To be fair, trump should be treated differently. Previous presidents recognized they were president for all of America and within the context of the partisan political views tried to do things they thought would be a benefit to the country. Donald trump is the first president who has been pretty overt that he doesn’t give a damn about the opposition side (he doesn’t actually care about the people on his side either if we’re being honest as well). He’s sought to mine our political polarization and division for his own personal gain at every opportunity. His decision making process is to do whatever he thinks is good for Donald trump and nothing else matters. To your point on being respectful, I don’t deny that media is a huge driver of our divide, but Donald trumps rhetoric and actions has definitely been an accelerant for that division. Because he intends it to be divisive.
He is unique, and sadly not in a good way. He should see increased scrutiny and criticism because of how he operates as president. Donald trump isn’t the reason we’re divided, he’s a symptom of that but he’s also an accelerant to that issue. To pretend he’s just like any other president and should be treated as such isn’t being honest or realistic.
I mean this is the kind of opposition narrative that doesn't really stand up to critical analysis. Which kind of goes for much of what's been thrown at Trump from Russiagate to Stormy Daniels to Epstein and so on.
We can't explain Donald Trump's choices and actions from a frame of "what is good for Donald Trump". Most of them simply don't make sense in that regard, and even if we thought he was a risk taker by nature he's exposed himself to overwhelming threats and loss. Before 2016, Trump was a successful billionaire, with some power brokering and a family winning the genetic lottery. By getting every establishment knife at his throat, he's had his businesses ripped to shreds by nakedly political prosecutions, he's been in nonstop legal and mortal jeopardy and if he hadn't literally dodged bullets
and won his election he'd be either dead or in prison. And now that's he's regained power, when his foes kneel before him he's demanding token submissions that almost always either provide no benefit to Trump or benefit our nation instead. A plane for the government and his library? Lawyers forced to work pro bono for his administration? His most acerbic critics taken off the airwaves? Look at mayor Adams, he made a deal to support Trump's immigration enforcement to save his own corrupt ass- a personal benefit for Adams, a public benefit for the Trump administration.
Trump is far more in line with historical presidents who have also been pugilistic and vilified and pushed the envelope of executive powers, but always represented a philosophy- whether we agree with their direction or not. That vilification of Trump has not been in line with history save maybe Lincoln- throwing a hundred accusations at wall and seeing what sticks, trying to disenfranchise or imprison or just murder him over and over again. Trump is centered amidst a blazing wildfire whether he's the accelerant or the left's hate boner is to blame or whatever degree between.