At this point, you sort of expect Donald Trump’s big-picture assaults on free speech, foreigners, and the rule of law. (Sometimes, as in the case of the new outright assault on US higher ed, all three are packaged in one convenient wrapper.) Although troubling and dangerous, these kinds of attacks are all at least predictably unhinged; most are drawn from the standard authoritarian playbook or its more recent “illiberal democracies” update.
It’s when you look into the details, though, that one is constantly reminded: Nothing is too petty to be corrupted in Trumpworld.
Not even “out of office” auto-replies.