Don’t describe Donald Trump as a “lame duck” president, MS NOW anchor Ali Velshi urged this weekend.
Velshi warned that “headline after headline” now frames Trump via the term that’s “meant to convey a president not seeking reelection who will remove themselves from power after the next election with diminished authority and waning influence over the government, its institutions, and their own party.”
He added, “Except this is Donald Trump and trying to squeeze his authoritarian impulses into old categories doesn’t just misdiagnose the moment, it normalizes his presidency.”
Then, Velshi argued, “Trump is an authoritarian who cannot be understood through traditional presidential frameworks,” before adding, “If Trump behaves nothing like any prior lame duck or any president we’ve ever seen, it’s perhaps better not to analyze his behavior through that lens.”
He went on to say, “Thinking of Trump as a lame duck minimizes” all of the damage he has done during his presidency.
“We’re not watching a normal presidency supposedly wind down,” he said. “We’re watching a presidency defined by its contempt for democratic order.”
