Donald Trump is exposing how much of the presidency relies purely on tradition


President-elect Donald Trump has not released his tax returns. He has not given a formal press conference since his election. He wants his private security team to supplement the Secret Service. He is skipping many intelligence briefings because he is, "like, a smart person." And none of those things — along with many of the incoming president's other unconventional choices — are against the law.
As Politico explains in a new analysis Friday, Trump's decision to flout tradition at every turn "is shining a light on how much of the American political system is encoded in custom," not law. Much of what we expect the president to do and say is not grounded in any requirement more formal than longstanding practice — and that suits Trump just fine. "If it's not written down, you can get away with it," says Trump biographer Gwenda Blair. "That's the new premise."
The question once Trump takes office is how much he will push boundaries with real legal heft. As a candidate, Trump "said things that were clearly unconstitutional, but there's no legal prohibition about saying you're going to do something unconstitutional," explains Richard Painter, formerly chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush. But there is a legal prohibition "against doing something unconstitutional," and Trump will have to learn the difference if he wants to avoid offering grounds for impeachment to critics ready to pounce.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
One great cookbook: ‘The Woks of Life’
The Week Recommends A family’s opinionated, reliable take on all kinds of Chinese cooking
-
Digital addiction: the compulsion to stay online
In depth What it is and how to stop it
-
Can Trump bully Netanyahu into Gaza peace?
Today's Big Question The Israeli leader was ‘strong-armed’ into new peace deal
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoff
Speed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies