How has Trump been able to defy so many political norms?

[EJ24]

One constant truth about Trump is that he gets away with almost everything unscathed. Let's go back to 2016.

He mocked a POW (John McCain) and it didn't hurt him with the GOP base.
He mocked a reporter with disability and everyone shrugged it off.
He insulted the parents of a dead US soldier and everyone shrugged it off.
Called for a total ban on Muslims entering the US, made it a mainstream position.
"Grab 'em by the pussy" didn't end his campaign. Hurt his polling for maybe a week.

I mean I could go on and on here but we get the idea. He's constantly defied all political logic and made things successful that would end the careers of other politicians.

And this is a big reason many are predicting him to win in 2020 despite the Covid-19 crisis and his impeachment. He's defied all logic before and outperformed polling, so why couldn't he do it again? Think about it, Obama was a relatively popular incumbent in 2016, yet Hillary Clinton, the candidate who Obama endorsed personally, ended up losing to the very unpopular Trump.

My question is, how exactly has he managed this? Who is to blame? Is it the media? The GOP base? Is Trump really that charismatic? Has something more fundamental changed with the way we view politics?

[Joe Biden 2024]

Because he has a cult who worships him and they don't care.

[ProgressiveModerate]

His base comprises of a large part of the population who is very defined in their values to put it lightly, and support him religiously. Of any past president, he ahs certainly had the most solid base, and that base is overrepresented in congress, in the media, and in our daily lives, making it seem more normal.

[EJ24]

Because he has a cult who worships him and they don't care.

He does, but it's not just his cult evidently. He won over independents with this kind of behavior in 2016 and that was a huge step in normalizing it. Had he been crushed with independents, it would be clear that his cult is indeed a minority of the country and shouldn't be pandered to. But for some reason, there's a sizeable chunk of voters who were supposedly "on the fence" that chose to legitimize this.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Because he’s one of a kind.

[Ferguson97]

Because he tapped into a base of supporters who never cared about norms to begin with.

No norms-obeying Republican was able to beat him in 2016 because they didn't consolidate into one anti-Trump candidate.

Then Trump won the primaries and all the other Republicans just stopped outwardly-caring about norms out of partisan loyalty.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He mocked a POW (John McCain) and it didn't hurt him with the GOP base.

John McCain was no saint. Being shot down while dropping napalm on people isn't my definition of "heroism." His actions in politics and his personal life (dumping his wife for a beer company heiress, etc) were the hallmarks of an incredibly horrible person. I did not know a single Republican in 2008 who actually liked McCain, they just voted for him because they either hated Obama even more or liked Sarah Palin. My grandma was planning on not voting at all until Aunt Sarah became the VP pick.

He mocked a reporter with disability and everyone shrugged it off.

Womp womp.

He insulted the parents of a dead US soldier and everyone shrugged it off.

This one I'll give you, but what am I supposed to do? Vote for Hillary because of that?

Called for a total ban on Muslims entering the US, made it a mainstream position.

That has been a mainstream issue since 2001.

"Grab 'em by the pussy" didn't end his campaign. Hurt his polling for maybe a week.

Again, this was a highly disgusting comment, but no credible accusers have come forward. Remember that nutty old actress with the short hair a few months back? Remember when her accusation was touted as "the end" of Trump? 

My question is, how exactly has he managed this? Who is to blame? Is it the media? The GOP base? Is Trump really that charismatic? Has something more fundamental changed with the way we view politics?

All of the above.

First of all, the media does nothing but attack him. They gave him a lot of free air time because his speeches brought viewers while Hillary was so uninspiring in person that only C-SPAN would cover them. The media exploits Trump, not enable him. Media bias is real, and it has a well known liberal tendency. That isn't to say that Fox News or Breitbart are any more credible or factual, but the print media, CNN, MSNBC, Univision, do nothing but throw unfounded allegations out.

The GOP base has been the same for ten years, Trump just finally got them excited. Nobody really liked John McCain, and Romney was even less enthusiastic.

Trump is VERY charismatic in person. I've met him once, and have seen him at a primary debate I attended in Miami and at a MAGA rally in Tallahassee. The dude makes 85 year old women jump up and down like schoolgirls in a room that Elvis Presley entered. He has a flare for the dramatic too (case in point, his introduction of Melania Trump at the RNC). Pretty compelling speaker in person overall.

I've met Allen West, Tim Pawlenty, Gary Johnson, Rudy Giuliani, Matt Gaetz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Roger Stone (very nice guy btw), Rick Wilson (also surprisingly nice considering how he spews hatred to Trump supporters in a way that'd make Badger look tame), and Adam Putnam. None of them, aside from Gaetz, has what Trump has.

[MidwestPollster]

Good grief. You actually have the guts to question McCain’s heroism? Unreal.

[Pollster]

Fox News largely has a monopoly on both the viewership and trust of conservative/right-leaning news consumers in a way that is not even closely matched on the left or the center, and has significantly stronger message discipline across their most important and loudest voices that is also not even closely matched on the left or the center.

When Tucker, Hannity, Ingraham, Jeanine, and Dobbs are all saying that Trump's most recent norm-defiance is fine (even good!), their viewers accept it.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

He ran against Hilary, the R Republican arm were able to win against Gore, Kerry and Hilary, but not against Obama and Biden in 2008 to 12

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Because he has a cult who worships him and they don't care.

He does, but it's not just his cult evidently. He won over independents with this kind of behavior in 2016 and that was a huge step in normalizing it. Had he been crushed with independents, it would be clear that his cult is indeed a minority of the country and shouldn't be pandered to. But for some reason, there's a sizeable chunk of voters who were supposedly "on the fence" that chose to legitimize this.

There's nothing to say independents can't be part of a cult

[Arizona Iced Tea]

He hates the Presidency, but loves America so much. He also doesn't follow political correctness and will tell the truth as it is, which is why people love him so much.

[ProgressiveModerate]

He hates the Presidency, but loves America so much. He also doesn't follow political correctness and will tell the truth as it is, which is why people love him so much.

Being openly racists at times and calling half thee country the enemy is not "telling the truth", all he does is stir up chaos.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

He hates the Presidency, but loves America so much. He also doesn't follow political correctness and will tell the truth as it is, which is why people love him so much.

I think there is a strong argument that literally no president in history has cared less about America than Trump. He cares only about himself.

[Mr. Smith]

He's the guy that fouls up the sports game off the bat and keeps doing it so many times that the ref eventually gives up.

[Dac10]

The Republican Party naturally promotes (in their campaigning, not once in office, obviously) the idea of small government, and that government intervention = bad. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party does the exact opposite. That means that the average R voter is primed to eventually come to see the “establishment” Republicans within the party - and therefore those most associated in voter’s minds with being the “government” - as a negative. And rally around a candidate who is completely independent and despised by that establishment (like Trump was in the 2016 R. Primaries). And ultimately, once the base has rallied around a candidate, and the R establishment failed to stop him from gaining a majority by the 2016 convention, they were forced to fall in line and rally around him as their figure.

And of course, him actually winning 2016, along with the House and Senate, made it so that this type of politics will become part of the R. establishment going forward. It won’t always be dominant, but there will almost certainly be a “Trump-wing” in all Republicans primaries in the foreseeable future once Trump’s Presidency is finished.

[SnowLabrador]

Because he has a cult who worships him and they don't care.

[Bidenworth2020]

He mocked a POW (John McCain) and it didn't hurt him with the GOP base.

John McCain was no saint. Being shot down while dropping napalm on people isn't my definition of "heroism." His actions in politics and his personal life (dumping his wife for a beer company heiress, etc) were the hallmarks of an incredibly horrible person. I did not know a single Republican in 2008 who actually liked McCain, they just voted for him because they either hated Obama even more or liked Sarah Palin. My grandma was planning on not voting at all until Aunt Sarah became the VP pick.

He mocked a reporter with disability and everyone shrugged it off.

Womp womp.

He insulted the parents of a dead US soldier and everyone shrugged it off.

This one I'll give you, but what am I supposed to do? Vote for Hillary because of that?

Called for a total ban on Muslims entering the US, made it a mainstream position.

That has been a mainstream issue since 2001.

"Grab 'em by the pussy" didn't end his campaign. Hurt his polling for maybe a week.

Again, this was a highly disgusting comment, but no credible accusers have come forward. Remember that nutty old actress with the short hair a few months back? Remember when her accusation was touted as "the end" of Trump? 

My question is, how exactly has he managed this? Who is to blame? Is it the media? The GOP base? Is Trump really that charismatic? Has something more fundamental changed with the way we view politics?

All of the above.

First of all, the media does nothing but attack him. They gave him a lot of free air time because his speeches brought viewers while Hillary was so uninspiring in person that only C-SPAN would cover them. The media exploits Trump, not enable him. Media bias is real, and it has a well known liberal tendency. That isn't to say that Fox News or Breitbart are any more credible or factual, but the print media, CNN, MSNBC, Univision, do nothing but throw unfounded allegations out.

The GOP base has been the same for ten years, Trump just finally got them excited. Nobody really liked John McCain, and Romney was even less enthusiastic.

Trump is VERY charismatic in person. I've met him once, and have seen him at a primary debate I attended in Miami and at a MAGA rally in Tallahassee. The dude makes 85 year old women jump up and down like schoolgirls in a room that Elvis Presley entered. He has a flare for the dramatic too (case in point, his introduction of Melania Trump at the RNC). Pretty compelling speaker in person overall.

I've met Allen West, Tim Pawlenty, Gary Johnson, Rudy Giuliani, Matt Gaetz, Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Roger Stone (very nice guy btw), Rick Wilson (also surprisingly nice considering how he spews hatred to Trump supporters in a way that'd make Badger look tame), and Adam Putnam. None of them, aside from Gaetz, has what Trump has.

If you are referring to E. Jean Carroll, she is still asking for Trump to submit a DNA sample for her civil case saying Trump raped her. Additionally, I believe CNN did a piece where they found about 23 of the accusations to be credible. Make of that what you will.

[TML]

Let me remind everyone of what Michael Moore calls the "Jesse Ventura effect":

Finally, do not discount the electorate’s ability to be mischievous or underestimate how any millions fancy themselves as closet anarchists once they draw the curtain and are all alone in the voting booth. It’s one of the few places left in society where there are no security cameras, no listening devices, no spouses, no kids, no boss, no cops, there’s not even a friggin’ time limit. You can take as long as you need in there and no one can make you do anything. You can push the button and vote a straight party line, or you can write in Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. There are no rules. And because of that, and the anger that so many have toward a broken political system, millions are going to vote for Trump not because they agree with him, not because they like his bigotry or ego, but just because they can. Just because it will upset the apple cart and make mommy and daddy mad. And in the same way like when you’re standing on the edge of Niagara Falls and your mind wonders for a moment what would that feel like to go over that thing, a lot of people are going to love being in the position of puppetmaster and plunking down for Trump just to see what that might look like. Remember back in the ‘90s when the people of Minnesota elected a professional wrestler as their governor? They didn’t do this because they’re stupid or thought that Jesse Ventura was some sort of statesman or political intellectual. They did so just because they could. Minnesota is one of the smartest states in the country. It is also filled with people who have a dark sense of humor — and voting for Ventura was their version of a good practical joke on a sick political system. This is going to happen again with Trump.

In other words, many people currently do not trust our country's political institutions as they currently are, and because of that, they are willing to let the current outsider get away with breaking a number of political norms. I think that it would probably take an increase in trust in our political institutions before the general public once again raises its standards on how they expect their elected officials to behave.

[MT Treasurer]

He... hasn’t? His party got absolutely destroyed in 2018 and he’s getting crushed by Biden right now?

[rhg2052]

Reason 1: Because he is a cult leader that the Republican voters are more loyal to than they are to the party, so the party will protect him at all costs to prevent the cultists from abandoning them.

Reason 2: He does not come from a political background, so the whole idea of "political norms" are not instilled into him or the people he appoints. This allows them to just ignore things that would normally have serious consequences as long as Reason 1 causes Mitch McConnell to back him up on everything.

[Pericles]

He hates the Presidency, but loves America so much. He also doesn't follow political correctness and will tell the truth as it is, which is why people love him so much.

Nope.

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He hates the Presidency, but loves America so much. He also doesn't follow political correctness and will tell the truth as it is, which is why people love him so much.

Nope.

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/

Who made a bunch of corporate sponsored and owned propagandists a monopoly on what is and what isn't fact? Just because Joe Scarborough and Nicole Wallace say it doesn't make it automatically true.

[SN2903]

Because Trump has never been about Republican, Democrat, Liberal, Conservative.

That is what so many people on here fail to understand.
Hell, I used to be a Democrat! I still fundamentally do hold some liberal views especially on fair trade, social justice and foreign policy. I would still vote for a Democrat or Independent if they adopted policies that I thought were more about our nation and less about a globalist perspective.

Trump has been able to tap into that outsider lane. For all of his flaws and imperfections he has a way of connecting with people that is extremely rare in politics.

I didn't like Obama as President but Obama was a master at connecting. I recognize talent where I see it. Reagan had it. Obama had it. Nixon had it in some ways. Trump has IT. It's the IT factor.

[SN2903]

He... hasn’t? His party got absolutely destroyed in 2018 and he’s getting crushed by Biden right now?

Obama got beat bad in two elections: 10 and 14 and it didn't stop him from winning in 2012. Your point?