Trump's magnet of malevolence

The conventional explanation for why Trump's second term is far more extreme than his first (which was extreme enough) is that the guardrails are now gone.

- Robert Reich American Voices Tribune Content Agency

The people who occupied significant roles in the White House and Cabinet during his first administration — who talked him out of (or subverted) his illegal and unconstitutional cravings — are no longer there. In their places are loyalists who will do whatever he wants.

But this conventional view overlooks a more important explanation.

He's more extreme this time because he's attracted people around him who are also extreme and pushing him to new levels of malevolence.

I've served under three presidents and advised a fourth. In every case, I've seen the same pattern: A president acts as a magnet, drawing into the highest levels of his administration people who not only share his values but amplify them.

When a president wants to do a decent job — at the least, respecting democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law — the magnet produces an administration of people who respect our institutions of self-government.

But when a president is malevolent, those drawn to him are among the most fanatical and dangerous in the land.