The normalizers are exuding calm – but Trump 2.0 is anything but normal

Hollywood actors at Sunday’s Golden Globe awards did not make their usual jokes or protests. Silicon Valley titans are falling over each other to donate to his inauguration fund. In Washington, some Democrats who boycotted his first inauguration have signalled their intention to attend this time.

There is no doubt the resistance to Donald Trump feels muted second time around. The word “fascist” has disappeared from political discourse as quickly as it appeared. The meeker tone gives the impression that Trump 2.0 will be more conventional, moderate and palatable than the first version.

In fact the opposite is true. There is an epic disconnect between this normalisation and the absurdly abnormal future facing America and the world. The 78-year-old’s shambolic hour-long press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday suggests we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Trump made clear that he covets Greenland and the Panama Canal and did not rule out taking them by force. He reiterated his interest in turning Canada into a US state and promised to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, musing: “What a beautiful name.”

Rambling about the January 6 insurrection that he instigated at the US Capitol, Trump said “we have to find out about” the involvement of both the FBI and Hezbollah (an Islamist movement founded by Iran during the middle of the 1975-90 Lebanese civil war).

This was Trump’s latest line of thinking on Jack Smith, the special counsel who brought criminal charges against him: “They brought this moron out of the Hague. He’s a mean guy. He’s a mean, nasty guy. His picture was perfect ’cos you look at his picture, you say that’s a bad guy. With his robe, his purple robe, and he executes people. He shouldn’t be allowed to execute people because he’ll execute everybody. He’s a nutjob.”

The president-elect weighed in on dishwaters, gas heaters, washing machines, water faucets and other appliances: “It’s called rain. It comes down from heaven. And they want to do no water comes out of the shower. It goes drip, drip, drip, so what happens you’re in the shower 10 times as long.”

Some of it was bleakly familiar to seasoned Trump watchers who have been forced to develop gallows humour for their own sanity. “The windmills are driving the whales crazy, obviously,” he remarked.

But the now repeated threats to US allies mark a new and alarming departure. Trump’s press conference coincided with a delegation of aides and advisers that included his son Donald Trump Jr visiting Greenland, a territory of Denmark.

Asked whether he could assure the world that he would not use military or economic coercion to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, Trump said: “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”

Suddenly the “America first” president who vowed peace through strength is sounding more like warmonger predecessors such as George W Bush. Such expansionism is music to the ears of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine is based on the logic that borders are no longer fixed and territory belongs to the strongest.

Is Trump bluffing? Is this just an elaborate ploy to look tough and gain leverage in negotiations over tariffs? Is it all a characteristic effort to throw out shiny objects that divert attention from more substantial topics?

Robert Reich, a former labour secretary, tweeted on Tuesday: “Get ready for four years of rambling and outrageous lies. But don’t let the absurdity distract you from the real goal of Trump 2.0: the continued consolidation of wealth & power into the hands of oligarchs. They want you to be so outraged that you tune out. Do not.”

There is another possible motive. Trump, a former reality TV star who craves attention and is obsessed with ratings, may be feeling the pressure of second album syndrome. He knows the resistance is dampened, cable news ratings are down and many are feeling Trump fatigue with little appetite for a sequel.

For a man who is all about spectacle, how do you top a first term that included accusing his predecessor of wiretapping, endorsing the accused child molester Roy Moore, telling the far-right Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”, posting “covfefe” on social media in the middle of the night, lobbing paper towel rolls into a crowd in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, suggesting bleach as a cure for Covid-19, altering a weather map with a Sharpie to cover up his mistaken hurricane prediction and much, much more?

The answer is by going even more extreme, even more provocative, even more outrageous than last time. Tuesday was a wake-up call to the normalisers who are sleepwalking towards disaster.