Shamelessness Is Trump's Superpower

New York Times

13-05-2025

Donald Trump, who was well on his way to becoming one of the most corrupt presidents in American history even before he said it would be 'stupid' for the United States not to accept a plane worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Qatar to replace Air Force One, repeatedly attacks his adversaries in part to mask his own violations of the law and of the Constitution.
Donald Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, argued in an email that Trump's repeated description of Democrats and liberal programs as immoral is designed to win support for his own agenda:
Identity politics, Moynihan wrote,
For Trump, Moynihan argued,
Trump does this, Moynihan wrote, 'even while making 'fraud' a central trope of his administration in order to justify cutting government services.'
During his first and second terms in office, Trump radically altered the Republican Party's moral guidelines to make self-enrichment a routine fact of political life.
Matthew Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, is outspoken in his criticism of Trump.
'Trump,' Dallek wrote by email,
Trump's self-dealing, Dallek argued, has become part and parcel of his overwhelming assault on American laws and traditions:
In fact, Dallek argues that Trump uses his profiteering as a tool to mobilize supporters:
Sarah Kreps, a political scientist at Cornell, emailed her responses to my queries about Trump and corruption:
In this context, Kreps continued,
I asked Kreps and others whether Trump has been able to get away with self-dealing and profiting from his political position because he is so brazen — so transparent in his crypto deals and in the sale of Trump bibles and Trump sneakers, completely without guilt or shame.
Kreps replied:
Douglas Kriner, a political scientist at Cornell, elaborated on Kreps's point:
In seeking to explain the Democrats' vulnerability to Trump's attacks, Kriner cited Trump's 2024 transgender ads and their message that
The transgender commercials, Kriner argued, focus on
Trump's victories in 2016 and 2024, despite his liabilities, raise a significant question. Bo Rothstein, a political scientist at the University of Gothenburg, wrote by email:
After studying the link between corruption and social trust for three decades, Rothstein wrote, 'It has become clear to me that what most people see as corruption is not limited to bribes and kickbacks. Instead, what they react against is when the principle of impartiality in the implementation of policies is transgressed.'
A 2024 article by Rothstein, 'The Future for Social Democracy and the Challenge of Liberalism,' makes the case that
I asked a range of scholars for their assessment of Rothstein's analysis, his broad definition of corruption and the effect of Trump's transparent and guilt-free style. Their answers varied widely.
Moynihan argued that the view among conservative whites that Democratic policies are corrupt has been carefully cultured and nurtured by the MAGA movement:
Rothstein, Dallek contended, 'has a point. Democrats have allowed themselves to be painted as a party of special interests.' But, Dallek stressed, this portrayal of Democrats has been effective largely because it taps into the hatreds emerging under growing partisan animosity, with the result that for Republicans
Stanley Feldman, a political scientist at Stony Brook University, provided more detail in an email on Dallek's point:
Trump, Feldman continued, 'does not think that anything he does to enrich himself is improper or, at a minimum, that anything that he will be held legally responsible for.'
Trump's belief in his ability to enrich himself without legal or political sanction has been reinforced by the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, Feldman contended, and by the fact that 'he was re-elected after being found guilty of falsifying business records, defamation in the E. Jean Carroll case, and financial statement fraud (as well as other indictments).'
Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at the University of California-San Diego, described the ongoing efforts of Trump and his allies in an email:
Trump, Jacobson noted,
Jacobson notes in a forthcoming paper that
Reinforcing Jacobson's argument, Jonathan Weiler, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina, outlined in an email the sustained Republican effort to demonize political adversaries:
The focus on elite Democratic corruption, Weiler continued,
I asked Daron Acemoglu, an economist at M.I.T. and a recent Nobel laureate, what he thought of the high percentage of voters, Republicans and Democrats, who view the opposition party as corrupt. He replied by email:
At the same time, Acemoglu added,
Some of those I contacted were explicitly critical of Rothstein's arguments. Cindy Kam, a political scientist at Vanderbilt, wrote by email:
One thing is clear: Trump's sustained claims of Democratic and liberal corruption has not prevented the steady erosion of his status.
Since taking office, Trump's approval rating has been on a consistent downward trajectory, falling to 45.8 percent on May 12 from 50.5 percent on Jan. 27, according to RealClearPolitics. Over the same period, his disapproval rating rose to 50.1 percent from 44.3 percent.
Any normal — or rational — politician looking at those numbers would seriously consider a major shift in direction. Trump, however, is neither normal nor rational.