By Ed Rogers

Special To The Washington Post

What President Donald Trump said about how he would have run into the Parkland, Florida, high school is wrong on so many levels. It is offensive and even grotesque. Right? Of course. It was wildly egotistical, self-serving and inconsistent with what we know about Trump’s general approach to life. Enough said.

So, this latest remark should be lampooned and ridiculed and cause his support to wane. Correct? Well, after more than a year of Trump being in office, I know what to expect.

Plenty more Republicans and independents than you’d think will agree with Trump, or at least say, well, we don’t know, maybe he would run into an active shooting, burning building or whatever. The inappropriateness of what he said is obvious.

But so often, I’m wrong about the reaction among Republicans and the political consequences. I wonder: Am I going crazy?

Perhaps Trump is making everyone crazy. Democrats are unhinged, and many Republicans are shell-shocked. Almost every day, there is some outlandish remark or revelation by the president that is beyond the pale of what is – or at least should be – acceptable. But often, when I find something the president has said or done to be inexcusable and, to say the least, inappropriate and unpresidential, many in my conservative crowd simply respond that I am out of touch and “don’t get it.” They never explain what the “it” is, but here we are.

I will admit that this pattern of Trump doing or saying something bizarre and me being wrong about the consequences has had a chilling effect on my sense of clarity. I’ve gone from saying, “Wow, this is crazy, he’s really done it this time,” to just saying, “Uh, this is kinda weird, right?” I am slower to react. I have more self-doubt.

The term “gaslighting” is much in vogue these days. According to Stephanie Sarkis, “Gaslighting is a tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a victim question their reality.” It appears that is exactly what is happening — at least to Republicans.

When Trump says something ridiculous or there is an incredibly outrageous, credible and destructive allegation made against him — like that he would have rushed into the Florida high school without a gun or that his lawyer paid off a porn star — I pause and think that maybe I’m wrong to assert the revelation’s significance.

To make matters worse, Trump just doubles down on whatever he says or has done. Credible apologists rush to the scene and offer excuses or some sort of context that I do not see. The Trump phenomena is defined by such a high volume of outrage that before any one tweet, remark or scandal can take full effect, a new one comes along and overwhelms the last. Trump seems to surf along on the chaos he creates. The result is a lot of good Republicans don’t know how to make sense of what is happening.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have simply lost their minds. Democrats and their allies in the media are equating Russian hacking to 9/11 and saying the GOP tax plan will kill thousands. Come on.

Anyway, the more Trump’s antics go on, the more I feel like Republicans have become quasi-victims of Stockholm syndrome. Like those who experience a sense of trust or affection toward their captors in cases of kidnapping and hostage-taking, many Republicans have learned to love and accept the president despite his obvious shortcomings. At the end of the day, he has supported tax reform, rolled back regulation and appointed conservative judges. But none of that is because of his tweets, his nauseating ego or his scandals. I have been consistently wrong in saying that each of Trump’s tweets and remarks will be the final nail in the coffin, but so far, enough has not been enough. With that said, Republicans shouldn’t succumb to the gaslighting. We shouldn’t succumb to questioning reality and pretending that everything is fine and that there won’t be any consequences for what is happening.

The Republican Party, the party of classic, conservative principles, is going to outlast Trump. We need to remember that. We’ve all been so wrong about Trump for so long that we might think there is something new under the sun. There isn’t. Trump is a phenomenon. But there is no “Trump” approach to politics or governing. Republicans need to call it the way we see it.

Ed Rogers

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