Robert Siegel

But

Not the Trump who would usurp the tariff authority from Congress or terrify Greenlanders with the news that they must become part of the United States.

But I'm thinking more of the Trump whose minions, after taking over the Kennedy Center, rename it for him.

and who releases a video, a horrible racist video that caricatures the Obamas as apes without any apology, these have nothing to do with being president.

I mean, the Greenland thing and the tariffs, that has to do with policy and the executive branch of government.

What is this?

And how do you think Americans are learning to cope with this person who seems to think that making America great again isn't even a work in progress?

It's a fait accompli, and we should all be a grateful people that we now live in a great society.

But does that mean, E.J., that Trump is getting a pass on anything from racism to megalomania?

And so we have a

a president who might have a sign behind him that says, the buck stops with the intern.

Harry Truman would be very upset.

David mentioned that this is his last day doing something journalistic for the New York Times.

You've been a columnist here for 22 years.

I just want to take a moment before we continue discussing to tell you how important your work has been over those 22 years.

how I think you really expanded what a newspaper column might be about and what we have to expect whenever we read the same columnist.

It could be very different from day to day.

You've sampled the world of academe and found interesting sources for material without turning into an academic writer in the process.

I have the greatest respect for you, and I'm

Very proud of my association with you, as small as it may be.