So... who wrote the NYT op-ed?

[Dill]

(09-10-2018, 02:12 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: It is still a continued erosion of norms. Norms bolster the written policies, procedures, and laws that we have. Without upholding the norms, the rest of it starts to crumble. I get that Obama doing this seems trivial to a lot of people, but when you look at it in the bigger picture, in the view that these norms have been chipped away at for decades, what seems minor is a part of a larger issue. The erosion of norms got us to this point, and continuing the same trajectory means we aren't going to see a course correction.

I agree with most of what you say here, and most of my critiques of Trump have focused both on his disregard for norms and the disregard of his base for the same. 

However, I am not sure that Obama's critique is continuing the same trajectory here. Bush II kept his mouth shut about Obama for 8 years, but he stepped forward at McCain's funeral to throw his weight behind "the resistance" even if he did not mention Trump by name. Obama kept his mouth shut for 19 months while Trump systematically undid almost all of his accomplishments and blamed every current problem on him and Hillary, and lied every day about the economy and unemployment.

A history of "the erosion of norms" would be very interesting, and if it went back far enough might negate your thesis of "continued erosion."  But if we take US politics from Watergate forward, then it is easy to point to certain political events and groups which have massively accelerated such erosion--the Gingrich Revolution and its offspring, like the Tea Party and Trumpism.

Trump's reckless, unprincipled and daily violation of norms (and very likely laws), coupled with the absence of any power to check his excesses, has created a situation in which more and more people feel it necessary themselves to violate norms. Think of the unprecedented anonymous op ed piece, not from a "leftist" but from a conservative Republican within the administration. Think of the ex-Generals and CIA directors who have broken silence.

So I would make a distinction between people who are breaking norms for short-sighted personal gain and even because they are unaware of them (like Trump and supporters), and others who break certain norms which prevailed when presidents behaved normally in order to restore those norms. Their goal is to recall memory of a time when it was unthinkable that someone like Trump could be nominated, let alone win the presidency.

I would say that people like Clapper, Obama, and McMullen speaking out does increase our chances of righting the ship.  They are refusing to accept bad behavior in a commander in chief as normal. I don't see how their continued silence would help.