Caffeinated Politics

I am going to state a fact that proves I have lived through many decades and witnessed many elected administrations in Washington. You likely agree with what you have lived through and what you know of our national story. There was a time when Americans expected the president of the United States to elevate the collective conversation. You and I didn’t always have to agree with the president’s party. We didn’t even always like the person in the Oval Office. But you know what we did agree on. We expected the president to understand the weight of the office. In the last century and this one, that was, at the very least, what we expected. It was not a controversial expectation. It was the bare minimum that every Democrat and Republican could agree upon.

So, what the dickens happened?

This evening, The Hill is reporting that Donald Trump repeatedly used an anti-transgender slur while attacking South Carolina Senate candidate Dr. Annie Andrews. It’s so appalling that even brownies and a mountain of ice cream after dinner cannot blunt the awfulness of the news for me. Trump used slurs multiple times in a Truth Social post directed at a woman who is a pediatrician and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. In other words, a strong professional woman. (Which is a pattern when it comes to Trump’s past attacks on women.)

I grew up knowing a president was supposed to lead our nation with words that lifted, calmed, supported, and helped position people for the future. A president used measured words to set a standard for public conduct. Tonight, once again, Trump chose to use language designed to humiliate, to demean, and, in so doing, has again lowered the dignity of the office and the country he represents.

The presidency is not a larger microphone for insults. I recall as a teenager how the example of words having meaning was presented with a real-time example. When President Nixon opened relations with China, it was noted that during his 1968 presidential campaign, he purposely softened his tone by moving away from the harsh rhetoric of “Red China” and adopted a calculated approach to signaling a future relationship with Beijing. And it bore results.

On the flip side, every insult from the Oval Office legitimizes more insults. Every act of cruelty signals permission for more cruelty. That is especially so with MAGA, which, as polling data shows, has large swaths of impressionable people with lower educational backgrounds.

What makes the bizarre episode from Trump so galling and particularly disturbing is that its only purpose was to ridicule and belittle. It was playground behavior coming from a man entrusted with the nuclear codes. Those slurs were meant to attack our fellow Americans. They are sons and daughters, neighbors and coworkers, veterans and taxpayers. They deserve the same basic respect owed to every citizen. A president should understand that. A president should model that.

This story lands as I am reading about what leadership looks like among the world’s headline makers across the pages of history. Time and again, great leaders expand the circle of belonging. Weak leaders look for vulnerable groups to mock. Great leaders inspire confidence. Weak leaders chase partisan applause through provocation. Like the news that prompted this column.

Readers who are perhaps less jaded than the rank-and-file are probably as sad as I am that the statement that once would have sparked outrage now risks being absorbed into the daily noise. Trump has normalized the most idiotic behavior and abusive language. The office deserves better. The country deserves better. Regardless of party, Americans should be able to say a simple truth. This is not how a president speaks, this is not how a president acts, and this is exactly the opposite of what leadership looks like.