Pay no attention to the man with the twitchy Twitter fingers, say some pundits and members of the Trump Administration; Trump is actually governing as a fairly conventional Republican. His tax cut ideas were driven by the GOP majority in Congress. The worst of the travel ban was eliminated by the judiciary. He hasn’t violated court orders, destroyed NATO, engaged in trade wars, or left NAFTA. His attacks on the press are just an effort to curry favor with his base and blow off steam; they haven’t led to any First Amendment violations. In short, his worst authoritarian impulses are being constrained by the system and his own laziness, and will continue to be so.
Not so fast, say other commentators. Trump is dividing the country, damaging its credibility overseas, and trashing institutions that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support: the FBI; the judiciary; even the NFL. That’s bad enough as it is, but wait until we have a genuine crisis, and he demands unconstitutional actions against his opponents. Who will come to our rescue then? Can we count on Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to stand up and be counted, or will they simply clear their throats and try to change the subject?
Count me in the latter camp. Trump and his base have little respect for constitutional norms. If a crisis comes, and the GOP still has complete control of Congress, things are going to get really ugly here.