October 24, 2020 11:11 AM
HomePoliticsThe Increase of Gotcha Politics

The Increase of Gotcha Politics

By  Politics  3 Comments

There is always going to be a degree of gotcha politics: President George H.W. Bush’s “read my lips, no new taxes” to President Obama’s “if you like your plan, you can keep it”. All politicians, in spite of the efforts to create Democrat, Republican, and even Libertarian demigods, are human. They are going to say things that will make you raise an eyebrow at a comment.

Republicans have been having a field day with State Representative Dar’shun Kendrick when she tweeted about President Donald Trump’s comment about 545 immigrant children not being reunited with their parents:

Others on Twitter were confused by the President’s “cartels and coyotes” comment during the debate thinking that coyotes referred the animal instead of the slang term used for human traffickers. Rep. Kendrick has been taking the flack in stride, but I think the back and forth highlights the problem with political discourse.

I think there’s justification for questioning comments from elected officials that are goofy (like bringing UV light inside the body) or just plain untrue (“if you like your plan, you can keep it“), but it seems to quickly turn mean-spirited. If the elected official is on your team, then obviously the opponents misheard and are dumb. If the elected official isn’t on your team, then they are obviously dumb and so are their supporters.

I don’t see how this continued distrust is sustainable. It’s hard to compromise on policy with neither side willing to trust the other. This could mean continued gridlock when one party controls Congress and the other controls the Senate, or it could mean that you see a policy pushes similar to that of the Affordable Care Act or a rush to remake the judiciary in the image of a single party’s image while they control government.

Die-hard partisans on the left and right will take this as a warning that they *must* win at all costs because every election is “the most important election of our lifetime.” If we keep acting like every election is an emergency, then we will continue to perpetuate petty politics.

About Author

nsmith

Father. IT Geek. Former 14th District GOP Chairman (2015-2017). Former Walker GOP Chairman (2009-2013). Resident of Chamblee. American. Georgian. Conservative.

3 Comments
  1. chefdavid

    Next thing you know mules will be bringing in drugs across our borders lol.

  2. Chatsprint

    Since Nathan seems to have taken notice of the creation of political demigods, possibly his next byline will delve a bit deeper into this phenomena.

    Ya know…. hats, chants of harm to others, standing ovations over the same tired lies, compulsive name-calling, mocking/ridiculing war heroes, the disabled, Gold Star families, women in power.

    Political demigod type stuff if you will. He won’t. Because he can’t be that honest with himself.

  3. bethebalance

    A little late to this thread, but I feel there’s a few things to unpack. The first I think is the last sentence, which links urgency to vote with pettiness. I just don’t think there’s a necessary linkage there. Certainly we could have urgency without pettiness. Even though the urgency is hyperbolic. Pettiness comes from a different place, imho—a lowly place where someone else needs to be put down, as one of the only ways to feel better about themselves. As a Jew, I feel fairly comfortable quoting Matthew 5:22 here, where Jesus likens such petty put-downs to variants of murder. Forgiveness and empathy are obviously a kind of remedy in such light, and ultimately it’s the dearth of such empathic spirit that leads to such petty put-downs. Every misstep is exactly that– people can learn and improve. Every untruth simply needs to be enlightened by the truth. In every case, our better selves can use pity and enlightenment. You don’t have to vote for the person you pity the most, but empathy and enlightenment lift up all.

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