The mainstream has indirect influence though. If the mainstream had found those actions intolerable, he either wouldn’t have done it or there would have been a strong enough backlash from society for him to face consequences. But he did and there wasn’t. We all (hopefully) agree that 30 years ago, what he did would have been unacceptable. So there you go, shifted Overton window.

Mainstream means “used or accepted broadly rather than by small portions of population, market, scientific community, etc.”. There was an action, there was some debate, then everybody shrugged it off and/or moved on. That’s acceptance. You can’t just say that something isn’t mainstream because you feel it isn’t.

If that was unacceptable by the mainstream, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his ceo positions or get his department. The public and the media voicing some concern but otherwise accepting the situation proves that this is within the acceptable mainstream boundaries. It’s not an “extremist minority” if it’s the president’s aide.

Dude, there was a guy at the presidential inauguration celebration that gave a Nazi salute. Twice. Who afterwards proceeded to get a high ranking job in the government.

The Overton window is travelling right at relativistic speeds.