Trump’s anger is what matters most

In the past few days, as President Trump approaches the three-hundredth day of his second term, he has made what might be considered a royal advance across Asia, negotiating trade deals and admiring gilded palaces. In South Korea, a replica of the ancient golden crown was presented to him. “I would like to wear it now,” he said, just eleven days after millions of Americans gathered to protest his assumption of quasi-royal powers, in hundreds of “No Kings” rallies across the country. The South Koreans certainly knew their mark. During the trip, Trump also announced, via a social media site, the resumption of nuclear testing for the first time in decades. unleashed another deadly strike on a boat allegedly smuggling drugs in what appears to be an undeclared war for regime change in Venezuela; During an enthusiastic political rally in front of the supposedly non-political American army, they threatened to send active duty forces to American cities. He admitted that he would “love” to remain in office for a third term before reluctantly acknowledging the strict ban on doing so imposed by the Constitution.

In Washington, the US government remained closed for the fourth week in a row, the result of an impasse with Democrats in Congress that Trump appears to have done nothing to resolve – even as thousands of workers remain without pay. In other words, it was just another week in the Trump era. The new normal is to forget about yesterday’s scandals in order to make room in our overcrowded brains for tomorrow’s scandals. Remember when Trump imposed punitive new tariffs on Canada because he was angry about a TV ad? When he demanded that the Department of Justice pay him more than two hundred million dollars in compensation for the costs he incurred as a result of the Biden administration’s decision to investigate him? When he distributed an AI-generated video of himself throwing feces at Americans protesting against him? That was last week as well. And last week, under Trump, may have been forever. The black hole in which our former anger lies is vast.

That’s why I’m so appalled by the deep and lasting outrage that resulted from Trump’s decision to demolish the East Wing of the White House without a public hearing or a single statement. One senior Republican, a frequent Trump voter, told me it was “disgusting” and “disgusting.” Polls show a large bipartisan majority opposes demolition. It’s been over a week and people are still complaining about this. Has something finally been hacked? Is this possible anymore?

At a dinner party I attended earlier this week, the question about the worst thing that has happened since Trump returned to the White House led to a terrifying array of answers — only one of which was the demolition of the East Wing. (Can you imagine if the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom woke up one morning and ordered the Buckingham Palace wing to be smashed, as someone said.) It was the range of reactions that seemed most telling to me — from Trump’s politicization of the military and the Justice Department to his unleashing of a new policy. Maga A culture that celebrates cruelty.

I decided to keep the conversation going, and asked a few dozen smart people to send me their thoughts on the most disturbing, important, or truly surprising events of the past few months. The answers poured in, thoughtful, pained, and perceptive answers that reminded me that there is value in naming the problem, even if nothing can be done in the moment to stop it. It is a response, albeit an incomplete one, to the feeling of being overwhelmed by events, to take a minute to take stock, to think about what really matters and what might continue from the stark historical moment we are living through.

Some reporters provided long lists of shocking events. Gary Bass, a professor of world politics at Princeton University, listed seventeen examples “off the top of my head,” ranging from “pardoning insurgents on January 6” to “working to rig the election so this nightmare never ends.” Others focused on a single, expressive moment. Jake Sullivan, who served as national security adviser in the Biden administration, said it was the Paul Weiss law firm’s early capitulation to Trump’s demands that set off “alarm bells.” He added that he was “the canary in the coal mine.” Jill Lepore, A The New Yorker Her colleague, the Kemper Professor of American History at Harvard and a law professor at Harvard Law School, wrote that she was “really surprised when asked if it was his duty to uphold the Constitution, and he said, ‘I don’t know.’” Which is a surprising thing to say, given that the oath he took twice was to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” “It seems like a small thing, in a way,” she noted, “but I was struck by the sparkle of sincerity here, a kind of mockery that seemed to say, ‘Oh, Nah, who knows.” “