Each succeeding election cycle, as I recall them, has been less collegial and more adversarial than the one before. In days gone by, men as different as Nixon and Kennedy could meet for a debate, treat each other honorably, and shake hands when it was over. Such days are now but a fading memory.
It happened gradually, if what I recall is actually true. Little by little, the respect paid by one side to the other had eroded, almost imperceptibly at first, increasing in small increments. Until 2016.
The election of 2016 was 'special'. The electorate was given a choice between Donald Trump, a boorish, egotistical huckster with a flexible definition of 'truth' and Hillary Clinton, former attorney, former First lady, former Secretary of State who — one would be forgiven for assuming — had to know the law regarding topics like 'conflict of interest' and 'national security' and who — one might be forgiven for assuming, given her many years in government — took her obligations seriously, and Gary Johnson, a retread Republican who couldn't be taken seriously by the GOP establishment. Only Johnson ran a gentlemanly campaign. As between the other two, the 'major party candidates', the only surprise by election day was that neither had punched the other.
Of course, the chance that boorish Trump might triumph over a seasoned professional politician was too ridiculous to seriously contemplate, so few seriously contemplated it.
The American voter, however, largely considered Clinton to be a probable threat to national security and gave the bulk of electoral districts (and electoral votes) to Trump.
How dare they! How effing dare they!! The Democrats collectively lost their minds. That Trump might have won the Presidency on his own merits was a sheer impossibility. There had to be another reason. The excuse their leadership settled upon was 'Russian collusion', and the rank and file got foursquare behind the idea that the dastardly Russkies had meddled in our election.
For 4 years and despite a series of unprecedented successes by Trump, successes that earlier Presidents had diligently worked toward without ever reaching (or, in most cases, approaching) those goals: a booming economy, historically-low minority unemployment, peace in the Middle East, and a radical skinnying of welfare rolls; Democrats and quasi-Democrats have repeatedly tried to undermine Trump's policies. The Mueller investigation found nothing it could prosecute beyond a few low-level operatives who were snagged on charges unrelated to the 2016 campaign. The subsequent Horowitz investigation determined that the Department of Justice had been subverted to the cause of neutralizing Trump. The mainstream media covers only stories that are damaging to the Republicans; stories that cast aspersions on Democrats are pooh-poohed as 'Russian disinformation' and buried along with UFO sightings.
One might be forgiven for thinking that things couldn't get any worse, but things have gotten much worse. Unable to depose their bête noir, the Left now seethes with anger. Cities burn, Antifa and BLM activists riot in the streets, bystanders are beaten and killed for no reason but that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Anarchy reigns, and it's time for another election cycle, this one more vitriolic than the last.
Despite the Democrats proffering a man who, in 47 years in the Senate and White House, has virtually nothing on his resume and who is a proven plagiarist to boot, coupled with a Vice-Presidential candidate who was so unpopular — among Democrats — that she had to drop out of the race for the nomination early — despite all that, Democrat voters have lined up behind the only chance they have to depose the man who killed all their dreams in 2016. It's vitriol that's fueling this election, and nothing else.
Vitriol is not a cure for anything, and if Joe Biden loses to President Trump in 2020, the level of vitriol is only going to increase and the situation in this country will get worse. How long before we seriously consider that 'secession' might be a good thing, all things considered?
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