About the Trump Incoherence and Erosion of Norms Tracker
The Trump Incoherence and Erosion of Norms Tracker is an ongoing documentation project that records and categorizes verbatim public statements and actions by Donald J. Trump that signal departures from established democratic, institutional, and rhetorical norms.
The project focuses on two related but distinct phenomena:
Erosion of Norms — language or conduct that weakens democratic guardrails by normalizing personal authority, delegitimizing oversight institutions, rejecting accountability, or violating long-standing expectations of restraint, truthfulness, and constitutional process.
Incoherence — speech patterns that exhibit logical breakdowns, internal contradictions, non-sequitur transitions, disorganized syntax, or semantic drift that impede coherent public communication at the presidential level.
Scope and Methodology
Verbatim-only sourcing: All entries rely on direct quotations or clearly documented actions, drawn from reputable primary sources such as wire services, official transcripts, court records, and major broadcast outlets.
Conservative inclusion standard: Entries are included only when the statement or action itself—without interpretation—meets defined criteria for norm erosion or incoherence.
Contextual transparency: Each record includes brief contextual explanation explaining why it qualifies under the project’s criteria.
Chronological tracking: Data is organized by date to allow longitudinal analysis of patterns, escalation, and normalization over time.
What This Project Is — and Is Not
This tracker is not a psychological diagnosis, a legal judgment, or an advocacy campaign. It does not speculate about intent, mental health, or motivation. Its purpose is documentary: to preserve a structured, evidence-based record of observable speech and behavior that would historically be considered abnormal, disqualifying, or institutionally dangerous for a democratic head of state.
At the same time, the project recognizes that repeated departures from norms—when left unexamined—can become normalized. By cataloging these events systematically, the tracker aims to support journalists, researchers, historians, and concerned citizens in evaluating democratic health using primary evidence rather than hindsight.
Purpose
Democratic systems rely not only on laws, but on shared expectations of conduct, restraint, and accountability. This project exists to document when those expectations erode in real time—clearly, calmly, and with fidelity to the record.