Logic of the vendetta now guides our politics
U.S. politics descends further into the logic of the vendetta. If you read about famous feuds or intergenerational rivalries — Hatfields vs. Mccoys, Israelis vs. Palestinians, etc. — one simple truth makes everything much more complicated: Everybody has a valid point. The Hatfields shout, “Your family shot my uncle!” The McCoys reply, “Well, you folks hanged my father!”
And they’re both right. And they’re both wrong.
They’re right that the other side did something bad, but they’re wrong that the first bad act justifies the second.
They’re also wrong because, outside of war, “sides” don’t really kill people; people kill people.
Until now, I’ve been speaking mostly metaphorically. We’re not a failed state where competing coalitions visit bloody reprisals on each other. We’re not Ancient Rome either. But we’re getting closer. And you can tell by the way we’re talking.
In response to the recent package bomb scare, the overwhelming response from Democrats and most of the mainstream media is that this is all Donald Trump’s fault.
“Time and time again, the president has condoned physical violence and divided Americans with his words and his actions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a joint statement.
Trump’s call for unity in response to mail-terror attacks “ring hollow,” they added. And they’re right.
Indeed, Trump seemed to demonstrate the hollowness in a later tweet: “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News.”
On one level, this tweet is loopy. It seems unlikely that suspect Cesar Sayoc was sending explosive devices to Barack Obama, Robert De Niro and Rep. Maxine Watters to teach the “fake news” a lesson. That would be some serious three-dimensional media criticism right there.
But Trump has a point, too. His “enemy of the people” rhetoric is irresponsibly hyperbolic, but it resonates with millions of people who have good reason to believe that much of the media have gone off the rails in their animosity toward Trump and Republicans.
More relevant, Trump’s most loyal defenders leapt to make the case that Schumer, Pelosi and all of the Democrats and pundits blaming Trump for fomenting a climate of violence are hypocrites given the things they’ve said and done.
Let’s not forget that ricin was sent to Trump. GOP
Rep. Steve Scalise was shot at a practice for a charity baseball game by a man motivated by liberal rhetoric.
The point is not about “whataboutism” or “both sides-ism.” As a conservative who is critical of Trump, the Democrats and the mainstream media, I have no team here. The point is that everybody is using the real or perceived hypocrisy of the “other side” to justify their refusal to look squarely at their own side’s irresponsible words and deeds.
It’s obvious to me that Trump’s demonizing rhetoric is dangerously irresponsible. His responsibilities as president do not change regardless of what his critics say about him. But the reactions to Trump are often irresponsible, too. And saying “Trump is worse” doesn’t change that.
Yes, everybody is right. But that doesn’t mean everybody isn’t wrong, too.
Contact Jonah Goldberg at goldbergcolumn@gmail. com.