Chivalry is dead! Apparently, civil discourse is, too!
Here’s the thing: These two proclamations have been truths way before they became politicized in the era of Donald Trump. If everyone is being honest, then it is quite simple to look at different events or moments in our everyday lives which reveal that discourteous behavior has been, and not just recently become, the hallmark for what may be called typical behavior.
In addition, it didn’t take coarse language heard on a tape or repeated name-calling towards political opponents from our current president to reveal the incivility in our country. There are numerous examples that one could pull from music and other forms of entertainment to illustrate this point.
With these things in mind, it’s easy to see that what happened last Friday to Trump’s press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was actually not as dumbfounding as it has been hyped up to be. Well, possibly dumbfounding for Sanders, but it should not be to anyone else.
What is dumbfounding? A politician calling for aggressive behavior by her supporters towards those these see as political opponents.
What has astonished many of us? The fact that Mrs. Huckabee Sanders needing protection from the Secret Service.
What is disheartening? A person having to be subjected to a tirade by a group of protesters, while she desires to enjoy a meal.
And why is it that members of a president’s cabinet or other government officials cannot be allowed to enjoy moments away from the political spotlight?
If the country — that is, all of the citizens — got on board with adhering to an objective standard and a norm void of any partisan biases, then we may be able to get somewhere closer to healthy interactions again. But too much whataboutism or inconsistency is going on.
There are people on the left who may agree with the owner of the Red Hen restaurant supposedly standing up for her convictions and who applaud her for having done so. Nevertheless, would the same group be as supportive or understanding to someone on the Right doing the same thing, albeit for a different reason altogether? Accusations and counter-accusations over unwarranted conduct leads to nowhere when what is considered to be the norm is easily dismissed echo chamber-style support.
In the era of Trump, it would be too easy to point the blame in his direction. Still, one would have to be honest about what is becoming custom to see in political debates is not Trump’s fault necessarily. Trump’s past behavior (and possibly his future behavior) has not been the very source of what is the division in our country. No, Trump’s speech and social media posts are a symptom and/or an outward manifestation of the disease that pervades throughout our country, which at its nucleus are political misunderstanding, civility, and logical argumentation.
I don’t know if everything that Trump touches dies as Rick Wilson’s forthcoming book will assert, but everyone in Trump’s administration may face hostile reactions from people who despise Trump. The “resistance” is making it a dire cause to “resist” Trump by any means necessary. So, those people who are interested in denying service to Trump functionaries or the “deplorables” — Trump’s base — are welcome, even if that response is deplorable in and of itself.
Jerome Danner (jadanner1@yahoo.com) is a member of Project 21, an initiative of The National Center for Public Policy Research. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and his website.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.