Even before his return to the White House, the president-elect Donald Trump He tests the limits of presidential power by respecting his own rules. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Time and again, Trump has succeeded in moving the boundaries of what is acceptable and unacceptable in American politics. Let’s start with his plan to overturn tradition by appointing a loyalist to lead the FBI.

This week, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced he would resign before Trump takes office. Not because his term is over, but because Trump said so. Since Watergate, a 10-year term was set up for this role, specifically to ensure that the FBI director was insulated from presidential politics. This rule makes sense if you care about things like holding our leaders to the same legal standards as everyone else. But that didn’t stop Trump.

Last month, Trump announced that he wanted conspiracy theorist Kash Patel to replace Wray. (Reminder: Trump chose Wray to lead the FBI in 2017 after firing James Comey.) Wray could have stayed until 2027 or forced Trump to fire him if Trump really wanted a change, but he didn’t. It could be said that Wray is resigning to escape Trump’s wrath or to avoid a messy distraction that would overshadow the work of the office. Whatever his intentions, the move allows Trump to bend the rules without resistance.

A big question remains: will the Senate also play the game? Trump and his allies are demanding the loyalty of congressional Republicans to ensure that Patel and his other controversial Cabinet picks are approved without much resistance. There’s a long list of alarming scandals affecting many of his picks, but we can’t forget one key factor: Many of them simply aren’t qualified. Choosing unqualified people to run critical government agencies should be a scandal in itself, but here we are.

The Senate was once a bulwark against unqualified people running government agencies. It was a good rule. Trump doesn’t want to play with that. Indeed, Trump will use these unqualified individuals to impose aggressive executive actions, implementing his MAGA agenda on everything from mass deportations to tariffs.

The legislative and judicial branches will play a role in determining the extent to which a politician or political party can erode institutional safeguards. Even if we don’t know exactly where this new line will be, one thing is certain: it’s moving. And the new rules of the game will determine how Washington operates over the next four years.

Safeguards are not laws. These are norms that are accepted until someone like Trump no longer accepts them. Going forward, the president-elect will break down these barriers. These attacks on our democracy are certainly not normal, but we must not get lost in a debate about whether Trump’s antics are “normal.”

“Normal” is subjective, and there will be a new firestorm to fuel the news cycle every day. Let’s be intentional in how we respond. Whether it’s “normal or not” won’t win the debate or change the way he wields his power. Instead, it will be much more productive to focus on determining what is acceptable and what is not.

This invisible line of acceptability has moved throughout American history. As a nation, we enslaved black people because it benefited some Americans economically. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the government returned Japanese Americans to internment camps. Women did not have the right to vote until 19th amendment was adopted just over a century ago.

Over the course of our country’s history, the boundaries of what is “normal” have shifted. Sometimes two steps forward, one step back. As we look for a path forward, it is important to start asking ourselves: Where is the limit now? And who can draw it in the second Trump era?

In the past, the line has moved because people worked to move it and then defended its position. The United States of America is the first attempt at multiracial democracy. We defined ourselves by overcoming obstacles. Over the next few years, we must remember: Trump does not have to define us. The very idea of ​​who we are as a nation is being challenged, but the American people have the power to draw the line, reset the rules, and emerge stronger.

For more thought-provoking ideas from Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, watch “The weekend” every Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. ET on MSNBC.