Trump and his foes, defining America down

San Diego UnionTribune Editorial ^ | June 13, 2017 | SDUnionTrib Editorial Board

[onyx]

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and his presidency have defined down what is acceptable behavior for a national leader. His willingness to criticize entire ethnic groups, to be blatantly sexist, to mock family members of his opponents and to spread bogus, offensive conspiracy theories may not have slowed his rise to power, but that doesn’t make his behavior acceptable.

That’s why then-first lady Michelle Obama’s remarks to the Democratic convention last summer were so welcome. “When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level,” she said. “No, our motto is: When they go low, we go high.”

Nearly a year later, this admonition carries little weight with Trump’s fiercest opponents. They are joining the president in defining down what is acceptable in American public life.

Three weeks ago, outgoing California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton let delegates at a party convention in a raucous, gleeful chant of “F--- Donald Trump.” Two weeks ago, comedian Kathy Griffin used social media to show a photo of her holding a fake decapitated, bloody Trump head. (Griffin apologized, but still.)

This Monday, the New York City Public Theater’s staging of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” began its official run after three weeks of previews. Artistic director Oskar Eustis chose to use a Trump look- and dress-alike as the title character, who is stabbed to death; to give him a Slavic wife and a golden bathtub from which to tweet; and to use American flags and other stage dressing so the audience sees Trump as a modern version of Caesar.

Unsurprisingly, this produced outrage from many conservatives — and a post in The Daily Caller, a right-wing site, about “ an assassination depiction of Donald Trump .” The liberal site Vox countered that the “ right-wing media freaked out ” because the point of “Julius Caesar” is that political assassination has disastrous effects. Lost in Vox author Alissa Wilkinson’s piece was that, to many people, the play’s larger meaning would be overwhelmed by the transgressive sight of the bloody murder of a sitting American president.

This was the reaction of Laura Sheaffer, a media sales manager who saw a preview. In a radio interview, Sheaffer said that while she was no fan of Trump, she found the assassination to be “shocking and distasteful.”

Similarly discomfited, two corporate sponsors of the “Julius Caesar” production — Bank of America and Delta — have now withdrawn their financial support. Others may follow. But one prominent sponsor — The New York Times — defended the play as exercising “free speech for the arts.” And the Public Theater has dismissed criticism as not grasping Eustis’ point that “Julius Caesar” was staged “as a warning parable to those who try to fight for democracy by undemocratic means. To fight the tyrant does not mean imitating him.”

Whatever Eustis’ intentions, depicting President Trump’s murder on a nightly basis in America’s largest city does amount to “imitating him” — behaving as if there are no bounds on discourse in going after someone or something you don’t like.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board has expressed confidence that American institutions — the courts, the military and Congress — are strong enough to survive the worst excesses of the Trump presidency, writing last month that “the sheer genius of the Constitution will impose boundaries on how far he can go.” But we are less confident that civil discourse can recover from this venomous era — and we fear how low it can go.

[onyx]

My hometown "newspaper" is now owned by the same cartel that owns the LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun. It's now a full-blown libtard newspaper.

Anti-Trump, pro-illegal alien. This editorial put me over the top. I have canceled my subscription.

[Da Coyote]

Er, that’s Dorkbama the Muslim eunuch quota boy who did the defining.

Without the race card, that cretin would be on wellfare.

[Da Coyote]

Oops, welfare.

I had a Dorkbama moment.

[A_Former_Democrat]

These people are stupid beyond belief

And to sum them up, they all supported hilLIAR

That right there, tells us all we need to know

[onyx]

You are absolutely right!

They live and die by politically correct speech, too.

American Patriot, President Trump is too direct and too brutally honest for their elite ears.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks so much for your support to this point... I personally apprecaite it...
FReepers, it's time to wrap up this FReep-a-thon.  Lets do it...

President Donald J. Trump and the Free Republic of the United States of America

Ramirez political cartoon: Hungry Media LARGE VERSION 06/10/2017: LINK  LINK to regular sized versions of his political cartoons (archive).

Please join the monthlies, an automated and the best way to help support Free Republic.  If you opt not to join the automated monthly support program, please consider joining the One One Done project.  LINK

FReepers, 95.96% of the Second Quarter FReep-a-thon goal has been met.  Click above and pencil in your donation now.  Please folks, lets end this FReepathon.  Thank you!
...this is a general all-purpose message, and should not be seen as targeting any individual I am responding to...

Just $39.00 to 96.00%

[DoughtyOne]

Trump is acting presidential, and to blame him for what the Left and the media have perpetrated on the nation, is beyond the pale.

Man we have some really challenged people putting out news these days. (Fake news)

[euram]

For several months the leftist/media alliance mantra was that “Trump is literally Hitler.” This was a not so veiled attempt to incite one of them emotionally, and mentally volatile supporters to assassinate the new Hitler. That didn’t happen, so they have now gone full-blown graphic depictions of assassination, hoping that one of their legion of low IQ, unstable followers will finally catch on to what they want done.

[Caipirabob]

Good grief. Bring CWII already. The tree of liberty thirsts for socialist blood.

[TalBlack]

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and his presidency have defined down what is acceptable behavior for a national leader.

Nope. Clinton the lowlife holds that honor. Had to stopen reading right there.

[arthurus]

Reagan’s behavior was unacceptable to these people,so also Bush’s-both of them, and Nixon’s and I remember complaints about Ike’s behaviour not being presidential. I would suspect there were complaints from the same sort of sources about Lincoln’s behaviour.

[ichabod1]

I think reviving Julius Caesar as Trump would be brilliant and innovative if it weren’t that I’m confident the producers wish they could do it for realz.

[ichabod1]

Clinton really started the class warfare too... everybody had been getting along pretty well until he came along.

[ichabod1]

“I have just signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. The bombing starts in 5 minutes.”

[arthurus]

I remember well the MSM hysteria that provoked. I believe it rattled some heads in the USSR, too.

[unixfox]

Bring CWII already. The tree of liberty thirsts for socialist blood.

I'll drink to that.

[dp0622]

GOOD!!!! :)

[dp0622]

Conservative Staten Island has had a LEFT WING newspaper forever!!

It makes no SENSE!

Haven’t bought it in decades.

[Enchante]

“No, our motto is: When they go low, we go high.”

ROFL, the Demoncraps have been the primary source of vile political character assassinations for decades! I will never forget when liberal Senators destroyed the traditional respectful confirmation hearings with their vicious onslaughts against Robert Bork and then Clarence Thomas. Libtards like Ted Kennedy & co. gave us "borking" as a verb, to slander and malign someone without justification.

[Fitzy_888]

Trump is a pop culture icon, love him, hate him, you gotta see what he says next!

What people still don’t understand is the threat that poses to the Democrat base -which is otherwise carefully fed a narrative by the MSM.

Evidence is Gillibrand recently dropping the cookie baking soccer Mom image and dropping two F-bombs. Note hear Gillibrand has zero pop culture appeal and who would follow her twitter for any reason then to possibly get a lemon bar recipe.

Should Trump stop tweeting? Absolutely and unequivocally....NO!

That simple truth, sooner or later will sink in with the crusty-er folks here.

Trust the Democrats know it already! They are testing the water.