OPINION:
Famously, George Washington was elected president by electors in 1789 in a unanimous vote. The rhetoric and tenor of our politics have been downhill ever since.
The political bloodsport between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton was immortalized in the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton,” as the two founders engaged in “Cabinet Battles,” which are rap contests between the two men aimed at currying the favor of President Washington.
Of course, Hamilton would go on to be killed in a duel with then-Vice President Aaron Burr.
Over 200 years later, President Bill Clinton lamented the “politics of personal destruction” after his 1998 impeachment for lying and obstruction of justice. Though Mr. Clinton was squealing at that moment, there was plenty of “politics of personal destruction” firing in all directions in those days.
There have been brief moments of political unity, such as in the days and weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But such tranquility has a short shelf life.
By 2007, The New York Times published a column by one of the paper’s opinion writers that urged, “Bring Back the Politics of Personal Destruction.” It was all about President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.
Well, they came back and have been with us ever since. In many ways, it seems worse than ever before.
The explosion of available information and the ease of social media have turbocharged our politics. With more and more people living their lives online, personal manners have become obsolete.
The result is a near-constant cacophony of rancid political noise that seems to ratchet higher and higher with each passing day. So much so that a common refrain after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday was shocking — yet not surprising.
It is not hard to figure out why political actors rely so much on the politics of personal destruction. After all, it is highly effective.
Just a week ago, The New York Times reported that it was the centerpiece of President Biden’s reelection campaign.
“From the outset of President Biden’s reelection campaign, the plan for winning was to make former President Donald J. Trump so unpalatable that voters uneasy with the incumbent would vote for him anyway.”
Mr. Biden was undoubtedly driving to this dark place because he trails in polling on the issues listed by voters as the most important to them in this election. In a Fox News survey released Sunday, 61% of Americans disapprove of Mr. Biden’s handling of the economy, 65% disapprove of his immigration policies and 66% are unhappy with the spike in inflation on his watch.
After Mr. Biden’s disastrous debate performance — with the need to solidify the Democratic Party behind him after some called for him to drop out — Mr. Biden’s attacks against Mr. Trump intensified.
“Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation,” Mr. Biden tweeted on June 28. “He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy. He’s literally a threat to everything America stands for.”
Then, on a July 8 call with his campaign donors, Mr. Biden was explicit: “It’s time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye,” he said, telling them to stop focusing on his own failures and to direct their focus on Mr. Trump.
The best way to tone down the vitriol in our politics today is for everyone involved to focus on actual policies instead of personalities. Voters must do their part by rewarding and punishing politicians based on this simple metric.
It is also worthwhile to keep in mind the deep wisdom of Theodore Roosevelt after an assassin’s bullet nearly killed him at a campaign rally in 1912.
He implored the press to “for the sake of the common country that they make up their minds to speak only the truth, and not use that kind of slander and mendacity which if taken seriously must incite weak and violent natures to crimes of violence.”
Those words are as true today as they were then.
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