Language is twisted, words become weapons, creating confusion as we debate what America should be Columns and letters | Spokane | The Pacific Northwest Inlander

THe uses words as a weapon poisons our body politics. Respectful dialogue with the opposition now leads to agreements with the enemy. In this age of anger, malicious abuse reigns supreme.

Compare the civility of the Nixon-Kennedy debates with the stupidity and name-calling of the Trump-Biden debacle to see how our politics has degenerated. Imagine Lincoln in debates where Stephen Douglas calls his opponent “weird.” Or Lincoln calling the Gettysburg deaths “strange.” Idiot” and “loser”. Sure, the dirt-slinging, sharp-elbowing scrum of American election campaigns is a rollicking Democratic tradition. Even Lincoln was insulted as an “ignoramus” and a “fool”, which now seem quaint like Jimmy Stewart in the film Mr. Smith goes to Washington.

These days, bumper stickers scream obscenities. How do we explain “F-Biden” or “The Ho’s Got To Go” to our children? Profane vitriol is now normalized. Is it even possible to detoxify the discourse and restore civil society?

PPolitical categories The terms “liberal” and “conservative” have become pejoratives, the “vital center” has become a no-man’s land in this deep-rooted war of words. In reality, most Americans are conservative on some issues and liberal on others. But the more immediate threat to democracy is not this ideological divide, but the short-sighted voter who focuses on only one issue.

If our broken political body is to heal, the ballistic bombast must stop and our better angels must overcome our urge to demonize those with whom we disagree. We expect the same from our children.

Here are other political categories that are habitually abused to attack others. And when it comes to Trump, a few words fit. You can denounce Trump without demeaning his supporters. And we can respectful have different opinions. (Or does that mean weakness?) But speaking is not “freedom for me, but not for you.” It’s a one-way street – the dance of democracy.

“MARXIST”/“COMMUNIST” In his apocalyptic rhetoric, Trump equates liberals with communists, fueling fears that Democrats will launch a violent revolution, confiscate private property and persecute Christians. This is nonsense.

For Trump, anyone who wants to curb unbridled cowboy capitalism with regulations, who defends the First Amendment separation of church and state, or who wants billionaires like Elon Musk to pay their fair share of taxes is a Marxist. Trump Disingenuously Attacks Kamala Harris as a Marxist. Harris is offering $50,000 in tax deductions to small businesses, which is not remotely the policy of a Bolshevik.

The only “Marxists” I know tend to follow Groucho, not Karl. (As Irving Berlin quipped, “The world wouldn’t be in such a mess if Marx had been Groucho instead of Karl.”) They identify as liberal and view all political violence, right or left, as abhorrent. Like conservatives, they strive for the security of the American dream of capitalism. In a healthy democracy we may disagree about how to get there, but legislation forces compromise, the same give and take that is essential to good partnership and parenting. Otherwise, our homes are divided by bitter dysfunction.

“SOCIALIST” Capitalism imploded in 1929 and 2008, caused by unregulated markets. With unemployment at 25% during the Great Depression, Soviet communism and German fascism appeared to be a panacea for many U.S. workers disillusioned with capitalism. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and the socialist programs that followed saved American capitalism. If you receive Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare, VA benefits, or agricultural or other subsidies, you are a beneficiary of socialism. Half of us rely on such support.

“FASCIST” Witness the 2017 “Unite the Right” march of white supremacists spewing anti-Semitic hatred (“They won’t replace us!”), whom Trump praised as “very good people.” The vile smell of Nazi stormtroopers lingers as books are once again burned on the pyre of vanity. And this summer, Trump’s golf club twice hosted a venue that featured speeches from a neo-Nazi who compared Jews to a “plague of locusts” and said that “Hitler should have done his job.” Trump greeted those present: “You are great patriots.”

In 2016, JD Vance compared Trump to Hitler, who imprisoned political opponents; Trump has said he would do the same. Hitler established concentration camps to torture and kill Jewish “parasites”; Trump says he will set up detention camps from which immigrants he calls “rapists,” “crazy people” and “nonhumans” will be deported.

Retired Gen. Mark Milley, who led the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s final years in the White House, calls Trump “to the core fascist.”

“AUTHORITARIAN” Trump is more authoritarian. Trump assures his audience that he will reverse and rewrite history as the US becomes more ethnically diverse, less patriarchal and less Christian. Finally, some believe that the hand of God intervened and blocked an assassin’s bullet, giving him the mission of heaven. Trump: “God saved me so I could save the world.”

Former Vice President Dick Cheney warns: “In our 246-year history, there has never been a person who has posed a greater threat to our Republic than Donald Trump.”

How would you describe his statements such as “I will be a dictator from day one” and “I alone can do it”? Or his proposed use of the military against the “enemy within”? And do you think his romances with Viktor Orban, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin are harmless?

IN Trump against the USA, perhaps the most egregious decision since then Dred ScottThe Supreme Court’s “originalist” majority ruled that Trump could commit crimes with impunity if he could justify them as an “official” duty. This rejects the rule of law on which the founding fathers of the Constitution were based. If Trump is elected, he could be protected from prosecution beyond the law. As John Locke warned, “Where laws end, tyranny begins.”

Aside from Trump’s obvious authoritarian leanings, how would you describe his insistence that bleach is a cure for COVID, that doctors in the U.S. euthanize newborns, or that immigrants eat pets? This from a man who has a particular fascination with Hannibal Lecter. Are these the thoughts of a “very stable genius,” as Trump describes himself? How can some excuse such delusions and lies as harmless, even humorous bluster? (See my 7/11/24 Inland Essay on the Big Lie: “A lie is Bourne.”)

And what would you call a man who is accused of sexual assault and whose defense is, “She’s not my type?” How do we explain The for our children? Or when Trump calls Harris a “bitch,” how do some parents cope with berating their children for using the word while applauding Trump’s use?

If Trump wins, Project 2025 will defund the government we all depend on to maintain our American way of life. If Trump loses, will the clowns burn down the big top and release the lions? And if we are torn apart by political violence, how will some of his Christian followers a generation later explain to their grandchildren how Jesus tolerated violence?

I believe that most people are basically good. We raise our children to be good people by not imitating the bad behavior of people like Trump. And our children are learning from our behavior in this election. You will learn well if we temper our words, as the Bible says, from “swords to plowshares.” ♦

John Hagney taught Spokane high school and college history for 45 years. He was a respected teacher of the US President. His oral history of Gorbachev’s reforms has been translated into six languages.