A Clear Example of a Misapplied Norm

Not all norms.

I recognize that there is some disagreement about the preemptive pardons amidst the readership of the site, but let me join in the chorus of concern over cleaving to norms rather than addressing reality.

I give you the 46th and 47th presidents:

I understand, to a point, the degree to which a man of Biden’s age and temperament felt the need to not be an asshole (please excuse the technical language) towards the incoming president. But this bit of norm-indulgence was not necessary and sent a terrible signal to the broader population.

I am not at all convinced that having Trump over for tea was necessary, let along appropriate. I am certain, however, that greeting him with a friendly “welcome home” was an absurd thing to do given that Biden, and then Harris, campaigned against Trump on the predicate that he represented a threat to democracy.

Here’s a CNN headline from October: Biden believes Trump is a fascist, White House says.

Treating him as normal only makes it seem (or, perhaps even confirms) that all of that was just campaign rhetoric.

I get that Biden has to legally and constitutionally afford Trump legal access to the various levers of power within the executive branch. However, treating him as utterly normal was not only not needed, but undercuts his own campaign in 2020, the alleged goals of his administration, and Harris’ 2024 campaign against Trump.

And one didn’t have to catch much of Trump’s various utterances yesterday to note that he is in no way extending the outgoing administration any niceties nor fake politeness.

Part of what concerns me about the Biden pardons is that they do not uphold, in my view, his own stated fealty to democracy, justice, and the rule of law. His treatment of Trump has likewise undercut those positions.

And, of course, this is the least of the concerns raised by yesterday.

FILED UNDER: 2024 Election, Democracy, The Presidency, US Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. Sleeping Dog says:

    Sort of sums up the Biden presidency and Washington’s acquiescence to president felon.

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  2. JKB says:

    Treating him as normal only makes it seem (or, perhaps even confirms) that all of that was just campaign rhetoric.

    Kamala Harris explained the use of cancelling rhetoric of Democrats when she explained why she had come around to be all-in on Biden back in 2020. “It was a debate, it was a debate”

    And that was when she was denigrating someone who later had the choice of selecting her future. At least against Trump, the choice was up to the People.

    And commenting on Trump signing EOs in the arena then later in the Oval Office as he answered questions from reporters, Ann Althouse observed

    “After 4 years of The Man in the Basement, we have, once again, The Man in the Arena.”

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  3. Mimai says:

    Seems possible that many of these men (eg, Biden, Obama) are more fond of Trump than they otherwise let on.

  4. Kathy says:

    Biden should have acted out of reciprocity. The rapist didn’t invite him to the white house, didn’t attend the inauguration, and didn’t even allow the transition to go through for weeks.

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  5. DK says:

    However, treating him as utterly normal was not only not needed

    Misapplied norms? Seems more like misapplied outrage.

    Y’all are contradicting yourselves. Biden using his legal pardon authority to protect targets of Trump’s promised fascist retribution is a serious acknowledgment that Trump is not normal and poses a grave threat. Much more serious than greetings and tea.

    It makes no logical sense to claim Biden should not have done that, but then get all up in arms about Biden saying “Welcome home” and having tea as normalizing Trump. I mean, please. The ones signaling Trump is normal are they saying Biden should not have taken an extraordinary, serious legal step to undermine the White House Nazis.

    Seems like some are just dedicated to attacking, criticizing, and nitpicking Biden no matter what he does. Which is the perfect summary of the past four years.

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  6. charontwo says:

    Leopard does not change his spots. It turns out we still have the same old Biden who got along by going along while the GOP hatchetmen were fucking over Anita Hill.

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  7. charontwo says:

    @DK:

    Are we talking about the same Biden who does not think Ukrainian success is worth even attempting? You are damn right I can criticize the dude, he falls well short of perfection.

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  8. @DK:

    Seems like some are just dedicated to attacking, criticizing, and nitpicking Biden no matter what he does. Which is the perfect summary of the past four years.

    I would love some links that show me doing that.

    Please, have at. We have a searchable database if that would help.

  9. DK says:

    @charontwo:

    You are damn right I can criticize the dude, he falls well short of perfection.

    Perfection? Heh. A problem with some on the center-left. If one of our pols isn’t “perfect” then we hurl insults and attacks at them 24/7, while Republicans go to the mat for Epstein-bestie rapists, J6 terrorists, and Nazi saluters. God help anyone who needs to depend on the average Dem voter to have their back in a fight.

    I don’t expect “perfection” from any human. I have lamented Joe is flawed just like you are, I am, and everybody is without constantly searching for trivial anti-Biden minutae to nitpick, clutch pearls about, and faint over daily with barbarians past the gate and in the bailey.

    If more of our so-called allies were capable of doing the same for more than six months at a time, the Democratic coalition might be able to rally behind the men and women in the political arena taking the slings and arrows on our behalf, while we sit behind our keyboards swearing we know all the “perfect” strategies and have all the magic solutions.

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  10. charontwo says:

    @DK:

    trivial anti-Biden minutae

    You think “optics” are trivial? “Optics” put Trump in the White House.

  11. DK says:

    @charontwo:

    “Optics” put Trump in the White House.

    Oh? I thought it was woke DEI hire migrant egg prices.

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  12. rondo1342 says:

    “Treating him as normal only makes it seem (or, perhaps even confirms) that all of that was just campaign rhetoric.”

    Well, duh! It IS nothing but campaign rhetoric. Remember when the left called W “Bushitler??” Good times…this “Trump is Hitler!!!” rhetoric is just the same old tired one track record that only the most delusional sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome are listening to. Mika and Joe spent weeks on MSDNC bashing Trump as Hitler, then over the weekend immediately following the election go groveling to the Berghof in Obersalzburg, errrr, I mean to Mar-A-Lago in FL to try and salvage what vanishingly small relevance they have, if any. The Carter family didn’t refuse Hitler, errrr Trump to attend Jimmy’s funeral, where he yukked it up with Obama prior to the ceremony. Nobody is listening to this “Trump = Hitler!!” crap, except for the people who continually see imaginary Nazi hobgoblins where they don’t exist, ie Musk’s “Nazi salute”

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  13. JohnSF says:

    Why is everybody blaming Norm?
    🙂
    Seriously though, what else can President Biden be expected to do?
    When things are looking a bit abnormal, trying to maintain a measure of normality might at least calm things down a bit.
    I don’t think Trump is actually normal, as his initial pardons etc make quite plain.
    But if the incoming administration collectively can be calmed down a bit, that’s likely a good thing.

    Things will likely get worse quite soon, when the various, and contradictory, policies of Trumpism hit the fan. But that’s going to bring out the internal tensions within the Administration, between it and Congress, with the courts, the states, and with external reality.
    Which always gets the final say.

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  14. JohnSF says:

    @charontwo:
    I’ve tended to moderate my criticisms of President Biden, in part at least because he is, at base, imho, a decent man. And often correct, in general terms.
    But he surely has had a tendency to combine “difference splitting” with stubbornness on a lot of issues.

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  15. DK says:

    @rondo1342:

    Nobody is listening to this “Trump = Hitler!!” crap, except for the people who continually see imaginary Nazi hobgoblins where they don’t exist, ie Musk’s “Nazi salute”

    Same ole tired deflections from the ignorant, brainwashed sufferers of Trump Dickriding Syndrome. Funny how oligarch-worshipping MAGA sheep get so triggered and defensive about Trump truths “nobody” cares about or listens to. Hmm.

    Of course, that’s because “nobody” includes Trump’s own VP and former chief of staff, both of whom compared him to Hitler. And of course Trump himself, who privately praised Hitler, said he needed generals like Hitler had, and once kept Mein Kampf at his bedside.

    Here’s a video of German street interviews today, commenting on video Musk’s Nazi salute: “If he would be doing this in Germany, he would be arrested on the spot.”

    Germans are intimately familiar with Nazis, as are the Nazis themselves — all over the interwebs today cheering Musk’s signal to them. First Lady Trump and President Musk should get busy lowering grocery prices and reducing crime, instead of releasing violent terrorists and exciting online fascists.

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  16. Paine says:

    I for one am completely appalled at how Biden has been behaving over the last few days. Inviting Trump in for tea and crumpets, welcoming him with a hearty “welcome home,” and then sitting there silently at the inauguration while Trump shits all over him just a few feet away. It’s a disgusting display of passivity that completely undercuts Dem messaging over the past few years. “Maybe Trump really isn’t that bad,” is the message this sends to the voters.

    And the rest of the democrats are hardly any better. Did the Clintons and Obama really need to lend their stature to the event?

    I’m done with these people..

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  17. charontwo says:

    @DK:

    And of course Trump himself, who privately praised Hitler, said he needed generals like Hitler had, and once kept Mein Kampf at his bedside.

    Not Mein Kampf. The book in his bedroom was My New Order, which is a collection of Hitler’s early speeches. He sees Hitler as a model of how to go about succeeding.

    ETA: Trump has a reading disability and obviously does not read much, so it is significant for him to care that much about a book.

  18. DK says:

    @charontwo:

    Not Mein Kampf. The book in his bedroom was My New Order, which is a collection of Hitler’s early speeches. He sees Hitler as a model of how to go about succeeding.

    QFE. Thank you for the correcting me for accuracy.

    Here’s a side-by-side video of neo-Nazis and Musk’s Nazi salute, so it’s clear who the shadow president was signaling. Which I will be posting again tomorrow, and in the future.

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  19. de stijl says:

    I have an opposite reaction. Civility and manners matter. It’s a public ceremony. Little to no problem at all, for me.

    In fact, a subtle passive/aggressive dig at Trump’s incivility and ill-manneredness. I am better than you at decency, civility, and grace.

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  20. @de stijl: I would submit that there is a difference between being polite/civil and treating him like he is just a normal political opponent.

    In fact, a subtle passive/aggressive dig at Trump’s incivility and ill-manneredness. I am better than you at decency, civility, and grace.

    And on this point I would submit that that approach has almost a decade now of proven inefficacy.

    1