opinion

Did Donald Trump break the presidency? | Opinion

If you're someone who's hoped that soon, things will be back to normal -- whether that means President Donald Trump settles into office and becomes a more conventional president, or whether he's shown the door -- a previous normal that didn't involve a president whose campaign is suspected of Russian collusion, who nods to neo-Nazism and white supremacy, and gins up nuclear threats seemingly because, I don't know, it's Tuesday, get right off that.

We're at sea, and there is no land in sight. This, friends, is normal now.

More: 'Blame on both sides' in racist attacks?

Riley: There are no sidelines for Americans now that Trump has chosen sides

It's been a rough few decades for the American presidency. Former President Bill Clinton was impeached, as a cringing nation heard more about his questionable affairs than anyone -- anyone -- ever wanted to know. Former President George W. Bush boasted that even a C-student could become president; his malapropisms inspired a book. And former President Barack Obama was, objectively, subject to more malicious abuse than any other president in American history.

Kaffer: GOP’s alt-right flirtation comes home

And now there's Trump, who has changed the bounds of the presidency in ways unimaginable for any previous officeholder. The chaos of his White House, his frank admiration for a hostile head of state, a seeming disregard for the actual business of governing, that Nazi thing -- are de rigeur for Trump.

Americans don't revere presidents like kings -- that was a chief fear of the Founding Fathers, and one reason they favored limited terms for any president. But Americans should be able to respect the office of the president, if not the officeholder, as the old saying goes.

The Founding Fathers intended for U.S. Congress to hold more power than the executive, says political scientist Matt Zierler, an associate professor at Michigan State University's James Madison College, a balance of power that began to change only after World War II.

And when it comes to wielding executive power, Trump is fairly constrained by the other two branches of government -- the courts and the U.S. Congress are working just as they ought, when it comes to bird dogging the president's agenda.

But Trump is also re-making the federal government, leaving appointments empty and making dramatic changes to departments like the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

More: MSU denies request from white supremacist group headed by Richard Spencer

More: DeVos decries 'racial bigots' in white nationalist movement

"Presidents have changed things all the time, institutionally, but this seems to be more dramatic," Zierler said -- and if too many qualified professionals leave, the next president could face a steep disadvantage.

The power and respect each officeholder commands, and, as a result, how effective each president is able to be, changes, Zierler says. And when it comes to the power the president can access, or how a president interacts with his constituents, "there’s no such thing as normal."

But Trump's behavior strains even an elastic office.

"Can it bounce back? Sure, but it also depends on how long this goes on, and it depends on who follows him," Zierler said.

A more conventional politician, respected by leaders across the political spectrum and with a bench of talent to stock a new administration, could remake the office, Zierler says.

Could.

What will happen? Your guess is as good as mine. Or, as Zierler puts it, "We’re living in a period of unknowns."

That's all part of our new normal.