OPINION:
The left, whenever confronted with a hard truth about its vicious self, likes to run screaming for the exits, calling out conservatives for so-called “divisive” rhetoric and over-the-top partisanship that doesn’t advance discussion or lead to rational political solutions.
But first off, you can’t light a fire and then gasp in shock when it burns. Democrats didn’t get their angry-bird buttons for nothing.
And second off, being called “divisive,” for those of conservative ilk, anyway, should actually be regarded as a badge of honor these days.
Why?
The left has been busily dividing this country for decades, pushing those with regard for the Constitution and its limited-government provisions to the side with growing pressure, and clearing wide paths for progressive/socialist ideals with frenzied energy.
The only difference nowadays is that those on the left are fielding a level of push-back they’ve not previously experienced.
After all, it’s only been just recently that Republicans in office haven’t rolled over and played dead when confronted by Democratic agenda. Winning on the GOP front — can you say Hillary Clinton surprise? — is a fairly new situation, and one that both leftists and establishment types are still trying to come to grips with, it seems.
So liberals, apparently frustrated by the fight, have taken with rising regularity to calling such push-back “divisive.” Their goal? Why, to get those doing the push-back to shut the heck up, of course.
Case in point: Trump and the media.
CNN host Brian Stelter just claimed Trump is “poisoning the American people” by unfairly attacking the media and selling the idea that the press is a true enemy of the public, filled with fake-newsers, the Daily Caller reported.
His message is clear. Trump’s divisive; he’s dividing the nation. He’s not a uniter. Forget the fact the media started the whole “Trump’s a circus” divide-and-conquer messaging back during the campaign. Plenty of others besides Stelter have opined similarly.
“Trump’s First State of the Union: A Divisive President Delivers a Dictator’s Speech,” a columnist at Variety once wrote.
Or this, from a writer at the New York Times: “A Divider, Not a Uniter, Trump Widens the Breach.”
Or this, from Time: ’How Donald Trump Made DACA More Divisive With One Phrase” and another, “Donald Trump’s Unprecedented, Divisive Speech.”
The list goes long. But the united theme’s the same.
“Most Americans agree,” summed one Washington Post headline. “President Trump is divisive.”
This is the part where Trump’s supposed to be cowed. Right? But oops, missed the cue card, he’s not playing by the rules. He’s creating his own game. He rants on Twitter, he mocks the media, he speaks of “Rocket Man” and “Pocohontas” and “fake news” and how votes for Democrats are actually votes for MS-13, and all along his White House rarely, if ever, walks back or shies from weighing in on a range of issues using other similarly labeled “divisive” rhetoric.
Does he care? No. Does he kowtow in the corner? No. Does he let the left — or even the establishment and elite ideologues of the right — dictate to him how he must speak? No.
And this is how all conservatives being branded with catcalls of “divisiveness” should act.
Stand your ground. Withstand the criticisms. Shrug off the snark.
It’s not just disingenuous for the angry haters of the left to cry about “divisiveness” after spending so much time tossing angry, hateful rhetoric the Republicans’ way. It’s deceptive and snakelike politicking.
After all, being called “divisive” by the very parties who are trying to uproot the country’s system of limited governance and shake individual freedoms from their constitutional foundations isn’t exactly a shameful thing. More like, a blue-ribbon moment that recognizes a righteous fight against an overtly anti-American foe.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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