Trump’s ‘vermin’ comment was vile, but Democrats should also stop dehumanizing opponents

Donald Trump is being criticized – justifiably - for labeling as “vermin” those in government he says have targeted America for destruction. It was among the most recent of his statements that are the political equivalent of a cage match.

In Veterans Day remarks, Trump took aim and rhetorically fired: “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections. They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.”

His critics likened his remarks – particularly to his use of “vermin” - to Nazi Germany’s descriptions of people it defined as “Untermensch,” or subhuman. “Nazi propaganda often portrayed people persecuted by the regime as vermin, parasites, or diseases,” says the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Another view from George Korda: 'Don’t move to Tennessee' requests unlikely to be heeded | George Korda

Joe McCarthy and Hillary Clinton demonized their foes too

But Trump’s barrage is reminiscent also of language used by U.S. Sen. Joe McCarthy, who rose to prominence in the 1950s by accusing the U.S. State Dept. of being riddled with communists and communist sympathizers.

McCarthy’s tactics brought the term “McCarthyism” into the public lexicon, generally defined as demonizing selected groups of people without evidence, or with manufactured outrage.

After being criticized by newsman Edward R. Murrow on his CBS-TV show, “See it Now,” McCarthy was allowed to respond. Among his remarks: “Murrow is a symbol, the leader, and the cleverest of the jackal pack, which is always found at the throat of anyone who dares to expose individual communists and traitors.”

Collective demonization certainly isn’t something new in politics, particularly recently. When Hillary Clinton identified half of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables,” she was playing on the same field as Trump and his “vermin” comment. When President Joe Biden blithely labels many Trump supporters as “semi-fascist,” he’s swimming in similar mire.

Anyone who condemns Trump’s words, but agrees with Clinton and Biden, isn’t acting on principle, but politics. And vice versa. As English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley said, “The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.”

Special report: Gov. Bill Haslam on civility, justice and mercy, and whether he has a home in today's GOP

Trump is so certain because none of his advisers tell him he’s wrong

Trump’s communications strategy appears to be based on absolute certainty that he’s right about everything he says, all the time, and his opponents – and even those who work for him – are absolutely wrong if they don’t agree with him all the time. Regardless of whether they’re devoted enemies or someone who has served Trump as a cabinet officer, chief of staff, or press secretary – he’s blasted them if they colored outside his lines.

How do advisers advise someone who is certain that he is always the smartest person in the room? It’s easy: tell him he’s right. All the time. If you don’t, you risk banishment. That leaves only sycophants in a leader’s orbit because the less principle a person possesses, the harder it is to give up proximity to power.

Despite all that’s happened – the four legal indictments and relentless barrage of negative media coverage – Trump leads by a wide margin other 2024 Republican presidential candidates. He has also been shown in some polls to be leading Biden in a head-to-head matchup.

Part of it is that despite Trump’s behavior, millions of Americans liked, and like, his policies. Millions of other Americans love the fact that Trump drives the American political left bat-guano crazy. The news is replete – and usually focused – on the name-calling and character assassination Trump visits on his enemies, and his enemies on him.

Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.

Why can’t we follow Lincoln’s lead and show ‘charity for all’?

America deserves better. Rather, it needs better.

Near the end of the Civil War, the most severe threat in its history to America’s survival,  Republican President Abraham Lincoln in his second inaugural address famously and historically called out to the South and North alike, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”

Leadership is hard. Demonization is easy. And dangerous, something of which Robert F. Kennedy eloquently spoke: “What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.”

Today our country is burdened with leaders who, to advance their political positions, declare their opponents to be vermin, deplorable, or a type of fascist, to the cheers of their home crowds. If you’re searching for a leader who will call us to the angels of our better natures, we can abandon all hope, ye who enter here, or we can seek better among those who wish to lead. Or insist on it.

But that’s not likely, when so many are screaming for blood at the cage match.

George Korda is a political analyst for WATE-TV, hosts “State Your Case” from noon to 2 p.m. Sundays on WOKI-FM Newstalk 98.7 and is president of Korda Communications, a public relations and communications consulting firm.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Trump's vermin comment was vile, but some Democrats follow his example