friend Joe Scarborough and his friends at MSNBC. They love me. The same to my friends at CNN. They, along with MSNBC, gladly gave me that 7PM to 8PM time slot everyday to be on live TV to say whatever I wanted to say as I campaigned."
As my grandfather used to say; "You play with fire; you'll get burnt."
There is one area where the president can't be accused of dishonesty, and that is showing us who he is. The media just pretended they didn't see it.
He showed us who he was then and today he still is that person.
As a result, I gave up blaming him since 2016 when I saw how much CNN and MSNBC fell in love with his abnormal normalcy.
2
You cannot equate Democrats with Republicans. It is like night and day. They are radically different. Period. Anyone who supports Trump, the liar and the underminer of democracy, the bad king who does what he likes and bad mouths anything remotely reasonable, is. beyond reach and needs to go if we are to hold on to democracy. Already we have slipped so far down into the mud of the despots that we may not recover. The passive public is lulled by lies and disinformation into thinking that craziness and obstruction, incarcerating children, denying law and constitution, and all the rest is normal. It is so far from normal that normal is vanishing. This is already a war and that fact must be faced. A passive public is allowing us to slip into the void. Passiveity is enabling a tyrant to rule and dismantle government of and for the people.
1
This column is Required reading for all in trumps base.
If they’d be willing to take the blinders off
1
Trump’s lies, cruelty and other abuses of power wouldn’t even begin to fit into an op ed, and they grow as we speak.
Trump knows that we can’t focus on an infinite number of outrages and yarns, so the sheer volume of his dishonesty gives him something of a pass.
But we must not become inured; accepting falsehoods for reality and irresponsibility for leadership would be far greater losses longterm than any election.
Make truth great again!
1
Me. Kristof we are going to need a democratic candidate as shameless and outspoken as trump is. Someone that can counterpunch and counterpunch hard. I don’t see anyone yet and hope that I do. He has hurt this country in ways that may take decades to overcome.Praying that we win in 2020
Nicholas Kristof should not be under the impression that people who found Donald Trump unacceptable in November of 2016 have “adapted” and changed their minds about him. Just the opposite. A significant number of people fooled by Trump in 2016 have come to see him for the unpatriotic grifter he has always been.
When I view the lowlights from the latest vapid Trump campaign rally, I see the pure distillation of symptom and problem: The man at the podium spewing garbage (such as his recent declaration that the Governor of Virginia executed a baby) is the symptom. The supporters cheering wildly in the background are the problem.
To be fair a lot of what we ignore under Trump is an acceleration of what we were already trained to ignore. Clinton started building walls. Islamophobia didn’t decrease as Obama bombed eight majority Muslim countries. Clinton was also accused of sexual assault and defended by prominent feminist Gloria Steinem. Reagan too had been accused of rape. Then you have the press and Obama rehabilitating Reagan, a man who lied constantly, one of the largest lies being the Iran contra scandal, which was then pardoned by one of the very people involved, under George HW Bush. Reagan even ran on the campaign slogan. “Let’s Make America Great Again.” America’s ability to normalize bad behavior of politicians is nothing new.
Nick, I want to thank you for providing much needed perspective and reminding people that this is not normal. Trump's conduct is so outrageously abnormal that even intelligent, well informed Americans have begun to accept it and learn to live with it. We are entertained by Stephen Colbert and his ilk pointing it out to us every night, but it cheapens the horrifying effect this conduct is having on American values and civility and most importantly on the very concept of truth. We should be outraged, not entertained.
"Don’t Let Trump Make You Numb to What’s Unacceptable"
There's only one thing in all of politics which is truly "unacceptable" - Trump.
And it's not just what he says. It's every little bit of his being, his entire existence, his fake hair and his fake tan and his fake bank accounts and his fake everything. All of that is not acceptable. There is not one scintilla of Trump that is acceptable. He is totally, fully un-American, un-democratic, un-intelligent, un-every single good value. He is the epitome of "Un". He is the overwhelming embodiment of unacceptable.
But, Nick, we are not numb to that. We know full well how unacceptable Trump is, in his every aspect of existence. People support him only because he echos their own empty souls. His "base", the unshakable, unplacable, unaware, unthinking base, support the image they see in him, that which they wish to be. It is unimaginable that half the country is willing to discard their American existence, just to watch a real-life version of the Apprentice President play out, rending their lives and families into meaningless nothingness. They are the Trump Zombies, the dead walking among us, the worshippers of all that is foul and evil and decrepit and unworthy.
Perhaps I misspoke about his base. I called them "Americans". Are they, really? They who reject every intrinsic American value? Is this what our beloved country has devolved into?
Do we really know America?
1
"Don't Let Trump Make You Numb to What's Unacceptable."
I'm staying out of this Nicholas because your headline is what I was saying years ago, you know, when the media fell in love with him.
When he won I thought he was going to say things like; "I'd like to thank my friend Joe Scarborough and his friends at MSNBC. They love me. The same to my friends at CNN. They, along with MSNBC, gladly gave me that 7PM to 8PM time slot everyday to be on live TV to say whatever I wanted to say as I campaigned."
As my grandfather used to say; "You play with fire; you'll get burnt."
There is one area where the president can't be accused of dishonesty, and that is showing us who he is. The media just pretended they didn't see it.
He showed us who he was then and today he still is that person.
As a result, I gave up blaming him when I saw how much CNN and MSNBC fell in love with his abnormal normalcy.
I'm terrified that there will be a revolution when Trump loses and calls rigged.
Thanks for reminding us about the difference between reality and a “reality show”.
I’m not sure Trump has ever played “golf” - which is a game involving very strict rules.
When Obama and predecessors shaded the facts a bit on their score cards, they admitted it.
Trump never even posts a score!
Guess "little Nicky" forgot what was "unacceptable" leading up to Trump:
* An illegal surveillance state
* Multiple illegal wars conducted in theaters where Congress has not declared war
* An exploding national debt abetted by
- Out of control Defense spending
- Out of control spending on a corrupt welfare state
* Decreased liberty wrt personal convictions
* A border that might as well be a sieve.
Before we start thinking of Trump as an anomaly, let's realize that just because you don't like the tone, it doesn't make him worse than his 2 predecessors.
One thing that would help, would be to get rid of FoxNews. Ever since Murdoch started Fox in the last 90's the red/blue divide has only increased to the point where it's now nearly the size of the Grand Canyon. We need to reinstate libel laws and hold all forms of media accountable when they feed the American public lies and propaganda. Are you listening Mr. ZuckerBORG?
Mr. Kristof - The flip side is more distressing: rather than becoming inured to xenophobia, misogyny, and imperiousness, there are people who actively embrace it.
90
"America is not, as President Trump once called it, a “hellhole.” It is a nation of enormous strengths and resources, but we need to muster them now."
But in fact, it is a "hellhole" for the "100,000 children who on any given night are homeless." among our other social ills. One of the reasons for this is not so much our lack of caring as much as it is our love of things.
The American economy is sustained by consumer spending to the tune of 68% of its GDP, the highest among industrial nations. In comparison, the EU spends 56% of its GDP on buying stuff, Japan 56%, Sweden 43% and China 43%.
When so much of our economy and our interests are devoted to buying things, it leaves less for paying for the things that help people. The best example of this is healthcare where we are the only industrialized country that does not provide healthcare for every one of its people.
Every nation makes choices when it comes to the welfare of its people, we just make more bad choices than others, not because we are bad but because we love our things too much.
I could run. Only for you.
I'm destined for destruction.
I hope things work out. It is doubtful.
This column says it all. Thank you, Mr. Kristof!!!
Thank you Mr.Kristof. We need a Jack Webb second coming, ‘Just the facts’.
20
Mr. Kristoff,
You are correct, and thank you for reminding us to keep our perspective.
In the face of Trump Administration assaults, we are working every day to fight climate change by talking with people in our local communities and building political will. We are unswayed by the unwanted and untrue positions that the Administration takes. We utilize new information about climate to continue to implore Congress to take substantial legislative action on climate.
There are 15 bills on carbon pricing in the House. The new Senate Climate Solutions Caucus is growing. More and more representatives are endorsing climate bills. The public is overwhelmingly in favor of action.
The Republicans cannot stop this movement, but we are not overconfident. We will work hard, we will never give up, and we will always try to build strength and consensus through a non-partisan lens of welcoming and acceptance of others values and concerns. This message is powerful and we are winning. But time is not on our side now.
Nonetheless, what choice do we have?
Trump and the fossil fuel industry cannot stop us, only slow us down.
Thank you.
I pledge to be resolute in resisting the drip. Complacency will only continue the cycle. Time for titanium spines folks!
As a longtime English teacher, now retired, I taught my students that words matter, and to use their words for the good of mankind. Thanks for the constant reminders to do what is right, Mr. Kristof. Keep fighting the good fight!!
2
The constant refrain I hear from republicans, including highly educated ones, is "Everyone does the same thing in politics." This has now been extended to highly questionable behavior in business, "It's what you have to do to succeed."
Both of these statements are blatant canards.
We have a society and an economy that depends on predictable behavior that conforms to laws and regulations, and to norms of acceptable conduct. Laws exist to prevent predatory behavior by individuals and groups on others in or society. Norms of acceptable behavior exist to help govern daily behavior, particularly when laws do not apply to specific cases.
Finally, norms of acceptable behavior in public and private areas of our society and economy help people work together in a way that enables the many to achieve what no individual can achieve working alone.
When norms of acceptable behavior break down, it becomes impossible for citizens, and even small groups of them, to work toward the greater good, and even rally to support a clear and present danger.
Today, that clear and present danger is relentless efforts led by a handful of amoral politicians and wealthy individuals to subvert the rule of law and our system of governance in the United States. This includes cooperate with and helping our global competitors and enemies, particularly Russia.
We need to call things by their right names, and look back and emulate what great people in the past have done, and what works.
3
I fear that the bulk of the Republican voters in this country have already succumbed to treating much of this as normal, and the only thing that will shake them back to a sensible way of viewing corruption is if a Democrat holds office.
2
Mr. Kristof nicely frames the situation, but no one should be complacent and assume Trump will lose in 2020. There's been a lot of discussion about swing states PA., MI., and WI. Based on polling trends, you can add VA., FL., TX., GA., NV. and AZ to the mix.
IMO, the key to Dems re-taking the White House is through the center, not the far left. I would be happy to vote for Elizabeth Warren, but thanks to the Electoral College I'm afraid that gives Trump another four years.
3
Trump has done more damage to this country, our environment, our laws, our fundamental truths and decency, our international relationships, our civil discourse and our race relations.
He has hidden his hate behind the presidency too long. And the basic integrity and moral leadership of the office has been fundamentally corrupted.
Exposing the truth to the light might not convince his followers. But it will show a country the "true north" of our land and it's Constitution.
4
Thank you for this sad and sobering list about how far America has fallen. I believe the rest of the world ( except Russia, Saudia Arabia) is also saddened and bewildered. As a child and a grandchild of veterans of both World Wars, I hope we remember what those men and women fought and died to defend. It Was Not to have a criminal in the Oval Office.
7
Thanks for itemizing the numerous ways DJT has brought us down. It is truly astonishing that the president still commands an enormous following. But the fact that Trump is so obviously evil should not exonerate a long history of horrendous policies that even to this day are not thoroughly acknowledged: the war in Vietnam, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the coups staged in Central America, the refusal to admit the catastrophic results of pandering to the fossil fuel industry, the refusal to confront the gun and weapons industry, the refusal to admit the role of the healthcare industry in painting M4A as taking away private insurance, the list is too long to name here. yes, DJT may be the pinnacle of evil, but there is a long history that precedes his administration.
3
I am not numb to what is unacceptable. But his unacceptability should have been obvious to every person the moment that they heard Trump speak. What has happened to me is that I've become cynical about worth the American people and the government that the founders established. That makes me sad.
7
"Normal" is not a term that can be applied to probably 90% of what Donald Trump does, and says. Normal is a variable term.
We can only judge DJT by his own behavior, as he changes his
behavior every day.
He is not a normal person when compared with anyone else.
Most of the rest of the world has an accepted and respected standard of behavior. Donald Trump does not have that inner core
of respect for anyone. He does not act like he has respect for anyone else.
On a given day, we might say "typical Trump" or, translated, "That's normal for Trump" behavior. For the rest of us, he is disturbingly abnormal who cannot be judged by universally accepted norms of behavior. He is the "other" on the chart and a very dangerous "other".
4
Could the Founders have predicted this? Assume ten million people in the colonies. If a crazy rich guy (the equivalent of today's Bezos or Gates) paid several million to vote for him, would we now have a king? The self-interest of 1/3 of the country makes impeachment/conviction close to impossible. I hope I'm wrong.
5
VOLUNTEER IN SWING STATES. REGISTER, AND THEN DELIVER VOTERS TO THE POLLS.
12
Well said Mr. Kristof. Every morning I wake and wonder what new scandal, what new lie will come forth. I am so sorrowful for my country and hope I live long enough to see honesty and dignity returned to the office of president.
20
@mouseone wrote: "I am so sorrowful for my country and hope I live long enough to see honesty and dignity returned to the office of president."
It will take more than longevity to see the end of this.
Join the battle.
12
my dear danny boy, some of us are old enough that the only battle we can fight is just living. Do consider who might be the subject of your comments in future. And we join in spirit with those with years ahead to make a productive and wholesome environment for those we will leave behind.
@mouseone I'm 71.
How old is too old to just give up?
1
Thanks to the power of gerrymandering, I am represented by GOP congressman Steve Stivers. Congressman Stivers preaches civility in public discourse and even came to my daughter's high school to speak on this topic. I write my congressman nearly every week, and he basically sends me a form letter back and takes no action, ever. He recently joined the "process is a shame" brigade on the most recent impeachment vote. My GOP Senator, Rob Portman is even more passive. I don't accept the President's behavior as normal at all, but I have to admit it feels like other than waiting until the 2020 election that there really isn't anything ordinary people can do about it.
7
@Mark
Rob Portman has been cautious when he utters a negative public word about Trump.
He called Trump’s detaining and separating of families at the border “ contrary to our values”.
Regarding Trump’s behavior with Ukraine, Portman said in a news conference that “ It’s not appropriate for a president to engage a foreign government in an investigation of a political opponent.”
Portman did support investigation of Trump by a bipartisan group such as the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Portman is one of the Republicans who just MIGHT in the end vote for impeachment, IF he can privately establish that there will be enough Republican Senators making such a vote.
It is absolutely critical for those of us residing in Ohio to be phoning Portman’s office and writing letters about various fo Trump’s behaviors. We must be calling on Portman to do the ethical thing, and not appease the most corrupt President in our history.
Voters in other states need to do the same thing with their Republican Senators.
6
If Trump is the Manchurian Candidate, congressional Republicans are the Stepford Wives. Trump’s behavior at almost any given moment should send chills up the spine of every American. Why isn’t that the case? It’s quite simply because day in and day out there is not the slightest hint of outrage from the GOP. (Unless we’re talking about impeachment hearings.) Yes, it’s the very same GOP that has mastered the art of quietly subverting democracy from within - no foreign assistance required - by gerrymandering, suppressing votes, blocking judicial appointments, and doing the bidding of an even more sinister domestic oligarchy. So, Nick, while I agree that we should refuse to adapt to the insanity that is Trump, we also need to extirpate a much more dangerous political malignancy: the GOP.
21
Mr. Kristof: I would find your arguments more convincing if you didn't repeat the Dems' own false talking points, for example, that Obama's only scandal was 'wearing a tan suit.' The Obama Administration's IRS targeted conservative groups, Obama jailed journalists, and had other scandals such as Fast and Furious (for which the A.G. was held in contempt for not turning over documents). Of course, none of these scandals were really covered at the time by a press that adored Obama. So you will forgive me if I don't get as upset by Trump's problems.
2
@R.P. You really think that fast and furious was anything but a blip? Trump is on board to seriously harm the environment, triple the federal deficit, reward the wealthy with tax cuts, harm our allies, make the justice department a political arm of the GOP, and tax the middle class with crazy tariffs? Hard to find anything to like unless you are rabid about the abortion issue.....not worth it!
2
@R.P.
Yes, the irony of the media's current victimization. Trump may tweet but he doesn't jail journalists.
1
@R.P.- I am going to challenge you to dig deep over the 8 years of an Obama Presidency and try to come up with more things Obama did that would be classified as a crime or a lie.
You are kidding, right? I am curious as to what journalists he jailed?
In some ways, there just isn't any comparison to the two men except they are both elected President. That is where ANY similarity ends.
How you don't show any outrage at the crimes being done to our planet every day is beyond me. Just one of many outrages.
Please don't vote.
1
I think back to 2017, when Trump first enacted his Muslim ban and huge crowds were protesting at airports and in front of the courthouse here in New York. My social media bubble was filled with angry responses. Outrage was still fresh at the time. Would anyone even notice today, if he tried to ban another group?
Consider how just this week the U.S. started withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord - a move that could have repercussions for all of humanity - and it seemed to barely register on TV news.
I sadly do think everyone has become numb, but it's important for people who have a platform like Mr. Kristof to keep reminding us that none of this is normal.
25
I have been attending rallies, emailing and calling not just my representatives, but those in other states for the past 3 years. There are probably millions of people, who are outraged and actively resisting by joining organizations, taking actions and donating money to groups such as Moms Demand Action,Swing Left, ACLU, RAICES, Fair Fight. We can’t have too people, who are not just not numb but are also doing something more than despairing to help save our democracy.
10
I’ve been suspecting the president is a manchurian candidate since before he was elected and did so based on clues that were in plain sight. Now those public clues have increased and in aggregate, on foreign policy, this president works for Russia, not the USA. That Russia and the president’s personal interests may be aligned is incidental.
Paul Manafort is on record as working for Russia in Ukraine to get Russian assets elected to government office. Manafort is on record as working for free as trump’s campaign chairman. Manafort is now serving time in a federal prison for fraud and money laundering and pleaded guilty to a federal court for being an unregistered agent for the government of Ukraine under the Russian-backed, former President Yanukovych while working for trump.
If you don’t see that this president is working for Russia in foreign policy, then you aren’t fit to supervise teenagers who can be far more covert in their machinations against rules and authority.
Mr. Kristof is preaching to the choir. I’m boiling with daily outrage since trump began running for President and am no frog. Trump’s base are frogs who like boiling water and have aligned with a leader who has more in common with Satan than God. Therefore, none are advocates for Christianity nor patriotism, as they claim.
22
@Color Me Purple wrote: "If you don’t see that this president is working for Russia in foreign policy..."
Correction: Trump et al are associated with the Russian Mob parts of the Russian Government. Everyone's looking at the Russian State, not the Russian Crime Organization within.
2
@dannyboy Thank you for making that distinction regarding Russia. A similar distinction needs to be made regarding the US government and the Trump administration/surrogates within our government/country.
@Color Me Purple Yes, this network of corruption spreads WITHIN each government.
These people take their plunder and weaken their respective countries.
They must be identified and routed out.
2
I will never become accustomed to Mr. Trump. Each morning I wake to realize that we still live in the nightmare that is the Trump era. Every day there is another outrageous onslaught on the laws and customs of our country, from civil rights to foreign policy.
The latest was Mr. Trump bragging that he has “stuffed” the courts with his own very conservative justices. A similar move was made in a certain European country in the 1930s. The results were not good.
35
I've always opposed mixing religion and politics. I'm a firm believer in separation of church and state. However, the religious-right, the Evangelicals have become nothing more than a political party, or more correctly, part of the Republican Party. I wonder if it isn't time for the more moderate and liberal religious groups to affirm our need for honesty, transparency and respect for others. Morality is in dire need of a strong leader.
23
@RF
Religious adherents have rights. And they vote in large numbers and quite reliably. As is their right and duty.
It is definitely time for the Left to come to terms with the fact that religious adherents not only have a right to representation in the government but also to protection of their rights by it.
Yes, morality is cheapened when it's used by one side to justify its denial of others' rights.
3
@AACNY, Yes ALL who are eligible to vote can vote, even vote for their own interests. But, a vote that reduces and eliminates the rights of others is both un-Patriotic and certainly NOT religious. RF'S point is that the liberal and moderate vote by religious and non-religious citizens must now fully participate to stand up against those "Christains" that are "religious" in name only and in reality simply an offshoot of the GOP, as they cherry pick through the bible the views they accept, while embracing clearly unreligious, evil, and dangerous "men" like Trump, Pence, Pompeo, Devos, etc.
12
@AACNY I didn't imply that the religious right should not have the right to say and do what they want. My point is that they are the only voices heard, and their support of the most amoral president ever suggests that they approve of his behavior. It's time for other religious voices to be heard also.
2
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof, for an artilcle I have just tacked permanently on my computer desktop, along with a virtual post it note that this is indeed not normal. So what else can I do? I live in California and mine was one of the nearly 3 million popular votes that Trump lost.
With a chance that the popular vote number may be even higher in 2020, yet again Trump may again win the election, what can I do short of move to Wisconsin or Michigan, Pennsylvania or Florida?
8
"Let’s not let ourselves be numbed by the daily drip into accepting a level of Trumpian dysfunction that should always be unacceptable."
And just how would you suggest that "we the people" do this when tens of millions of people are likely to vote for continuing this unending nightmare and decay of acceptable norms and the Republican Party in many cases amplifies and exacerbates the worst of America?
When we can get past heavily gerrymandered districts or restrictions on citizens voting and actually vote some of these politicians out of office, we still have millions of citizens remaining who carry (and in many cases joyfully embrace) the sentiments you warn us to guard against.
7
I truly think progressives don’t get it. Trump came into power because of them. Utopia does not exist. I have been around for a long time, comparitively speaking. This country is and always has been in a cultural war. Pushing unpopular causes may sound good and it may be loud and self serving for the base. But it does not work because the result is not static. Human nature does not allow for people to think they are Equal to other people. The other people do not think they are equal. How many groups, other people, do you dislike/hate? I think my list is growing.
1
@Robert Black -- "I truly think progressives don’t get it. Trump came into power because of them. Utopia does not exist."
No, centrists don't get it. Trump came into power because of them. Their candidate ran and failed.
There is no nice Republican Lite to triangulate between the two parties, a magical place of "Democrats" winning.
There is just Republican Lite selling out Democrats, and some Democrats finally standing up to them.
4
Is it numbness or acceptance of a reality.
Acceptance doesn't mean we approve or like what is going on.
Acceptance is a way to view the reality of the situation. It is dangerous to keep banging one's head against the wall. The wall is not going to move.
The country is evenly split.
The Democrats do not have a candidate that can beat trump in the Electoral College.
The Supreme Court and other courts are also loaded with trump supporters.
There is gerrymandering, voter restriction, media that sensationalizes the news to sell papers.
Because it is unacceptable does not mean it is going to change anyone's mind soon. Especially the 80% of Republicans that think trump is great.
I live in Illinois. This state will vote for whomever is the Democratic candidate.
My sister lives in Alabama. That state will overwhelmingly vote for trump.
6
From the time he mocked a disabled reporter I have been...shocked, stunned, and saddened by people will to accept such demeaning behavior from someone who is supposed to be our leader. For me that was the watershed moment and the beginning of my despair for my country.
29
We are living the best example of that numbness. Trump, the cabinet and most of the GOP leadership are saying that the Trump-Salensky call is OK which is the same call he is being impeached for. Exactly the same information, admitted as true by everyone, including the president is "perfect" and impeachable.
I hope the Supreme Court has not been infected by this numbness virus. The good thing is that with this week's elections results, there is hope. Enough people are not numb in Virginia and Kentucky.
8
The Trump story reveals more about the state of our politics than it does about one person. There is an underlying assumption or hope that once Trump leaves office, politics will revert to a more rational manner, and common decencies will return to high office. But it is just as likely that the post-Trump political world will feature similar contentiousness, underhanded practices, and policies that favor the well-to-do while further disadvantaging those without means.
6
Many believe that the best way for Trump to be exposed for what he is, would be to have his taxes released. In order to do this, concerned citizens would have to stage a legal and peaceful protest near the Supreme Court building. Ultimately, these judges will decide his fate. If America does become numb to the bullying, namecalling, foreign policy debacles and political manipulation, we will have to suffer another four years. So Mr. Kristof keep up the good work.
20
“... in America, we risk becoming numbed to a political, social and moral breakdown.”
A valid and viable system of governance does not produce a breakdown. Is it possible the system must occasionally produce exceptions to provide evidence as to the condition of the system itself? If so, the anomalies are necessary for areas of improvement to be seen.
The breakdowns occur when appropriate actions are not taken after the observations. It seems to me, Democrats, you are being handed the other end of a double-ended dirt stick. Let’s see what you do with it. Hopefully, the focus is on better results than “We won! (Load the trucks)”.
7
Trump supporters do not care about the important issues Mr. Kristof discusses.
The rich Trump supporters want their tax cuts and slashing of social programs and the gutting of environmental and financial regulations.
The working class element of Trump's base want their lost good paying jobs restored.
HRC told these displaced workers expletive and made fun of them and called them deplorables.
Their attitudes may be deplorable but they vote and their votes in PA, WISC, MICH, OH elected Trump and they will
re elect Trump unless the Dems support programs to address their concerns.
Yes Trump's program [a wall and demonizing immigrants] is snake oil but he offers [false] hope.
HRC offered none and she lost and if the Dems in 2020 do not support realistic programs to address these concerns the Dems will lose again.
9
I’m not surprised you don’t know of Clinton’s proposal for job training for displaced workers, particularly in the coal industry. The media were focused on Hillary’s emails and Trump’s put downs. Clinton did not do a good job getting her message out, but she got no help.
HC said half of Trump supporters are deplorable. That’s just over 20 percent of the country. Was she wrong?
@david Hillary lost because the GOP successfully protrayed her as a criminal guilty of all the things that Trump actually does.....
3
HRC's proposal for job retraining of displaced workers would be for jobs that paid much much less than the wage of the lost job.
HRC suggested laid off coal miners become call center operators at a fraction of their coal miner wage.
Whether some fraction of Trump supporters have deplorable opinions is irrelevant.
THEY VOTE and their votes elected Trump.
Calling potential voters derogatory names
will not get their votes.
HRC talked down to rural America and lost their vote.
It was pretty easy to understand why Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a wire to help gather evidence in order to invoke the 25th amendment. General Mattis said it was like dealing with a five-year old. And so on and so forth, the man's godawfulness has been on full display ever since he came down that escalator. The strange thing is that he still has got any support at all.
28
I understand your fear, Mr. Kristof, but most people I know are nowhere near "getting used to it. In fact, many of us are more appalled and dumbfounded every day at the level of corruption and dysfunction on the right side of the aisle. No rational, thinking person who cares about this country and his/ her fellow man/woman could get used to this.
38
@Rich Indeed, the daily outrages do not permit moral rational people to get used to the evil perpetrated by the cult of trump
i wonder if h wakes up every morning thinking "What new evil deeds can i come up with today?"
1
I think I can serve in the congress. I don't think I can convince people of that.
I randomly ran into an old video of a Trump interview on Letterman earlier today. Letterman asked Trump about his experience with organized crime. Trump claimed that he avoided them and maybe once they tried to do business with him. After giving this, ummm, answer, he volunteered that they are "very nice people", which sounds a lot like the now-infamous "very fine people".
This is not normal. And if it is normal we are doomed so we might as well pretend it is not.
15
Agreed. If all of this had happened in the first week, none of us would be standing.
2
Mr Kristof, your columns resonate with their humble flashlight on morality and a call to our best selves. Particularly how we can take action to support the good. But this Trump era is demoralizing and exhausting. So many words and pundits and so little for Americans quite stretched or immigrants inhumanely treated.
So I wonder, what are the most targeted ways readers can keep Trump from 4 more years in addition to a 2020 vote? My sense is he is very likely to win again.
4
Good points. The history of evolution is full of bad actors. But somehow human civilization has also become more tolerant, diverse and intelligent in many ways. The problem is, if we take it for granted, there has also been an evolutionary history of extinctions.
4
The prevalence of guns is another reason that American kids ages 1 through 19 are 57 percent more likely to die than those in other advanced nations.
9
Trump has sadly won, even if he loses.
5
agree 100% that Trump is a Manchurian president beholden to Putin for nefarious reasons. He telegraphed that loud and clear on live TV in 2016 with, “Russia, if you are listening”?
If we could only follow the money through his tax returns or Deutsche Bank it would reveal how America has been compromised by his treasonous and corrupt dealings. Wouldn’t Trump’s extensive history of business failures require exposure of one more epic fail to brand his days in the Oval Office?
14
Actually, frogs don't sit in water till it boils unless you remove their brains first. (Yes, studies were done.)
8
Most rational Americans wake up every morning unable to grasp how insidiously America has changed under their very nose. No , most of us will never get used to this, but I have neighbors who support him for incomprehensible reasons. Yes, America has changed, for a thousand reason that fooled us all until it happened. I think Michael Moore has a better understanding of this than the NYT columnists who are still shocked by their own failure to predict and understand why America has become an antithesis of an ideal it has always purported to represent to the world.
8
Why is the NYT always blaming Trump? Every (democratic) country gets the government it deserves. Let that sink in for a while ......... Do stop attacking Trump, but attack his voters. And not by suggesting they are not rational. But labeling them with the same words that continuously are used by the NYT to label Trump. Egocentered, Immoral etc etc. everything opposite of the labels Europeans used for the American people in the Second World War. Kristof refers to how the world is looking at the US. I think that view has shifted considerably during the last 2 years. Trump is seen as an incoherent idiot that to some degree is liked for the daily drama he delivers. And he is a little bit feared because of his nuclear power. But Trump doesn’t cause the same concern anymore as the American public. There is hardly any effect of Trumps immoral and erratic behavior on about half of the US voters. That is the real thing that is determining now the appreciation of the US abroad. We are scared of the US voters not so much of Trump. The US population is closely following the German population’s behavior in the Interbellum. I personally am happy the French have nuclear weapons on submarines. The NATO is doomed to break up during Trumps unavoidable second term. And North Korea has taught us how to deal with a US gliding towards fascism.
1
Duffy's are smart. Most of them are incredibly good at what they do. It's hard to understand the one that was a Tea Party person.
Really difficult for most of us.
Grit was a determining characteristic of long term success for West Point cadets. This is according to a recent report. Desensitization to the steady drumbeat of 7x24 trump is a case study of holding your nose.
This too shall pass.
Grit? Wonder how that translates into an objective selection of candidates qualified for West Point. Though an Academy graduate who was #1 in his class, it may explain Pompeo’s lack of success. He’s a high cognitive, fat, liar who has no grit.
I continue to have nightmares about innocent children stolen from parents and placed in cages. They will never recover from the trauma.
8
@Tricia, yes, it's an atrocity. Who puts three and four and five year old children in cages? It's hard even to grasp the horror. Like something the wicked witch would do to little kids in a folk tale. But this is real, and in cavernous empty Walmarts, with armed United States soldiers walking the aisles between the cages. Can you see the children, Trump supporters? What if there is a God?
1
Thank you. It is quite disheartening to see ANYONE stand by and support this president. It is a sad statement about our country and our government. Let us get rid of this craziness. It can’t happen fast enough.
21
The dire quality of life for American families is a constant reminder that Trump is the creation and result of looting by Wall Street geniuses that caused the 2008 Great Recession. Further, the Recession’s global impact continues as illustrated by the public demonstrations from Chile to Johannesburg to Baghdad. Fat chance that people are going to numb themselves into acceptance.
5
I agree 100% with Mr. Kristof and the commentators who support his point of view. But preaching to the fellow converted, which makes us feel good, won't change a thing.
What will lead to an end of the current evil regime in Washington is a combination of money and effort supporting Democratic candidates -- presidential level on down.
So to the comment writers and other readers, I say if you care at all about saving our nation from Trump and his band of thieves and liars, you must do something, you must make some amount of personal sacrifice. Cut back on some personal expenses and instead write checks to one or more candidates (mainly Democratic presidential and Democratic challengers to the five or six most vulnerable GOP senate incumbents up for reelection next year) and volunteer for your local or nearby Democratic candidates. If you don't, you are as much of the problem as the Trump supporters.
3
For some people Trump is unacceptable. For others it is universal health care. We will see in 2020 what the verdict is.
2
Some time ago I had the privilege of being a VA hositial volunteer, driving veterans to and from their appointments. It was a great and humbling experience. One of my passengers' "Richard", was a young man who had a terribly burnt disfigured face resulting from an IED explosion. Despite his constant pain and people staring at him, he was upbeat, humorous - flirting with our volunteer receptionist; who flirted right back - and the strongest man I have ever met. I keep him in mind when I watch, hear and experience the insane antics and lies of our so-called Commander in Chief. If anything, I see how narcissistically hallow and soulless Mr. Trump is and appreciate how blessed I am not to be consumed with hatred or even disdain for him. Rather, I pity him for being so far less than the real people who deserve the honor of my respect. Like Richard - a true American hero.
8
Dear Mr. Kristof:
Consult history. For as long as I can remember, James Buchanan has been the bottom of the barrel. His administration was plagued by corruption. Those he appointed were frequently guilty of self-dealing. He was lazy and indifferent to all the scandal around him. He defended slavery and, what most historians consider his worst offense is that he failed to address the issues that were tearing the country apart.
Buchanan's one Supreme Court appointment was barely approved and was a pro-slavery Northerner who sat on the Court for 23 years. The most notable of court decisions during his presidency was the Dred Scott case, which ruled that slavery was legal. Buchanan did not speak out against the decision.
I would warn you, Mr. Kristof, not to let all the uproar about Trump blind you to the fact that he is not one of a kind. History saw is like in James Buchanan. The belief that Trump poses a singular threat to America simply is not true. And we could learn from history if only we knew it.
5
@michjas , you might consider the actual power differential between a president before 1850 and one in 2019. It's stunning the damage Trump can do, to humans and our environment, far beyond Buchanan at his worst. And Trump has the advantage of "ruling" now.
2
They will hit is with so much we cant deal with it.
We're a simple family in Wisconsin. A dairy farm.
I won't let it be corrupted by new ideas.
Oh how awful, should I run for office? I don't want it, but maybe I could do something in this role...
1
Right. Now, how to break through to the 43 plus or minus % on Earth 2? Anybody?
3
I wholeheartedly agree with your premise, but I think the list of appalling behavior can be expressed much more succinctly and powerfully:
Betray critical allies, such as the Kurds, decimating our ability to fight terrorism
Declare that he is above the law and cannot be investigated.
Obstruct justice by ordering people to defy congressional subpoenas
Preside over the hollowing out of our state department
Deny, fail to prevent, and mockingly encourage US election interference by foreign adversaries
Enlist a foreign government to sow doubts about our country’s intelligence services
Intimidate whistleblowers to prevent them from reporting perceived illegal activity
Attack the free press and uses language such as “enemy of the people” used by dictators
Let hundreds of dangerous “high value” ISIS prisoners go free
Demand cabinet members swear loyalty to him, rather than the Constitution
Use the presidency to steer official US and foreign business to his family-owned companies
Try to delegitimize and circumvent our key institutions (FBI, CIA, NSC)
Disparage decorated war veterans
Mock and ridicule people with disabilities
Accuse anyone who opposes him of treason
Systematically lie, and then call the truth “fake news”
Approve of publicity stunts where people breach a secure area of Congress (which many already had legal access to anyway)
Systematically insult and humiliate cabinet members who leave his administration
Ignore top security advisers in favor of TV pundits
11
I love your column Nicholas. also loved you and your wifes' book half the sky. watched many specials with you and you are a great writer.
3
Thought Experiment: Imagine a president with the behaviors, actions and characteristics Kristof describes in his column. Now think of what noble attributes this hypothetical leader must possess to counteract the turpitude on daily display.
If that leader is Trump, I've got nothing, absolutely nothing, to offer as ballast. And that saddens and sickens me in equal measure.
3
This was, of course, a noted problem since even prior to the 2016 election itself. And sadly, all too many people have done exactly this (become numb to what is unacceptable).
4
Speaking of the hedge fund guy who made over a billion dollars last year, our President promised repeatedly during the 2016 campaign to eliminate the “carried interest” loophole that benefits hedge fund managers? Has he ever mentioned it since becoming President? If so, I’ve missed it.
10
I am not numb, but I like my bank account and 401K since he came in. Easy to overlook some of the grey areas.
2
Don’t be confused about the origin of those things. They happened in spite of Trump, not because of him.
23
@Dan
Seriously? Do you think this really matters to people finally getting jobs and experiencing record average wage gains?
Most people aren't wearing partisan blinders. They are happy to be working again!
1
@Duffy , wow. If this is the selfish blindness of many, we're all in trouble--including you, our mercenary fellow citizen--your eyes so fixed on your actually precarious 401-K that you can't see the danger.
1
Growing up as Brit, I learned the cliché about the supposed national characteristic of the stiff upper lip - "an attitude of determined endurance or restraint in the face of adversity".
What I now see in the US is a very limp upper lip, which I would never have expected of Americans after 5 decades here; surely most of us by far should be very angry about the daily violation of our national values. It's exactly as Mr. Kristof says - we are like the frog in the beaker. Our values and norms are so routinely abused that we get used to it, and numbed by fatigue.
But while trump & Co. publicly churn out their abuses, there's also lasting damage in the background that we learn very little about. Oh, there may be paragraph or two in the media, but then no more.
How much media space was devoted to this or that unqualified sycophant being nominated to the federal bench; to Betsy DeVos being found in contempt for illegally collecting repayments on forgiven loans from students ripped off by fraudulent private colleges (thank you Rachel Maddow); to the EPA's habitual sellouts to polluting corporations; to sabotaging efforts to moderate climate change; to destroying the institutional memory of govt. departments by packing them with political hacks; or, to - you name it....?
At best, the damage of a few short years will need much longer to reverse; the frog, if it survives, will have to be very gently returned to room temperature.
23:05 EST, 11/06
46
Repairing our Culture is as simple as removing the instigator from power. We have been one way too long to let an interloper ruin our traditions for long.
2
@NOTATE REDMOND
On the contrary. For example, if you destroy the culture of the State Department by driving out professionals who know the geopolitics, histories and cultures of the other regions of the world, and put in political hacks, do you really believe you can restore the institutional memory overnight? Same for the EPA; once expertise is thrown away, it can't be restored the instant a sane presidential appointee is installed, no matter how good.
13:20 EST, 11/07
1
It took Americans a long time to react to dirty air and water but in the 1970s Americans finally did react with the first Earth Day and several important environmental laws were passed. So we might accept deterioration for awhile but at some point we stop adapting and try to do something about it. The danger of Trump is that he and the Republicans are attempting to rig the electoral system so there will be no peaceful way left to react. Obtaining foreign help to win elections appears to part of this. There is also gerrymandering, voter ID laws, laws to prevent ex-felons from voting, inappropriate purging of voter rolls, disinformation campaigns on social media, supporting a right wing media echo chamber, undermining trust in the free press and in academia, and whatever else they think of rig the system permanently in their favor. We cannot afford to get used to Trump because he is rolling out authoritarian government very gradually and it must be made clear before it is too late that this is unacceptable.
25
Thank you for this article, Mr. Kristoff. But please be advised that I myself am not becoming numb to the moral breakdown that donald trump is inflicting on our country. I and many other American citizens see his administration as the great moral failure of the era. We are no more numb to him than a patient is to a highly malignant tumor. It is impossible to be "numb" to someone this pernicious.
17
I think most people know that Trumps words and deeds are NOT normal - not remotely. It’s just that we’re exhausted. It’s difficult to maintain a constant state of outrage and upset. And for SO long, Trump wasn’t experiencing any consequences for his criminal actions. That’s depressing and disheartening. It seemed like he was going to get away with all.
Now that the impeachment process is in motion, I find myself perking up some. I’m hopeful that our system of government is working like it’s supposed to and the bad guys may NOT win. If Trump and some of his cohorts are booted out, that would begin to feel like normalcy was being restored.
This has been such an awful chapter in our history. Will we ever be able to make America great again?
39
Trump has been acting awfully close to what is commonly referred to as treason.
48
@Herr Fischer
In my opinion, he already has.
Divulging secret intelligence in the presence of foreign nationals should constitute treason. (No excuse that he regarded them as his best friends!)
2
@Herr Fischer "giving aid and comfort to our enemies' includes his many services to Putin
2
I keep trying to wrap my head around the Republicans thinking is OK for Trump to have his Personal Lawyer conduct his and probably Trumps personal business.
Not to mention all the Biden and now ever increasing bonkers idea that Ukraine has the server and interfered in the 2016 Election.
That alone should remove him from Office.
The add the Treats and virtual Blackmail I don't get how Conservatives are not more upset than Democrats.
17
",,,we should never get accustomed to all this." But Republicans are, and they control the Senate where, sometime next year, the president will stand trial for various offenses against the Constitution, decency, the rule of law...and he will be set free to continue to do the same things that brought on his impeachment (indictment) and trial. And, in many places in America, the citizens will either yawn or cheer. We do have the unique capability of adapting; we are merely selective.
If our adapting means that we can further marginalize the female; the non-white; the poor; the student; the immigrant; the sexually-abused; then our talent for chimerical behavior doesn't mean very much.
I take issue, Mr. Kristof, with your slur on President Obama's "passivity" regarding Russian interference in 2016. Please recall that the president notified the leaders of both parties and asked to make a statement to the American people letting them know what was occurring. "Moscow Mitch" McConnell refused, labeling the request "partisan politics." Having ruined several parts of the 44th president's tenure, McConnell had the nerve to trot out "partisan politics". Where was his adaptability?
Donald Trump has cruelly, deliberately, and with great glee and malice, defaced America. Much of America is appalled, but too many citizens are indifferent or downright pleased with the mutilation of the red, white and blue. Perhaps the president's emphasis is on the white. That would account for much of it.
56
Obama was passive in that last year. Holding up a SCOTUS nomination and ignoring russian interference in the election were egregious acts by McConnell and the GOP senate. Obama needed to take both cases to the American people, doing an end run against what can only be described as enemies. Obama was popular enough; both issues were important enough--aggressive action could have produced better results. These were hills Obama should have been willing to die on. Why didn't he speak to us?
4
The "Tan Suit" episode portended our current reality: the source of that "scandal" was a TV news outlet that spent decades grooming its viewers to see them as arbiters of truth. It began with a fictitious "war on Christmas," and has given its followers a daily dose of outrage since then. Once they had folks believing that a tan suit represented scandal, it wasn't all that difficult to convince them that a liar is the sole arbiter of truth.
39
As all of us learned, who were grievously wronged by the DNC depriving us of a fair primary, righteous anger is a hazard of being aware of the truth of this country now.
6
re "the wall": as far as we can tell, Trump has not built a single foot length of new wall. All the's have done is oversee the fixing and fortifying of already existing pieces of fences and wall.
5
@Herr Fischer
Only Trump critics would find the fortification of existing inadequate wall sections a failure to keep his promise about securing our border.
On immigration, Trump is on firm ground. Obama caged immigrants too, but unlike Obama, Trump has been working hard to end the steady flow of immigrants into our country. We have reached the point where we now allow access on "demand" via asylum requests.
Trump is the first president to tackle the immigration problem, which, by the way, tops the issues' list for millions of Americans.
1
Mr. Kristoff,
Only you could have written this piece. Thank you for all that you do and for being one of those lights we look for.
19
"If your president isn’t a Manchurian candidate,” one senior European official said, “he’s doing a pretty good imitation of one.”"
Thanks for this, Nicholas Kristof. it's not comforting to hear this from a European, instead of our own elected leaders. the Republicans keep lowering their standards to Trump's, and the Democrats timidly say, "isn't it curious that everything Trump does benefits Russia?"
Curious? Let's call it like the European you quoted. Even this latest scandal, Ukraine, manages to help the long-term goals of Vladimir Putin.
Clearly the Republicans have frog genes, but I and most of my fellow poster do not. We will never get used to the corruption, authoritarianism, vindictiveness, cheating, and lust for power exhibited by this cruel, amoral man.
Would that more Trump supporters come round to seeing his behavior for what it is instead of something for admiration.
70
@ChristineMcM
The only time his supporters “come around to seeing his behavior for what it is” is when they get burnt.
Just look at the amount to names he tossed under the bus.
I think his supporters need to listen to the song by Kenny Rogers. “You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em; know when to walk away; know when to run.” Not to mention; “You got to count your money.” After all, those legal fees do add up. :)
3
"But we should never get accustomed to all this."
But countless millions of humans got "accustomed to all this" or something like it in centuries past. Asians and Africans under the pseudoscientific nonsense of European rule, Soviet citizens under the Orwellian nightmare of Stalin and the Chinese under Mao, Zairians under Mobutu and Indonesians under Suharto.
On and on it goes. A recent op-ed contributor here (Dr. Malka Older, 10/24/19) wrote a column entitled "The United States Has Never Truly Been a Democracy." If that's the case, really no reason to believe that Americans will prove themselves exceptional.
3
The cabinet is bigger than it was in Grant's or Harding's day. More offices to be occupied by crooks, so beating their numbers isn't a fair comparison.
4
Okay, speaking of unacceptable, when was the last time you wrote about our support for the Saudi war in Yemen? By now that war has probably killed over 200,000 people, the majority of them children dead from malnutrition.
This war started with Obama’s support in 2015. Trump, of course, stayed the course. Most liberals said nothing. I think you and a few others condemned it in late 2018, after Khashoggi’s murder, but interest flagged very very quickly. I don’t think you can blame this on Trump— thIs is a deeper dysfunction.
Trump is a terrible human being in almost every way, but his support for the war in Yemen is one of the worst things he has done and it gets comparatively little condemnation in large part because it began under Obama. It took a couple of years of Trump before Democrats in Congress became united in opposition to it. Most Americans only seem to care about our foreign policy crimes if they can be blamed solely on one party. We need to care about issues first and parties second. As it happens, Democrats are generally better than Republicans anyway, but the issues should come first.
8
If Trump gets a second term, what we had before his ascension to the WH could well be in the distance beyond redemption. Trump represents an anything goes mentality. Many people welcome a laissez faire undisciplined approach. Rudeness and uncouth become standards of our national discourse.
6
The timing of this advice is a bit late.
Not allowing us to become numb to what's unacceptable is a lesson from more than 2 years ago. The USA has already begun turning away from trump; we've long since become sick to death of his daily outrages.
Yes, there'll be some lingering impacts of trump's lies and immorality, but once he's gone, attention will rapidly turn away.
A semblance of relative decency will return to the USA, and much more so to the White House.
4
......what is doubly troubling about the time we live in is the seeable, such as the corruption and disregard for citizens that Trump relishes and engages in, and the future, which has begun, which will be dominated by climate change and violence between nations.
This is a tough time to be a citizen who believes in process, who knows that the rule of law is beholden to no one, that doing good is doing the right thing.
Instead, we have a president who mocks the disabled, who is brutal to women, and who is corrupt in a myriad different ways.
To his supporters, I suppose he is 'the man' because he doesn't care what people think of him, that he isn't so smart that he ponders over what is right - he is only instinctive and reflexive.
I believe that many of his supporters are apocalypse christians, who's daily prayer is to be at the knee of Jesus - this world means nothing to them because this isn't where they will spend eternity.
Barring such an apocalypse, climate change, which Trump doesn't have the intelligence to understand, will force nation/states across the globe to choose how to administer governance to their citizens.
It must be the other way - citizens must choose, now, how they want to be governed in a world that is heating up, where mass extinctions are ramping up, and where scarcity of water and food are a reality.
Our election in 2020 is child's play in the context of our species surviving our own filth, and our disregard for the health of our planet Earth.
15
Thank you Nicholas, for this clearly-articulated list of Trump's contradictions, lies, and incivilities and the hypocrisy of those who support him. I feel overwhelmed by the daily chaos foisted upon us by this vulgar, narcissistic man; every day the news is "all about Trump." As a person of faith, I'm deeply disturbed and frustrated with the hypocrisy of his evangelical supporters. The foundational biblical principles upholding the dignity of life and goodness of creation alone are contradicted by the behaviors outline in your column. The hypocrisy by those in the Republican party, who used to tout "family values" but now defend a man who rips families apart is similarly frustrating and upsetting. But nothing changes. We had Mueller. Now we have the Impeachment inquiry. I'm losing confidence that anything will move Republicans to get spine and be honest about Trump and do the right thing by supporting impeachment. You are absolutely right: we must double-down in response to every incivility spouted by Trump to remind ourselves and the world, "we're better than this" and that such behavior is unacceptable.
Again, thanks. I needed this column.
5
The " Manchurian Candidate" was a Hollywood movie.
The" Russian Asset "will be a documentary.
I realize we can't control the Press, but I only wish all media,TV & Print" would agree to not refrain from any articles, or tweets regarding Trump for just a week.Your article tells us everything we need to know.
Those of us who realize the blight he is, don't need retreads of his words.. However, every article about him only provides his blind followers rants of "fake News."
At next time he points towards reporters , with a disparaging remark. Turn around and walk ot.
4
Evangelical equanimity toward Trump's outrages has the chill of End Times about it.
7
How do we ever restore any dignity or integrity in our country and worldwide...this horror show is full of utter destruction. It is so overwhelming to comprehend the colossal damage done to what has taken years to repair from Nixon...We need to continue to fight him and his sycophants daily to get him out next year, if we survive that long
5
You want to know what was unacceptable? The DNC anointing Clinton before the Primaries, and then leaving us with Trump.
8
Watch while they do it again. The Democrats would rather lose to the right than win with the left
1
Well said, as usual. Trump's daily lies, and insults to people's intelligence and dignity, have been so tenacious, even expected as the "new normal", that too many folks applaud his impertinence for the entertainmet it provides, especially for those stressed out by the uncertainties of daily survival...and in need of an escape from reality. But the price is steep indeed, as Trump is fully responsible for the electorate having lost a most valuable asset, 'trust' in our democratic institutions. This disgace shall outlast this con man, I am afraid, for many years to come. That Trump has always lived, mafia-style, at the fringes of society, but as president it has become toxic, even poisonous, to those still hoping for guidance. Trump's incompetence, by force, invites corruption!
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Trump’s current wife was admitted into the US on a visitor’s visa, and almost immediately started working illegally. She lied at entry regarding the purpose of her trip to the US.
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@Ruth Cohen -- That is unfair.
Those who do gig work, like models, commonly travel on visitor visas. They don't have an employer to apply for a work visa.
Lawyers do the same thing, as they travel to meet clients, interview witnesses, and even do formal court proceedings like depositions. That goes both ways, it is how I and others traveled from the US too.
The work visa this implies she should have gotten is simply unavailable for those classes of gig work without regular employers here.
This misstates how visas are done.
I doubt our author Nick applies for work visas to the places he goes to report on or from.
Trump is just a symptom of America's dysfunction.
We are already numb to what is unacceptable.
We already accept,:
endless wars,
expensive and exclusionary health care,
Presidents elected by a minority,
caging asylum seekers and their children,
mass shootings,
inadequate action on climate change,
bailing out banks and billionaires,
massive income inequality.
These are all the 'new normals' that America has accepted and they existed before Trump and will exist after.
Don't just blame Trump. The New York Times and 'centrist' Democrats are working at a fever pitch to insure these 'new normals' aren't threatened by a progressive candidate.
America was already well on its way to becoming a third world country before Trump.
Trumps just makes America's dysfunction visible to the rest of the world.
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And to think how Republicans lied that President Obama was trying to turn the United States into a different country, yet they don’t blink an eye while Trump actually makes America unrecognizable.
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"Our species has the ability to adapt." I'll say! Look at the sheer number of people who abandoned even the semblance of propriety and jumped onboard the Trump gravy train...
4
How could so many people believe, support and embrace this man?
I notice that when Trump says he did not do something, it turns out that he actually did the very thing.
No collusion — means lots of collusion.
No obstruction — means lots of obstruction.
No quid pro quo — means, extensive, prolonged, carefully planned quid pro quo — with other countries, using nearly a half billion dollars of US taxpayers’ dollars approved by Congress.
The only thing that would shock me now would be contrition and apology:
“Dear America, I am so sorry. I have abused my power. I don’t deserve to be your President. Impeach me, please. Please forgive me.”
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The danger lies not in getting used to Trump. He’s too consistently repugnant for that. He too often and too regularly displays his vices—his total lack of knowledge, intelligence, grace, charm, good humor, kindness—for any of us to forget. He takes malicious pleasure in outraging our sense of common decency, mistaking his indifference to our disapproval for independence of spirit.
No, the danger of Trump lies in perpetual indignation, a permanent souring of our spirit, especially toward our public life. The GOP has since Reagan been trying to break Americans faith in its government. Trump is the GOP’s tool for sealing that lack of faith with a visceral disgust with politics—for inculcating a permanent, irremediable, and inveterate malaise that will lead us to cede the public space to Republican control.
8
Right now is a good time to read Truth and Politics by Hannah Arendt.
4
Trump does not believe in the U.S. Constitution. He sees it as a scrap of paper and irrelevant to the the Age of Trumpism. This is evidenced by his characterization of the Emoluments Clause as ridiculous. Or his clear quid pro quo on Ukraine military aid in exchange for false charges against political rivals.
One Democratic slogan for 2020 could be emerging: “Take Our Constitution Back.”
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Something's happened here.
I'm going to give another 6 months to producing a better product for comments. For those informed, I'll port it to Spring, I'm thinking about Kafka, I'll use Facebook's React, and I'll create something people can relate to.
I spent upwards of 5 years trying to overcome what I knew would be problems. I'm only 1 person. It's a difficult path...
It consumed 10 years of my life. It might mean being identified as hollow, but giving your life for something is hard. Harder than my life alone, but only as the difference between life and death means something, things take a different color.
Millions of people have difficult lives, and I can't fix it totally. But I think I have been given a small idea in that direction. I'll work harder soon.
I can fix a bunch.
Nicholas, I think you are singing to the choir. We are a stubborn people, too, and know when we are being abused. To become numb is to become complacent, and history has shown us from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to the Great Depression and two 20th Century world wars to the Civil Rights and Viet Nam eras, to the Me Too Movement, ad infinitum, that we may be slow at first to get fed up; yet eventually, we proclaim, protest, and actively exclaim, "Enough!" We are a hardy stock, many of us the offspring of recent immigrants. Those folks were strong individuals in mind and spirit, succeeding in their aspirations to flee poverty, suppression, and violence. My own husband's mother was inadvertently shot during WW One in her village close to Lviv, Ukraine, yet she found her way to America. She is in my husband's DNA and our children's and grandchildren's. We all have that DNA of survival with dignity and justice.
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@Kathy Lollock
Thanks Kathy for giving us a sense of context.
Let’s not be like the television media and allow the president to play us like a piano.
We are much wiser.
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I agree with the sentiment here chiefly because lying in leadership is completely contrary to a free democratic system. How do you know what you are choosing if propaganda or just out and out fabrications hides the truth?
That said, my biggest question is what President Trump’s ulterior motives have to do with Russia? I think this is so important that we need to get to the bottom of it even more than we need to see him impeached for the obscene act of manipulating the U.S. foreign policy concerning Ukraine to serve his own election campaign. Does he adopt pro-Russian positions because he likes that kind of authority or because he owes his wealth to a form of real-estate-based Russian money laundering, or for some other reason?
The Mueller investigation did not dig into tax returns and allegations of money laundering. But this information is crucial to knowing why America’s foreign policy puts all experts on one side of the fence with respect to Russia and Mr. Trump on the other.
As terrible as it was to try to force Ukraine to announce that Presidential candidate Joe Biden was under investigation for corruption, this was but one image in a movie that has consistently put Trump in with Russian political positions. The Russia issue implicates long-term U.S. national security, and the Ukraine scenario is only one symptom, one tell-tale sign, among many, of something very wrong.
Thus, Impeachment looks at only a piece of the puzzle at the risk of missing something crucial.
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@Marc Seltzer
Wish I could recommend this multiple times.
I too am shocked that this has received so little attention, when it's so blatantly obvious.
I could not believe that Mueller had not bothered to follow Russian money trails to Trump, or Trump's constant need for money to Russia.
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Thank you Mr Kristof for your tireless efforts to help keep us from numbness and fatigue at the state of our union these last three years. Every week there has been multiple new lows coming from this administration, if one can even call what goes on in Washington such a thing. You have held up the banner for truth, justice, honor, and decency, all the shining examples of democratic principles that this country was founded on, kind of like Paul Revere sounding the alarm through the dark of night waking the citizens to the dangers ahead. We are much more vigilant now, as a society, to the dangers of losing a way of life that we have taken for granted. I see this raised awareness leading to greater civic engagement which I believe will lead us back to better days in this country and to leaders that actually lead, not divide.
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I was struck by the release of William Taylor's testimony today and that his personal history had to be prefaced in an attempt to legitimize the truth. Yes, he has an impressive resume but being honest, having integrity should not have to be attached to one's schooling or patriotism. Standing up and doing the right thing should not require credentials to do so.
Even as a bystander I feel battered, worn out, tired of watching these decent men and women torn down for political reasons. But, we cannot back down, we all have to stand up for the pillars of democracy and never let this circus become the norm.
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Thank you Mr. Kristof! As always, spot-on accurate with great detail. And as many are now saying – which I believe I also read from a NYTimes Editorial Staff column – we need to "Make America America Again!"
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There are so many pieces of the moral infrastructure of America that have been sacrificed in the name of getting rid of "political correctness". But Mr. Kristof is right, this was not a creation of Trump and his sycophants and minions, only now it is accelerating exponentially. What is really insidious, however, is how our outrage hides the real and immediate damage being done to America.
For example, has anyone stepped back to look at the far darker intended consequences of the "quid pro quo" affair. Just think what else were Trump and his masters were trying to achieve. Surely it not just smearing a potential rival in a contest the is more than a year away.
We should consider who else would benefit if Ukraine were blackmailed into giving some credence to the theory that it was them (Ukraine) that had interfered in the 2016 elections.
Who would be absolved? Maybe had the sanctions against them lifted? Maybe even asked back to the G7 (G8?). If it had gone as planned the next step on the road to global re-emergence would have been a complete victory in Syria (oh did that already happen?).
Yes lets worry about our moral decline, but lets stop the guy giving away the store first.
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Thank you for this eloquent, concise summary of the madness that has enveloped this country. I just want to leave. If I had the money, I would move to Mexico tomorrow.
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@Alexis Mills
I got the chance to see my grandparents deal with bigger issues than this.
Just remain focused on your interest. A good way to start is by taking your eyes off of those who have nothing to lose once we keep our eyes on them.
Focus on candidates like Pete Buttigieg. He’s the one who can take on the president because he isn’t supersensitive to the ignorance of others.
3
@Alexis Mills I understand your feelings, but I think Mexico is not a good choice right now. Dream of a destination in the EU, maybe, or Canada.
Nicholas, while I certainly agree with your central thesis, I believe you are missing the real point when it comes to evangelical support for Trump.
Yes, they once supported people of character for high office. But that has changed. It changed in my opinion as a result of the election of Barack Obama as our first black president, which so shocked white evangelicals into action that wanted something entirely different,
They wanted a person of ultimate power, willing to use that power by any and all means necessary to keep (white) evangelicals at the center of American political and cultural life.
And they found Donald Trump.
That he uses “unacceptable” means to do so is all the better, for such means merely show that he is in it for the win.
Ecumenical Christian faith utterly rejects this notion of power; indeed utterly rejects the set of ideas that evangelicalism has become.
Some will argue (and in books are doing so): evangelical support for Trump is a sad DISTORTION of the essence of evangelicalism.
I disagree. I think evangelical support for Trump is a true EXPRESSION of the essence of evangelicalism.
The confessing church has only one real option: condemn both Trumpism and evangelicalism, and move forward in hope toward a renewed, authentic expression of faith in the arena of public life.
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@Paul C. McGlasson White evangelicals supported Dubya lying us into an unnecessary war and talked about him as the "second coming" too. They were NEVER about morality or ethics. You really cannot underestimate them.
1
Most of us are horrified with each unacceptable act and count down the days to 11/4/2020.
The problem is the 40 odd million people who seem to have decided that anything Trump does is acceptable (the single exception being that one time he suggested taking guns without due process before the NRA straightened him out).
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Mr.Kristof, you are correct -this is not the time to adapt! I grew up during the Second World War and could not understand how so many Germans became so complicit.A few years after the War a German exchange student came to live with us.We welcomed her but were curious why she and her family cooperated-the answer basically was that the Germans thought that they had found a hero and they excused his behavior as long as it glorified the fatherland.I was incredulous then and am energized now.I WILL NEVER FORGET.
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Nick, I'm all out of outrage - I'm worn out. I have to manage my displeasure for this republican administration and its supporters to remain relatively sane and healthy. I hardly recognize the country I live in. Let's hope the majority of Americans who are also fed up show up to vote next Nov.
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@Markymark
You don't hope for change, you work for it!
Mobilize, participate, any way you can.
1
A nice summary, but the time for outrage has passed. The House of Representatives now has, pardon the pun, unimpeachable evidence of high crimes. They must continue their work, which will inevitably lead them to impeach Donald Trump. The Senate, through Senator McConnell, has expressed exactly what it is going to do with articles of impeachent: nothing.
Barring a political avalanche, the only opportunity to remove Trump will come in November of 2020. And it will not be easy. The 2020 election will be *very* close. The only factor that will matter is voter turnout. This means voter registration and education--now.
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@R.S. Yes, but thanks to the electoral college and winner-take-all state rules, voter registration and turnout will matter only in those five or so "battleground states." The rest of us really have no say in the outcome so the best we can do is donate money to candidates to spend in those critical states. I don't have much to give but I am already giving and will continue to give small donations by forgoing meals out, entertainment, unnecessary clothing purchases and the like. I figure it's more important to save our democracy for my children and grandchildren than any of that.
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@abigail49 Keep strong! Small donations matter. Supporting great local candidates -- especially in Georgia -- will matter. Writing and making your voice heard on line will matter. Registering voters -- especially in Georgia -- will matter. Getting your friends and family registered -- especially in Georgia -- will matter. Voting will matter. Volunteering to help get people to the polls will matter. The things you are doing, and that you will do, to make your voice heard is making a difference right now.
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@abigail49 In addition to monetary support, we should expect the GOP to continue to suppress the vote but in insidious legal methods, like reducing the number of voting districts in urban districts or cutting the number of working voting machines in those districts in both red states and swing states under GOP control. These areas will need volunteers to engage and motivate voters to overcome these and other potential obstacles, and other small deeds like driving voters to polling stations. Little acts can bring big results.
6
This entire administration has been appalling from the first day. I sincerely hope that this is not normal, nor should it continue to be considered as that. It has been so easy to be discouraged from the "build the wall" chant, children in cages, lack of immigration reform, failure to enact sensible gun reform measures, the attacks on voter registration/voter suppression, stacking of the courts on all levels, with unqualified conservative judges the attacks on our government with eliminating our system of checks and balances; this has hurt us and our standing on the world stage.
With yesterday's elections, in Kentucky and Virginia, there seem to be a glimmer of hope that things will ultimately work out. I have to believe that this country will emerge from this experience stronger and better, but it will take each one of us to make our contribution, roll up our sleeves and get to work. I must believe that things will turn out fine, because the alternative is not imaginable.
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Mr. Kristof is, as usual, on target. The notion that the behavior that Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnell, and their minions exhibit is acceptable defies every notion of democracy, civility, and cultural progress that I can imagine. We as a nation are regressing to a level of white supremacy, class hatred, personal greed coming before the welfare of the nation as a whole, and myopia about the role the United States could play in the world for a better planet. It is naive to claim that the Trumpists are helping those pushed aside by "globalization." He's done no such thing (look at all the "good" he's done for the coal mining industry as an example). The only things the Trumpists seem to be interested in is power, control, domination, and personal gain regardless of the destruction caused to the nation and to the values some of us still cherish.
There is nothing any of us can say to change the blocked minds of the Trump cultists. We will have to work hard to help open-minded, rational people become engaged for the sake of their country rather than leaving it up to the politicians, and we will have to get them out to vote. The Trumpists are a minority being led by a madman. It is time for the majority to step forward and save our country.
Thank you, Mr. Kristof, for stating a necessary message. We cannot accept the current state of affairs to become normalized in any way, shape or form.
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@Ron Luce We are rpidly becoming a "failed state" by any measure of human well-being.
2
@Ron Luce
"It is time for the majority to step forward and save our country."
Exactly, ACTION (any and all), THAT is on the agenda until we are rid of tRump and all of his chumps and start making America "normal" again!
2
Maybe some people get used to it. They are a very small number, if so. More likely, people are getting tired of it. See the historic Democratic victories in Philadelphia suburbs yesterday. In one large county, Democrats won for the first time since the end of the Civil War! National media are not picking this up much, yet. What concerns me more than getting used to Trump is finding him appealing now and for his entire time in office. It's more than partisanship or maybe not partisanship at all. Take the upper Midwest. In states like Iowa, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, he's been popular from the start and still is. That part of the country has a good record in education; more of their students graduate from HS than most other areas, for instance. Yet these better educated voters, liked Trump and will vote again for him. The love affair applies to the rest of Midwest also. Whatever the appeal, I haven't seen any credible attempt in the media to analyze it.
7
@blgreenie Depending on how you defined "better educated." He is much less popular with college educated voters.
Surely, the problem is not that we are growing accustomed to all this, but that for a sizable portion of the country, this is exactly what they want!
Trump will eventually go away, but the millions who enthusiastically support him are here to stay and will feel emboldened to choose an even more hateful leader next time.
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@Joe: It's certainly fair to point out, as you have, that what Trump dispenses seems to be exactly what his followers seem to want. There are, I think two substantial problems with suggesting that this, rather than acceptance of his conduct as "normal", is the bigger problem.
First is the difference between what he promises and what he delivers. Do his followers want what he says, or what he does? I would argue that they are captivated by what he says (e,g., tax cuts for them) and not by his deliveries (e.g., a huge unasked-for tax cut for the ultra-wealthy). So, should we accept that promises are preferable to results?
Second, acceptance and "normalization" of his double-talk are huge concerns. Recall that his followers, though numerous, are in the minority (in 2016, even after foreign assistance to manipulate the vote in Trump's favor, by several million). This will not be sustained if his views become widely accepted. Already, he has wrenched the center of political discourse in the US to the extreme right. So, should we be comfortable with Trump's largely unsuccessful attempts to grow his "base", or with letting him determine (largely successfully) the subjects and the terms of debate?
On the Sunday after the election of Donald Trump, the comedian John Oliver dealt with this very topic and, after running down a list of serious subjects we just handed to a circus clown, suggested that you take a post it note and write the words "this is not normal" and post it somewhere you'll see it everyday. I took that advice and everyday I'm reminded and everyday he gives me reason to be reminded. The edges are curling but the adhesive has held. I hope I can say the same for our Union in the coming months.
584
@Rick Gage I think that's a good suggestion. In 1992, it was "The economy, stupid." In 2020, "This is not normal!"
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@Nicholas Kristof
Exactly what is "not normal?"
Deviance, that's what.
5
@Nicholas Kristof
If Trump gets another four years this will be "normal"!
1
On the Sunday after the election of Donald Trump, the comedian John Oliver dealt with this very topic and, after running down a list of serious subjects we just handed to a circus clown, suggested that you take a post it note and write the words "this is not normal" and post it somewhere you'll see it everyday. I took that advice and everyday I'm reminded and everyday he gives me reason to be reminded. The edges are curling but the adhesive has held. I hope I can say the same for our Union in the coming months.
5
I read AmarilloMike. Decided it would be a waste of time to argue against his comments.
Nicholas, your article is well taken, but the majority of your readers are fully aware of Trumps transgressions and his blatant use of the Presidency to corrupt American Democracy. But I and millions of others are moving in a new direction, away from this Republican Administration with its derision and dividing of our citizens.
Virginia showed the way today. And their first order of business, gun control legislation. And in one year we get to right the ship.
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I read AmarilloMike. Decided it would be a waste of time to argue against his comments.
Nicholas, your article is well taken, but the majority of your readers are fully aware of Trumps transgressions and his blatant use of the Presidency to corrupt American Democracy. But I and millions of others are moving in a new direction, away from this Republican Administration with its derision and dividing of our citizens.
Virginia showed the way today. And their first order of business, gun control legislation. And in one year we get to right the ship.
12
Thank you, Nicholas Kristof. This essay should be reprinted and posted on every refrigerator and coffee-maker in America.
36
Terry Tempest Williams cites a friend from another nation who observes quite correctly in my opinion: You Americans are Masters at living with the unacceptable.
Way too many of us live with and prosper from accepting the unacceptable every day. It is not just Trump. As others have said, Trump may be more a symptom than the problem.
I'll happily retract this comment the day a hundred million Americans leave work, stop shopping, and protest the ongoing unacceptability we live with daily.
70
This is so vital to the mental health of our nation. Thank you Mr. Kristof for this essay. Readers, please share this with as many as possible.
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