"...it's time to look at the role played by the increasingly heated rhetoric that characterizes political, cultural and social debate in this country...
It has gotten much worse in recent decades; political opponents now compare other candidates to mass-murdering dictators or accuse them (and the party they belong to) of the most malevolent possible motivations.
- Former President George W. Bush was often compared to Hitler.
- During the 2012 presidential campaign, studiously wonky Paul Ryan, Republican Mitt Romney's running mate, was accused of wanting to "push granny off a cliff" — including an infamous political ad that showed exactly that...
- But nothing can compare to the reaction to Donald Trump's election, which can only be described as mass hysteria. On his inauguration day and for weeks thereafter, Washington, D.C., and other cities were roiled by riots and violence. People sat in the streets and screamed. Windows were broken, cars set on fire. Johnny Depp and Madonna made unfunny jokes about actors killing presidents and blowing up the White House...
- Former President Barack Obama called Americans who opposed his policies "bitter" people who "cling to their guns and their religion."
- Hillary Clinton called Trump's supporters "a basket of deplorables."
- President Joe Biden's Justice Department is targeting conservatives, pro-life Christians and irate parents objecting to pornography in schools, warning that they are potential "domestic terrorists."
Academics seeking tenure publish outrageous social "theories" that smear wide swaths of the population, accusing them of every conceivable form of hatred...
- Terminology takes on quasi-criminal tones: Misunderstandings or perceived slights are "microaggressions." Due process in campus sexual assault cases is "another form of rape." And then there's the all-purpose rage inflator: "Words are violence."...
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