DISTRESSING VIEWING

My distressing viewing this morning was the news. Any year we are having a presidential election, the news revs up a notch, but this year is particularly divisive and dramatic.

This morning I saw large crowds of Trump followers trying to beat up protesters. And I saw the protesters themselves disrupt the Trump rally.

Both these things are wrong in America. The people who came to hear Trump are entitled to hear Trump. The protesters have the right to protest. And the police surely shouldn’t end up bloody in the attempt to keep the two separate.

I’m not discussing who I’m voting for. And that’s not the point. America was founded to be a nation where people who didn’t care for national policy, or a political candidate, or a new law, should be able to protest publicly.

And a candidate should be able to discuss his hopes for his country without interruption, no matter how lame-brained and divisive his words are. That’s what we are as a nation.

In a year of embarrassment – and I have been wincing when I think of international news commentaries about our political battles -- this is the most embarrassing image of all. We have boasted for decades about what makes America great. And now that’s being stamped into the dirt, on camera.

I hope somehow we can return to the civility that should be the norm for politics. I remember there was a time when the gloves stayed on, for the most part. And that was, in my memory, a good time. Can we do it again? I don’t know.

Charlaine Harris

Comments

[Dean James]

I agree, Charlaine. The comparisons to what went on in Europe in the 1930s are rather frightening.

[catriona]

This is a genuine question - and isn't it sad that the ubiquity of snark means I have to say that? - but do people often protest at rallies, by standing up and showing their t-shirts and signs or by shouting "No"? Or is this particular to Trump's rallies?

[Charlaine Harris]

Catriona, I think that behavior is more common at sports events than at speaking engagements for presidential candidates. Though people do get excited about supporting someone, which is great . . . but not to the point of beating up people who disagree with their choice.

[Marcia Talley]

Leadership needs to be coming from the person standing at the podium, especially if that person plans to lead from the White House. That's what is so scary.

[Elaine Viets]

This year is frightening as well as saddening, Charlaine. What leader tells his followers to hit protesters in the face, punch them, and then promises to pay their bills if they're jailed?
I love my country, but this year, I'm deeply ashamed of it.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

WHat astonishes me, also, if the…acceptance of the "new truth." A person says something, then two days or two weeks later denies it ,and everyone says ,oh, yeah, okay.

Reality has evaporated, and it is so scary.

[Mark]

The year is so scary for politics. I agree with you 100%.

Well, except for one point. I don't think the gloves were ever off that much. Look back at stuff from any point in American history, and you'd see that, while things are especially bad this year, they've been bad in the past.