Paula Dwyer , Columnist

Shattering All Those 'Norms' in 2016

What we lose when the unwritten rules of the road are repeatedly broken.

December 29, 2016 at 1:30 PM UTC

Paula Dwyer is a senior editor with the New York editing hub, focusing on daily and long-form enterprise. She was London bureau chief for Businessweek and Washington economics editor for the New York Times, and is a co-author of “Take on the Street: How to Fight for Your Financial Future.

No rules.
Photographer: Albin Lohr-Jones/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

The buzziest word for dejected liberals and disillusioned conservatives in 2016? "Norms" is my nomination.

The word is everywhere, often preceded by "democratic" or "constitutional." In the Dec. 22 issue of The New York Review of Books, Mark Danner said, "Donald Trump has been the shatterer of norms." After the election, my Bloomberg View colleague Francis Wilkinson lamented "the erosion of democratic norms." Their deterioration also alarms law professors and pollsters. Even some conservatives have been distressed at the way Trump flouts norms.