Turn Off The Vitriol
Candidates and their supporters are getting meaner as Election Day draws closer.
Can the crowds outside of debates turn off the vitriol, please? Can the crowds inside the debates stop with the shouts and jeers and inappropriate applause? The rest of us want to hear the candidates, not the catcalls.
Just how hostile the campaign trail has gotten in the era of Trump became evident last week in New London, where supporters of gubernatorial hopefuls Democrat Ned Lamont and Republican Bob Stefanowski squared off outside the debate venue, chanting and shouting and getting in each other’s faces, until a Lamont supporter and a Stefanowski supporter got into a shoving match.
Full-throated defense of political beliefs is one thing. Violence is another. Police had to stand by to keep the peace before a debate Monday in New Haven as factions shouted “We want Ned” or “We want
Bob.”
The rhetoric is getting rather mean too. Lori Pelletier, the president of the state AFL-CIO, chimed in on Twitter during Monday’s debate, saying Mr. Stefanowski was “acting like a punk not a good look.”
The two candidates got their share of personal shots in during the debates. “He knows nothing about the world we live in,” Mr. Lamont said of his opponent. Mr. Stefanowski, speaking about a state law on a medical issue, said to Mr. Lamont, “You may not know it because I’m not sure what you know.”
These zingers are nowhere near as nasty, however, as those lobbed by the man who is now in the White House.
The vitriolic tone was set by Republican President Donald Trump on the campaign trail a few years ago. For example, he told his audience in early 2016 on the day of the Iowa caucuses, “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell ... I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise.”
His supporters got the message. A study earlier this year showed a rise in local assaults on those days when he appeared in cities for rallies. There was no such rise when his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton came to town.
Maybe Connecticut is seeing something akin to this Trump effect at debates. But shouting, shoving and name-calling doesn’t get us anywhere. A criticism of a candidate does not have to translate into an attack on the voter.
Connecticut has serious problems that will be solved only with patience, reason and cooperation, not boorish behavior.