It's been this bad for a long time - or rather, the reason the news is this bad now is because of what previous Admins could get away with hiding or making sound reasonable. Of course, your wording is interesting in this context, as the real difference is not the Admins, but the behavior of corporate mass-media.

I put most of the blame here on Trump. Conduct that would have ended political careers only 15 years ago now seem like weekly fare.

(sorry for delayed reply) Could you be specific? I would claim it was just as bad 15 years ago as it is now, the only difference being it was better-hidden/condoned.

How about these for a start: * Threatening Greenland * Pushing Canada as 51st state * Renaming Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario  * "Reciprocal" tariffs  * Threatening broadcasters and late-night hosts (Kimmel, Colbert) * Restricting press access over unfavorable coverage * Targeting law firms tied to political opponents * Withholding congressionally approved funds * Deploying military forces into US cities * Running taxpayer-funded ads featuring himself * Pursuing investigations of political adversaries * Attacking his own Supreme Court appointees after adverse rulings * Attacking the Fed * Self-enriching crypto venture * Trump merchandise galore

I asked, and you certainly answered. I would divide what you're presenting here, though, into the following categories: Silly/Hollow (Canada/gulfs and lakes), Petty Avarice (ads, merchandising just like he's always done), Petty and Possibly Dubious (late-night hosts, press access, Fed), and Bad, But Precedented (military forces, investigations). I'm more concerned with far greater evils than these, and when it comes to those, prior Presidents (or facsimiles thereof), have him matched or even exceeded.

Though it's not always clear what bucket to put his actions in. That aside, what matters more to me is a president's core values, and I think they all speak to his.

The bigger problem is what is known as the Washington Blob, though, a whole that is exponentially LESS than the sum of its parts. Anyone whose "core values" remotely resemble a true threat to the status quo simply is not permitted to make it to the White House. I don't think Trump's are all that different from those of his predecessors, and to the extent they are, they make him a less effective Evil.