Mike Huckabee: Trump Hasn't 'Lowered Political Discourse' - He's Just Decided To Fight Back
Former President Barack Obama recently broke the tradition of presidents not attacking their successors (especially during a national emergency) by criticizing President Trump’s response to the coronavirus.
At PJ Media, Matt Margolis reminds us of why Obama has no room to talk, having botched the response to two pandemics during his term — Ebola and H1N1 (swine flu).
Speaking of violating long-established protocols, former Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich has a good Op-Ed here at The Western Journal about six ways in which Donald Trump has changed old rules that everyone used to follow.
It’s an interesting read, but to put in my two cents: I’m constantly hearing about how Trump has upended all the agreed-upon rules and previously revered niceties of politics, media relations, diplomacy, etc.
In some ways, he has (usually by telling us what he honestly thinks, which ironically gets him branded as a “liar” by people who think he should have been honest enough to keep telling the same lies they’ve all agreed to mouth for years).
But the charge that Trump is responsible for inventing personal attacks on opponents and “lowering the tone of political discourse” is laughable. And I ought to know.
If you recall, I stood on the debate stage with Trump, competing with him for the nomination at a time when he was being assailed for giving mocking nicknames to his opponents.
Do you know what he called me? “Governor Huckabee,” or “Mike.” Do you know why?
Because I said I knew that Hillary Clinton would be far worse for America than any Republican, so I was going to observe Reagan’s 11th Commandment and not attack my fellow Republicans.
I didn’t call Trump names, and he didn’t call me names. Imagine that!
In virtually every case where Trump has been accused of attacking people, breaking the rules and “lowering the tone,” he was attacked first.
He was called a phony, a con man, a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe, a liar, a crook and someone who was only running to enrich himself — surely the most hilarious of all the false charges.
And a media that had just spent eight years giving Obama shoeshines with their tongues declared themselves to be open advocates for Hillary and threw any pretense of journalistic standards out the window as they attacked Trump like a pack of baying hounds.
But Trump didn’t do what Republicans are supposed to do when they’re unfairly maligned, which is to roll over and apologize for their shortcomings.
No, he punched back.
And for that unforgivable act of self-defense, he’s the one who’s blamed for “lowering the tone of public discourse.”
Maybe he should point out that he’s just following the Obama principle of “if they hit you, punch back twice as hard.”
Or would it be uncouth to remind the Democrats and the media (pardon my redundancy) that he’s not the first president to disregard the niceties of polite discourse when attacked?
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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