Source: The Peaceful Revolutionist
by David S D’Amato
“Within a broader and more historical context, Donald Trump’s public vulgarity and lack of basic decency ends up looking more like a trailing indicator of a much earlier, deeper erosion of political norms and institutional constraints that accelerated rapidly after September 11, 2001. The disgusting, irresponsible, racist language from Trump and the MAGA movement only follows the criminal actions of past rulers: once institutional constraints and elite norms have been weakened sufficiently, performative vulgarity by politicians becomes more likely to be tolerated and then amplified by the partisan media ecosystems. Vulgar, offensive rhetoric is just the visible symptom, with the more consequential, but less visible causes being the earlier transgressions that changed what the Washington ruling class and the people consider permissible.” (09/30/25)