There has to be room in politics for decency. There has to be room in politics for decency. And while we’re on the subject, we could use more civility, empathy, manners, kindness and compassion and to make room for all these things we can and should cut out a bunch of crap we don’t need arrogance, cruelty, bullying, superiority and mockery. In short, Americans need to dial back our passion for things that don’t mean anything, issues and policies and partisanship, and spend a lot of time improving something that means a lot how we treat people. What brings all this to mind is something that should have to be considered one of the greatest heists of all time. It happened at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where on the night that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, was tasked with giving a speech to introduce himself to the nation, the show was stolen by Waltz’s 17 year old son, Gus, as the governor got to the part in his remarks where he said how much he loved his wife Gwen and their two children, hope and Gus, the camera cut away to his son, who was clapping loudly and had tears streaming down his face. Suddenly. Gus, overcome with emotion, jumped to his feet, pointed at the stage and yelled out with pride, that’s my dad. That’s my dad as a dad myself, in fact, one with a 17 year old son who’s running a video camera right now, I can’t watch that clip or even think about that episode without tearing up. Who could find anything wrong with a sweet moment like that? Republicans, that’s who some of them took to talk radio, social media, political podcasts. To make fun of Gus someone described a teenager as blathering. They had to know that this moment was political gold for the Democrats, and so they did everything they could to try and tarnish it. How ironic that they were the ones who wound up getting tarnished after it was revealed that Gus is no ordinary 17 year old. He has what is known as a nonverbal learning disorder that puts him on the autism spectrum.

As soon as that fact got out, the conservative trolls well, they started to retreat. They started to delete their posts picking on someone with a learning disability. That’s not a good look. And heaven knows, the GOP already has enough bad looks. Now, to be fair, this is how ugly politics has become in 2024 and ugliness is a two way street. No one is innocent and no party is any better than the others. If Walt’s were a Republican and the exact same episode it played out at the Republican National Convention, I can promise you that Democrats would joke about it. They never met a Republican family. They didn’t beat up on or make fun of from the bushes to the Palins to the vances. Yet that doesn’t change anything. It certainly doesn’t let off the hook those disgusting human beings who, at one of those moments that define who a person is or isn’t, couldn’t manage to suppress their juvenile instinct to make fun of someone they perceive to be different and weak and easy to prey upon.

And these trolls are Maga people who support Trump Vance. Well, it sure looks that way.

In that case, there must be some misunderstanding. You see, politics, politics is about addition, not subtraction. The goal is to be likable, not detestable. What’s

the political upside for Trump supporters to reveal themselves to be even more hateful than we thought they were.

What is Team Trump trying to do here? Win an Election or dominate an unlikeability contest? If they keep up their antics, they can forget all about the first but there’ll be a shoe in for the second.

What.