, Columnist
Trump’s Lasting Damage Will Be the Steady Erosion of Norms
Norm-breaking can damage governance without breaking laws.
Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg
Although the first quarter of the new century has seen four presidents, it is doubtless Donald Trump who will most fascinate future historians. And with the first year of his second term nearly in the books, our stocktaking of the moment must begin with what has been most mashed and mangled since Jan. 20: the rule of law.
It’s true that Trump’s whirligig of executive orders has exposed the fragility of the concept. He has dragged us down one rarely trodden path after another. When a president so often seems to act out of impulse, it’s likely that government lawyers, far from paving the road, are in a constant struggle to catch up.