In the run-up to the 2018 midterm election, a progressive movement frothing at the mouth after two years of President Trump was throwing off all kinds of toxic radiation. Its self-assured promises to abuse power it didn’t even have were unnerving. Its anti-social behavior and defense thereof was even more so.
Progressives’ use of threats and intimidation against public officials and even their spouses helped turn the country off to their cause, and just in the nick of time. It likely blunted what could have been a much better performance for Democrats.
In response to all of the mob behavior that the public witnessed, egged on by leading Democratic politicians, conservatives rightly made the case for civility in politics. Even Trump got in on the act.
And now, if they’re going to be consistent, those on the Right have to try to live up to the ideals they talked up when it suited them. They should not be living down to the childish behavior of those they criticized.
When Trump goes on Twitter and calls Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, “Adam Schitt,” it isn’t a threat to the republic. It isn’t a constitutional crisis.
It is, however, childish and stupid, and far beneath the dignity of the president’s office.
Everyone has probably heard someone making fun of another person’s surname. For most people, however, that ended sometime in the fifth grade — sixth if your classmates were unusually immature.
Public feuding is an unavoidable part of American politics. There’s nothing wrong with it. But there are standards. Trump’s excremental jab at Schiff doesn’t convey to this nation’s allies or enemies the seriousness that would benefit the nation. It leaves the U.S. with fewer diplomatic levers.
What’s more, Trump has another, perhaps even more powerful motive to be a bit cleverer in how he insults his political opposition. He is now on the ballot. Beginning next Tuesday, after Mississippi’s runoff election is over, he will begin the task of trying to get himself re-elected.
Trump must be aware that both his fans and those undecideds willing to consider supporting him in 2020 would like to be proud of the person they vote for. Trump can help his cause a lot, and make that easier for them, by behaving with some modicum of restraint.
Naturally, we do not expect Trump to stop being Trump for that or any other reason. He will take his customary combative stance against the committees that will inevitably go on investigating him, even after the Mueller investigation is long over.
But he’s the president now. Surely he can do better than “Adam Schitt.”
[Read more: Trump should take this advice from fellow Republican Dan Crenshaw]
