Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump has violated so many norms, rules and people, it is hard to keep track. Think: "grab 'em by the pu**y," being held liable for sexual assault (behavior that would be called "rape" in most states), Jeffrey Epstein, numerous women claiming he assaulted them, conviction on 34 felony counts, hiding classified documents in his bathroom, not paying his vendors, hiding his tax returns, being impeached twice and surviving, and much, much more. Why can't other politicians, like Graham Platner, get away with things Trump gets away with? It is a valid question.
For starters, the two parties are very different. A large part of the Republican base—white, working-class men—feels the country's economic and political systems are crooked and rigged against them. They see Trump as a disrupter who is also fighting the "system" and admire him for doing so, and are therefore willing to overlook his personal flaws as minor compared to what they perceive he wants to do (get even with media, legal, political, academic, and other elites who want to punish him).
The Democrats are dominated by precisely those same college-educated, affluent elites who believe in the rule of law and also believe the "system" is largely on the level if someone like Barack Obama can grow up to be president. The Democratic voters are heavily female and think sexual assault is a Very Big Deal, unlike many of the working-class men who admire Andrew Tate and his ilk in the manosphere. Democrats simply hold their politicians to a higher standard than many Republicans do.
Another factor is that Trump is simply sui generis. He has a unique combination of lying, bluster, bullying, intimidation, cunning and snake-oil charisma that no other politician has (or wants, actually). He is able to convince his followers to believe what he says and not their lying eyes. Few, if any, other politicians alive today can pull this off. Trump floats above reality. It is not an easy thing to achieve. Maybe Trump has a skill set that no one else has.
Recent history is littered with politicians who discovered the hard way that there is one set of rules for Trump and a different one for them. Think: Rod Blagojevich, Andrew Cuomo, John Edwards, Katie Hill, Roy Moore, Graham Platner, "George Santos," Eliot Spitzer, Eric Swalwell and Anthony Weiner, to name a few, some of whom discovered this even before Trump was on the scene. There are more Democrats than Republicans on the list because for a Republican to be disgraced and excommunicated, his or her sins have to be extremely heinous. Roy Moore lost to a Democrat because even in Alabama being a child predator is a bridge too far for a Republican.
The fact that Trump is Teflon coated the way no other politician is, is good news. He has a very special talent for avoiding accountability that doesn't transfer to other politicians who try to get away with things he has gotten away with. He can't just spray some of his Teflon on other Republicans and give them the gift of immunity. It just doesn't work. (V)