Putting America last

Remarkably cordial. That was the most common take on last week’s vice-presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
The debate was remarkable only in the contrast it provided with the man at the top of the GOP ticket. Politics has always been rough and tumble in America, but since the day that Trump rode down the golden escalator at Trump Tower to accuse Mexicans, among other things, of being rapists and drug dealers, politics has grown increasingly dishonest, mean, even cruel.
Trump is, without question, the primary impetus behind this devolution of the country’s political discussion. What we saw last week was an example of how the two major parties used to interact. Real debate on the policy matters, but without the demonization that has marked our politics since Trump.
Trump, who has little interest in government policy, has focused instead on hyperbolic, often childish, personal and mocking attacks on his political opponents and the use of false narratives. He brings all the sophistication of a circus barker, looking to get the public’s attention through the kind of antics that most political leaders have traditionally shied away from— with good reason.
Many of his supporters say they like that Trump doesn’t sound like a normal politician, or that he says things they believe but could get them fired, or criticized, for saying. That’s not a good thing. Society works to encourage its values by penalizing those who deviate from established norms. Teaching honesty and kindness are considered the marks of good parenting or are the kinds of values that most of us would expect children to learn in elementary school. People who continuously lie out of self-interest, cheat, or act or speak cruelly or in a bigoted way against others, are rightly criticized as ill-behaved or lacking basic decency. Without such constraints, society devolves in exactly the same way we’ve seen in our politics.
While Trump’s supporters might get a thrill when he falsely claims that Haitians are eating pets in Ohio, or that his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris is mentally impaired (when, clearly, she is not), or when he urges his supporters to brutalize protesters, or spreads lies about FEMA or our election process, these things matter. There are consequences when Trump calls for executing political opponents, falsely accuses Democrats of supporting the murder of living infants or accuses immigrants of “poisoning the blood of America.”
There is no doubt that Trump has made America an angrier place than in the recent past, when people of differing political persuasions could disagree without being disagreeable. Families and communities are more divided today over politics than at any time in memory. More people live in fear that political differences could spill over into violence than has been the case in at least half a century.
While there were always exceptions, most politicians in America, particularly at the presidential level, recognized that they had an obligation to set a standard that elevated the discussion in America and that respected both our institutions and the American story in general, even as that story has been mythologized over the years. America has never been perfect, but it is, today, a far cry from the hellhole that Trump routinely describes on the stump. That’s because we have, for centuries, established societal norms that fostered the very qualities that most of us try to find in our fellow Americans every day—honesty, hard work, and a willingness to help others when in need. Here in the Midwest, especially, we were raised to treat others with kindness, to demonstrate humility, and to be careful of words that can hurt.
These are lessons that Donald Trump never learned, and when his supporters cite his resistance to basic human decency or honesty as a strength, we can only shake our heads at the lack of common sense.
Our political norms matter, because they form the basis for democratic governance. The U.S. Constitution and all that its words have manifested over the past 248 years depend entirely on our willingness to abide by the norms and traditions that have long guided our political process. That includes the peaceful transfer of power and the acknowledgement that elections are legitimate even when you don’t win. When Sen. Vance refused to answer that basic question at last week’s debate — whether Trump had lost the 2020 election — he had an opportunity to demonstrate his willingness to operate by America’s traditions. Instead, he showed he plans to follow in Trump’s disgraceful footsteps. That’s not “America first.” That’s putting America last.