Political Polarization Reaches New Heights as Rhetoric Escalates

By Michael Dorstewitz

We’ve heard a lot of talk lately, but no actual communication — no debate, no exchange of ideas. It’s been mostly name-calling — the sort of thing that nearly led to President Trump’s assassination and got Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk murdered.
The idea of resorting to name-calling opponents and their supporters took root with President Obama, who dismissed small-town “flyover country” conservatives. He claimed they were bitter, clinging to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment.
This trend escalated in 2016 when then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton labeled half of her Republican opponent’s supporters as part of a “basket of deplorables,” describing them as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, or Islamaphobic. Two years later, she told CNN that Democrats needed to keep up the pressure, stating, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.”
Republican candidates are now frequently called fascist or dictator, and compared to Hitler, Stalin, or Mussolini. Critics argue that repeated dehumanizing rhetoric risks inciting violence. Chuck DeVore of the Texas Public Policy Foundation noted a 2,500% surge in inflammatory language linking Trump to fascism after his assassination attempt in Butler. He linked this to a broader pattern of dehumanization that preceded Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Clinton recently criticized conservatives again, accusing them of wanting to “turn the clock back” to a darker era and targeting straight, white, conservative, Christian men as the cause of national problems. Meanwhile, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh highlighted recent events, including a parole board releasing a convicted murderer and a judge sentencing an assailant against Justice Kavanaugh to minimal prison time.
The article also references attacks on federal officers, particularly those from DHS and ICE, and mentions a Jewish couple murdered near the Washington, D.C. Holocaust Museum, as well as a Harvard Law professor shooting a synagogue with a pellet gun.
The author reflects on America’s past as an “Ozzie and Harriet” era of compassion and community, urging a shift away from division to foster mutual understanding.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and Second Amendment supporter.