How the 'banality of crazy' numbs Americans to Trump’s never-ending 'assaults on decency': conservative

03 October 2023

When Donald Trump left the White House on January 20, 2021, his critics hoped the Republican Party would abandon him. But that hasn't happened.

Despite facing four criminal indictments and a variety of civil lawsuits, Trump is the clear frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. And according to polls, a hypothetical Trump/Joe Biden rematch would be a close race.

In a column published by The Bulwark on October 3, Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes lays out some reasons why, with Trump, the "banality of crazy" — a term Sykes borrowed from journalist/author Brian Klaas — is so dangerous.

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Elaborating on Klaas' "banality of crazy" argument, Sykes explains, "The problem is that there has just been so much crazy — so many outrages, so many lies, so many assaults on decency — that it's hard keep up. We get numbed to it, so it's no longer news. Trump calls for more extrajudicial murders? The execution of the nation's top general? Yawn."

Trump crosses the line so often, Sykes emphasizes, that Americans come to expect it.

"Klaas' warning seems timely," Sykes argues. "Fresh off calling for the execution of Gen. Mark Milley, Trump doubled down on his rhetoric of brutality. He mocked the brutal hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband…. called Joe Biden a 'motherfucker'…. and called for the summary execution of shoplifters. The crowd went wild."

Sykes adds, "In the past, Trump has called for the execution of drug dealers and human traffickers, but on Friday night, (September 29), he promised to order federal law enforcement to shoot shoplifters as they leave stores."

Read Charlie Sykes' full column for The Bulwark at this link.

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