Bullying the Orange Man: Have we become bullies without realizing it?

When Donald Trump first decided to run for president in 2016, most people thought he would make a terrible president. Even establishment Republicans felt this way at that time. Remember how much they detested Trump during their own primary race, while he was insulting their wives? He was a bully. He spoke and behaved crudely toward women. He rallied his supporters to chant that his political opponent should be locked up, and even displayed mocked-up displays of her behind bars. He called immigrants criminals and rapists. He played dirty politics. Liberal-minded people and the left wing media argued that, for these and many other reasons, Trump would make a terrible president and he did not belong in politics. I strongly agreed with them and I still do. These arguments failed in 2016, and Trump won the presidency.

Over the next 8 years, backed against a wall with their worst nightmare having come true, the left wing media increased their rhetoric against Trump. There are many examples of this. Saturday Night Live skits and late night talk show hosts made fun of Trump relentlessly. Liberals found it to be hilarious, and it was a well-needed way for them to cope with the horror they felt from Trump’s win and control over three branches of government. I was one of the people who felt this way and needed this.

But sometime over the last 8 years, I started to notice that media’s treatment of Trump inconspicuously crossed a line. I first noticed this in Steven Colbert’s late night talk show. I am a fan of Colbert, and I know his intentions were good, but his jokes about Trump started to stoop below the belt. They attacked him personally, about things that do not affect his fitness for presidency. They made fun of his physical appearance. They made fun of his wife. They joked that they wanted him to die from COVID. These are just a few examples. I feel that these media sources lost credibility when they stooped this low.

Last week, someone sent me a link to this video. https://www.facebook.com/Patricia%20Desi%20Doherty/posts/503798902212721/ I do not know if this is a real video or not, but it does not matter since the video itself is speech and it is being sent around the Internet. It is a video of a large crowd of people outside Trump Tower in NYC chanting “New York hates you” over and over again.

This made me think of the bullying education that parents and students receive from schools. Bullying educators emphasize that lone bullies are not as harmful as group bullies. When a whole group of people together verbally attack a person, it is way more harmful for the recipient. I think that Trump is a bad person and should not be in politics. But what is the effect of the way the media treats him when they stoop below the belt?

My answer is that it creates sympathy in the hearts of those who are not so opposed to his policies. I am a person that always tries to help the victims of others’ bad treatment. I am not inclined to help Trump since he has done so much to hurt other people. But there are a lot of people out there who do not like to see media treatment of him that crosses the line into personal attacks that are not relevant to his fitness for office. I think the video of New Yorkers chanting “New York hates you” is an example of that.

If we are honest with ourselves, most liberal-minded people do not want Trump to die. We would be perfectly happy if he would just get out of politics, since we think he is too harmful to our country in politics. But we would not care if he went back into the commercial real estate business. The other businesses he deals with can take care of themselves, and if they are smart they can choose not to deal with him. We do not need to truly hate Trump as a person. We did not hate him before he entered politics. I didn’t care about him before he entered politics, and I think I enjoyed watching The Apprentice in the past.

Another reason our cruel treatment of Trump is a problem is that it is making him into a very angry man. You can see it in everything he says now. He is being backed into a corner and his reaction is rage. I believe that he will pardon the January 6th rioters, that he will seek revenge on the Department of Justice and that he will make it his mission to destroy all his political opponents as soon as he can. We have converted a person whose policies and personality we deplore into an incensed man who might let loose on this country starting in January 2025.

My point is that we liberals, including left wing media, should put a check on our rhetoric about Trump. Here are some guardrails that I have in mind:

• Before criticizing Trump, ask yourself whether your critique is relevant to his fitness for political office.

• As a test, in whatever you plan to say, replace Trump with another person that you dislike, and see if it feels right to say it about that other person. If it doesn’t, what you plan to say might be below the belt.

• Do not critique Trump’s physical appearance

• Do not wish him bodily harm or illness

• Do not make fun of or involve his family members who are not involved in his politics. (This includes Ivanka and Melania at this point, since they have checked out of politics.)

• Don’t assume that all Republicans are like Trump. Some Republicans are simply people who believe in different tax and social policies than liberal-minded people tend to. We got along with them before 2016 and we should still be able to get along with them. We don’t have to let Trump create a rift between us.

If you have other ideas how we can better live up to our own standards of behavior when discussing Trump, please share them. Let’s not let someone else’s bad behavior cause us to lower our own standards for how we treat other people. Let’s keep our own integrity intact.