President Trump has seemed immune to the usual rules of politics.
The man who once boasted that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing support from voters regularly shatters political and legal norms at home and abroad, with few obvious consequences.
But every once in a while, Mr. Trump runs smack into whatever boundary remains and is forced to pull back, offering a glimpse into the country’s tolerance for his behavior.
The chaotic White House response to a racist video clip of the Obamas that Mr. Trump posted online was one moment where the administration realized that its usual reactions to criticism — laugh it off, double down, move on — would not work. And while Mr. Trump does not, as a rule, acknowledge wrongdoing — and did not in this case, either — he deleted the clip in the face of widespread outrage in what amounted to a remarkable climbdown.
“It is surprising, in itself, to ever see him take a step back to do anything other than, in the moment, double down and triple down, so in that sense it is surprising; it feels significant,” said Jeff Shesol, a historian and former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton who now serves as a partner at West Wing Writers, a speechwriting and strategy firm in Washington.
Mr. Trump still enjoys strong support from Republicans. The White House often points to a string of successes as evidence that for all the controversy over the president’s style and his tactics, his strategies are working. European allies are on track to spend more for their own defense, which Mr. Trump demanded, and he has intervened in a number of overseas conflicts, including winning the freedom of the 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
“President Trump is the unequivocal leader of the Republican Party and anyone who says otherwise is fooling themselves,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Republicans will remain united together against the radical Democrats, who will destroy our country once again, if given the chance, with wide open borders, noncitizens voting in elections, and horrible economic policy.”
It’s undeniable that Mr. Trump often skates through controversies that would have sunk any other politician. He continues to lie about having won the 2020 election and even a criminal conviction didn’t keep him from winning the presidency for a second time. In recent weeks, his administration threatened to shut down a major infrastructure project if it didn’t have Mr. Trump’s name on it.
Still, with the midterm election in November, Mr. Trump has been forced to backtrack — even if only by degrees, and even if only temporarily — at key moments, including on Friday when the White House moved to contain a bipartisan backlash over the video clip portraying the Obamas as apes.
The White House at first dismissed the criticism as “fake outrage” over an internet meme. But it soon became clear that Mr. Trump was facing a rebuke from members of his own party, starting with Senator Tim Scott, the sole Black Republican in the Senate and one of Mr. Trump’s close allies, who called the clip “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.” From there, a chorus of criticism poured in from Republicans.
By midday, the White House had taken the post down and blamed an unknown “staffer” for the mishap. By the evening, Mr. Trump said he did not realize the clip of the Obamas had been spliced into the end of the video. Asked if he condemned the racist depiction of the Obamas, he said: “Of course I do.”
But he notably declined to apologize, saying it wasn’t his mistake.
In recent months, Mr. Trump also has walked back his positions on the violent crackdown in Minneapolis, which left two U.S. citizens dead, and his threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other.” He also clearly feels the heat over the economy as Americans express deep uncertainty about the cost of living.
Republicans, though, may be starting to realize that Mr. Trump has eroded support on issues like the economy and immigration, which typically have been strengths for the Republican Party.
“What Trump does not understand is that political gravity is political gravity no matter who you are and how dominant you’ve been,” said Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, and one of Mr. Trump’s fiercest critics among Republicans.
Barrett Marson, a Republican strategist based in Arizona, said the controversy carried additional weight for the party, which has long tried to make inroads with the Black and Hispanic communities. “He’s losing that. He’s now going to burn those gains to the ground.”
He said that although Mr. Trump did not apologize for the post, deleting it was as close as the president would get to acknowledging that it was wrong. And even that may be short-lived.
“He can’t admit a mistake, and therefore he cannot learn from the mistake,” Marson said. “So do I think this could happen again? 100 percent. Is this the last time that he posts or reposts something that is offensive and racially charged? I’m sure that it is not.”
Mr. Trump has a pattern of snapping back to his original stance after backtracking under political pressure. After the bloody rallies in Charlottesville, Va., during his first term, Mr. Trump bowed to pressure from his aides and condemned white nationalists.
A day later, he reverted to blaming “both sides” for the deadly violence.
Erica L. Green is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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