Dear Listener,

Trump is out of the White House, his Twitter voice silenced, his official power gone. Nonetheless, he retains enormous influence over his followers and the Republican Party. But he casts a long shadow over American politics in another way too, and his ongoing impact on how we perceive and evaluate politicians in the aftermath of his norm-breaking tenure raises interesting questions for Democrats.

Part of Trumpism was the elevation of tribalism to its apogee. Nothing Trump did could draw criticism from his base – not plausible allegations of sexual assault, not constant mendacity, not politicizing the Justice Department, not botching the pandemic response, not cozying up to Putin, not coddling racists, not provoking an insurrection, not anything. Trump well understood this, even before his 2016 election victory, when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. That was a truer expression of reality than anyone could have understood at the time.

What was the rational reaction to this stunning political dynamic on the part of people outside of the Trump cult and outside of the class of politicians who may not have been cult members but also said nothing because of addiction to power or fear of reprisal? I think it’s fair to say that reasonable people were astonished, perplexed, and horrified. They were also angered. How could this person who did so much wrong, do no wrong?