Trump just keeps getting away with it

Every time I think Donald Trump has gone too far, every time I think he has finally crossed a bright line and won’t recover … he proves me wrong.

Every time he steps into the spotlight, it’s like watching someone juggle live grenades. You think, “This is it — he’s finally going to blow himself up.” But, time and again, he walks away unscathed, grinning like the rules don’t apply to him.

And, for Trump, they don’t.

When he was running for president the first time, he told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News that on 9/11, “there were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down — as those buildings came down”

Since there was absolutely no evidence to support what Trump was saying, I thought no one would take him seriously after that, that his fledgling political career would end before it really began. I was wrong.

He mocked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a man who endured torture as a prisoner of war, by saying he wasn’t a war hero because “he got captured.” I was convinced that a cheap shot like that would end Trump’s political aspirations. I was wrong again.

He made fun of a journalist with a disability. I thought he’d surely pay a price for that. He didn’t.

He survived the “Access Hollywood” tape where he was heard saying “when you’re a star … you can do anything. … Grab ’em by the p----. You can do anything.”

One month later, he was elected president.

Eight years after that, on his first day back in the White House, he pardoned or commuted sentences for more than 1,500 people convicted of crimes in connection with the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — including some thugs who viciously attacked police that day.

This certainly was a bridge too far, I figured. Even Republicans, especially the party’s leadership in Congress, wouldn’t stand for something that irresponsible. Wrong yet again.

Then, just when you figure the man can’t cross any more bright lines, without so much as a shred of evidence he linked diversity programs at the Federal Aviation Administration to the collision of a regional jet and an Army helicopter that claimed 67 lives.

As the New York Times put it, “President Trump’s remarks, suggesting that diversity in hiring and other Biden administration policies somehow caused the disaster, reflected his instinct to immediately frame major events through his political or ideological lens.”

How many bright lines can Teflon Donald cross without paying a price? How many live grenades can he juggle before one blows up in his face? Can he say or do anything — absolutely anything — that would render him politically impotent? How can he not only survive all of it, but actually thrive?

Let’s put it this way: It’s not only the MAGA faithful that are convinced we were heading in the wrong direction and that Trump could set things right. A lot of Americans were willing to put up with a certain amount of Trump-induced chaos to turn things around. (Whether he actually does turn things around is another matter. Stay tuned.)

Trump didn’t create the anger and distrust running through America — he tapped into it. He saw that many Americans were tired of politicians who seemed more interested in “getting along" than fighting for them. Trump was a wrecking ball aimed at the establishment and, for a lot of people, that’s exactly what they wanted.

His supporters think he’s one of them — except he’s a billionaire and they’re not, and he lives a luxurious life at Mar-a-Lago and they don’t. But he says what they wish they could say, does what they wish they could do, and sticks it to the people they resent: the media, the elites, the “politically correct.”

Every time he crosses a line and gets away with it, they cheer because it’s like they’re getting away with it too.

If they gave out gold medals for demolishing political norms, Trump would have a whole bunch hanging around his neck. If any other politician shattered so many political norms, he’d be greeting shoppers at Walmart — if he could even land the job.

But for Donald Trump, crossing bright lines and juggling live grenades are just another day at the office.

Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him @BernardGoldberg.