TPTB are treating this as normal because of $. They want to get re-elected. So power too.
Probably a good side helping of blackmail too.
As for world leaders, they aren’t treating this as normal.
But what is the expectation? Their primary responsibility is to their own people, not to Americans. They probably rightly judge that loud, brash displays in international fora are more Trump’s thing, not theirs, and wouldn’t serve their own purposes, which are to their own people.
Would publicly calling him out actually result in better behavior from him? Should we in the US be doing more of that? Sure, but international leaders are acting the way they should - in the interests of their own nations rather than to make us Americans feel better about ourselves.
OK, I was thinging more in the way of Congress critters. They are afraid of losing MAGA votes.
They sat through his speech. They shook hands with him. The probably applauded at the end. That’s treating him as normal in my book.
Of course not! Nothing would result in better behavior from him. I’m not interested in improving his behavior. Where in what I posted did you get the idea I’m interested in controlling or changing anything about trump, or believe that he can be controlled or changed in any way. To be clear: I don’t and he can’t.
The rug needs to be pulled out from under him. By “rug,” I mean credibility, legitimacy, the illusion of normalcy. Congress (both houses) should do this, but I know they won’t. Media pundits need to call him out, and call him what he is-- A LIAR-- every chance they get. I’m embarrassed for Terry Gross that she felt it necessary to devote a program to analyzing whether what ICE is doing (at trump’s direction) is illegal. Terry, you have failed me! 
Paul Krugman and Rachel Maddow (and Heather Cox Richardson, a little) are calling it.
…
I listened to Trump’s Davos speech with fear: How much damage will this demented, vindictive individual do to America and the world? I also felt a deep sense of shame: What is wrong with my country, that we put someone like this in a position of unprecedented power?
…
Even Richardson pulls her punches in her opening today…
“…a visibly exhausted president of the United States of America …”
“Visibly exhausted”?? What is he exhausted from? Saving puppies (from Kristi) and walking old people across the street? Doing the legitimate work of the president?
How about a “visibly insane” president? Hmmm?
Then-- slight redemption-- she goes on to say:
The president of the United States went on to give a virulently racist, insulting, rambling speech in which he complained that people call him a dictator but that “sometimes you need a dictator.” More than anything, though, the speech demonstrated his mental unfitness for his position. Tom Nichols of The Atlantic wrote: “No one can be watching this Davos speech and reach any conclusion but that the President of the United States is mentally disturbed and that something is deeply wrong with him. This is both embarrassing and extremely dangerous.”
I’m unhinged myself today. But it won’t pass.
From NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof:
It has come to this: Canadian military planners reportedly are gaming how they might repel an American invasion with guerrilla tactics similar to those used by Afghan fighters.
Fortunately, the shock of Trump’s Greenland demands may finally be leading world leaders to awaken to the American threat. (How weird even to type that!)
“Until now, we tried to appease the new president in the White House,” Prime Minister Bart De Wever of Belgium said Tuesday “We were very lenient, also with the tariffs, we were lenient, hoping to get his support for the Ukraine war.”
“But now so many red lines are being crossed,” he added“Being a happy vassal is one thing, being a miserable slave is something else.”The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, made a similar point on social media: “Appeasement is always a sign of weakness,” he wrote. “Europe cannot afford to be weak — neither against its enemies, nor ally. Appeasement means no results, only humiliation.”
Yes, because clearly your opinion is their top priority.
We have report after report that back home and amongst themselves, they are already working around him. And, unlike Trump, these are normal sane adults who don’t behave petulantly in group settings.
But, sure, they should put on a performative act to make some people feel a little better
Are you saying there are ‘normal sane adults’ In the Trump administration?
Clears throat. Umm…
No, I again meant the international leaders who, apparently, were supposed to stand up and loudly denounce Trump as a liar during his “speech” and performatively demonstrate their disdain and disagreement
And apparently they should also act like Mark Carney, who…..didn’t do any of that, either
Well, the UN did laugh at one of his speaches. And not because it was funny.
I agree though it won’t make a damn difference for someone of his… dispostition. Congress needs to act now. I’ve written my congress critters 5 times now.
Yes, not only Congress but whatever judges still have spines.
I’m not bothering with my Congress Critters (Cornyn, Cruz, and a ridiculously corrupt retiring MAGAt in the House) but hold out hope for neighboring districts.
Unfortunately, Will Rogers one-liner about the Democrats still rings true today - that’s not an organized body with one strategy. They need to get on one page sooner rather than later but it’s unlikely, as unlike the Republicans, they actually are diverse, which means an actual diversity of opinion and viewpoints. Great in the abstract for democracy, terrible for fast, coordinated action.
Yeah - The system simply isn’t set up to deal with a powerful world leader who is also an insane troll; other leaders and politicians and media services are (for the most part) doing what they’re supposed to be - well, some of the media, but it doesn’t work in the scenario that Trump/Maga has crafted.
Trump hasn’t crafted anything. He was crafted by insane people.
I wasn’t happy with the word ‘crafted’ TBH.
‘Manufactured’ maybe. And yeah, I don’t think he deserves any special credit for his contribution, but he has contributed to the whole awful mess.
Manufactured works too, I supose.
Crafted suggestes intelligence. Molded perhaps is the word that would work here.
A buddy in the army told me the saying was ‘beat it to fit, paint it to match’
The word “manufactured” is also a synonym for “fake”, so I really like that word in this context.
While I agree that there’s a way to do it that will make Trump act worse, I definitely feel that we should normalize saying the emperor has no clothes loudly, frequently and unmistakably.
ETA, and factually, there’s plenty of stupid lies and criminal acts.
Yeah, whilst I think it’s completely true to say this all is the work (including ‘craft’, as in ‘crafty’) of many people, to say that Trump hasn’t been part of that crafting is a bit like saying he’s not responsible for it. He absolutely is responsible for making a lot of this stuff happen - others might have done so in his stead if he had never existed, but there is something particular (and in no way good) about Trump’s attitude and behaviours that accelerated us along this timeline.
Both “crafted” and “manufactured” suggest too much skill, planning and design.
I think “molded*” is best and this is why - I like the Senator Jim Himes take on Trump:
Donald Trump is a little bit of a single-celled organism: He responds to one stimulus and one stimulus only, which is, ‘Does this make me feel good, or does it make me feel bad?’
Trump has likes and dislikes. Desires and hatreds. And he simply refuses, insofar as possible, to accept any restraint whatever upon them. The result is that insofar as it must do so, the world has to accommodate (mold) itself around his desires. And he’s been given so much power that it has done so to an unfortunate extent.
Yesterday Trump downplayed the contribution of NATO troops in Afghanistan. Many people from other NATO nations died or were seriously injured supporting the US there.
Fuck you, Trump.
Yes, and it’s pissed off a lot of the nations who lost troops there.
Not to mention the fundamental issue of Trump accusing others of “avoiding the front lines”.