It was one sentence among the many many phrases Donald Trump spoke this week that caught my consideration.
The US president has gone from pushing the envelope to utterly unfiltered.
Final Sunday, moments after Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika had publicly forgiven her husband’s killer, Mr Trump informed the congregation at his memorial service that he “hates his opponents”.
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President Donald Trump embraces Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika. Pic: AP
Twenty-four hours later, he drew fierce rebuke from medical consultants by linking using Tylenol (paracetamol) throughout being pregnant to elevated danger of autism.
The president treats skilled disapproval not as a legal responsibility however as proof of authenticity, fuelling the aura that he’s a challenger of conventions.
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‘Paracetamol use in being pregnant completely secure’
On Tuesday, he went to the United Nations, the place his frustrations over a stalled escalator and teleprompter failure have been the prelude to essentially the most combative deal with.
“I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell,” he informed his viewers, deriding Europe’s method to immigration as a “failed experiment of open borders”.
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Trump addresses the UN Basic Meeting in New York. Pic: Reuters
Then got here a U-turn on Ukraine, suggesting the nation might win again all of the land it has misplaced to Russia.
Most politicians could be punished for inconsistency, however Mr Trump recasts this as strategic genius – framing himself as dictating the phrases.
It’s exhausting to maintain monitor when his expressed hopes for peace in Ukraine and Gaza are peppered with social media posts condemning the return of Jimmy Kimmel to late-night tv.
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Trump’s main shift in Ukraine coverage
Maybe most placing of all is his response to the indictment of James Comey, the FBI director he fired throughout his first time period.
In principle, this could increase questions concerning the president’s previous conflicts with regulation enforcement, however he frames it as vindication, proof that his enemies fall whereas he survives.
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Ex-FBI chief: ‘Prices to standing as much as Trump’
Mr Trump has spent a lot of his political profession cultivating a picture of a person above the conventional penalties of politics, regulation or diplomacy, however he seems to really feel extra invincible than ever.
From funerals to world summits, world peace to public well being, he tasks the identical picture: guidelines are for others.
It’s the politics of the untouchable.
