If You Want Me to Be Civil, You Should Be, Too

This is David Frum, the man who came up with the term “Axis of Evil.” For years, he has led the charge against Donald Trump based on the latter’s lack of civility. Well, if all civility gets us is a bunch of pointless, endless wars, no social safety net, and a stolen Supreme Court seat, Frum can stick his precious civility up his holly jolly butt. Image via Flickr by Policy Exchange. Some rights reserved.

Over the past week, talk of being “civil” exploded after Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Red Hen restaurant in Virginia and Rep. Maxine Waters told her constituents in Los Angeles to “harass” other officials in Trump’s cabinet. These events follow a month that included the controversy that arose after Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump a naughty word, Roseanne Barr created a new controversy over Twitter, and a controversy brewed over Michelle Wolf’s set at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. (I talked about the latter in May.)

I must say that the responses to all of these events have been interesting, to say the least, but the ongoing discussion of civility has revealed a whole host of double standards. As a result, we are just now questioning the purpose of and the agendas behind the push for civility. Thus, it is time to talk about when we need to be civil and why civility alone means very little, especially when it is one-sided.

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