Being Civil in the Real World

Civility is defined as being polite and courteous in our daily life and activities.  Try finding that anywhere in President Donald Trump's America these days.

Incivility in politics has been around for as long as there's been a United States.  It didn't start with Trump, who struts around fancying himself a martinet with a smartphone in one hand and a raised clenched fist on the other.  It didn't start with Republican lawmakers in Congress who shot down everything President Barack Obama was trying to do from the moment he took office.  It didn't start when President George W. Bush after 9/11/01 declared you're either with us or against us.

But Trump and his enablers are setting a new standard for lowering the bar on civility in office, which is having a negative effect on international relations and invites questions over whether democracy will survive him.  He and his fans have been behaving like loudmouthed schoolyard bullies, frightening and intimidating anyone who crosses their path.  It has taken until now for Democrats, progressives and everyone else to wake up to what's going on.

During the "zero tolerance" crackdown on undocumented migrant families who were trying to cross the border from Mexico, the dominant image was of children being ripped from their parents and put into cages.  Another dominant image was that of First Lady Melania Trump wearing a message on the back of her jacket that read:  "I really don't care.  Do U?"  The President tried to explain it as her being on board with his anti-media message, but it meant so much more.

This has led to incidents where Trump staffers like press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, who were harassed while trying to eat dinner or are no longer welcome at certain restaurants.  There have also been protests across the country concerning the alleged conditions of the migrant families, as well as reports of detainees who claimed that they were treated like animals.

Also, five employees of the Capital Gazette, an Annapolis, Maryland-based newspaper, were gunned down in the latest attack on our society by a disgruntled individual with a gun.  The President, who has made the terms "fake news" and "enemy of the American people" synonymous with his dislike of any media that isn't Fox News, expressed his condolences to the victims' families and had to be convinced to lower the flag to half staff.  Few people think Trump was really sincere about it, and will probably go back to bashing the media in another Twitter rampage soon.  Meanwhile, the Gazette did put out the damn paper the day after the attack.

We have constantly been reminded that the most civil thing you can do to combat the excesses and pettiness of the Trump administration is to vote for Democrats to take over Congress this fall.  That may be true, but it's a long way from July 4th to Election Day in November.  Until then, everyone has to decide (in the words of TV's "Real World") whether the time has come to stop being polite and start getting real.