The name-calling that has become a normal—even celebrated—part of our election this year will do nothing to bridge the vast ideological chasm that divides our nation.
Tim Walz, who has a background in education, achieved social media success by echoing bullies from the playground. First, he called his political opponents “weird” in an interview on MSNBC (a development applauded by Jessica Bennett in The New York Times). Then, at a rally after being named as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, he said of Donald J. Trump and JD Vance: “These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell.”
Mr. Trump, of course, remains the commander in chief of insults and in many ways ushered in a new era of personal slights. Not even fellow Republicans were spared. He called Ted Cruz “lyin’ Ted” and insulted his wife's appearance. Who could forget “little Marco,” his pet name for Senator Marco Rubio during the 2016 Republican primary?
While Mr. Trump is certainly not the first political candidate to make regular use of name-calling, he does so with a breathtaking frequency. Recently, he called Ms. Harris “dumb” and of “low IQ.” At a press conference this week, Mr. Trump again insulted Ms. Harris’s intelligence, saying that she did not want to debate him because “she’s not smart enough.” His running mate, Mr. Vance, in a newly shared interview from 2021, spoke ill of women who don’t have children. (For those who may have been on a no-media retreat for the last 30 days, Mr. Vance called them “childless cat ladies.”)
Name-calling in politics is certainly not new. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, for example, exchanged bitter insults in their contest for the presidency in 1800. But today more than ever, the candidates’ stands on crucial issues seem to get far less attention than their use of cutting words to engage their political base.
Supporters of either ticket may be tempted to justify such rhetoric. This is too bad, because it doesn’t have to be this way.
In 2016, Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention, sharing sentiments she and her husband imparted to their daughters amid a slanderous political climate.
“[W]e explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to their level. No, our motto is, ‘When they go low, we go high,’” she said. “With every word we utter, with every action we take, we know our kids are watching us.”
Her words echoed her husband’s during his second inaugural address. “For now, decisions are upon us and we cannot afford delay,” Barack Obama said. “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”
Democrats were not the only ones who went high. Former President George W. Bush, while campaigning for his brother Jeb in 2016, said: “There seems to be a lot of name-calling going on, but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time. Labels are for soup cans.”
After the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump in July, the editors of America wrote:
We do not need the same politics in a better tone. We need “a better kind of politics, one truly at the service of the common good,” as Pope Francis called for in his encyclical on social friendship, “Fratelli Tutti.” True service of the common good requires far more than rhetoric about it.
Serving the common good, the editors continued, requires Americans to recognize our common dignity and set aside the name-calling “to cooperate in seeking each other’s good and especially the good of the most vulnerable among us.”
Perhaps we can start by recognizing how the diverse experiences of Americans have shaped our opinions and dispositions. This year, both parties are putting forward candidates with intriguing backgrounds and mostly atypical paths to their candidacies.
Last month, Ms. Harris took over the top of the Democratic ticket after President Biden stepped down from the race. She is the first female vice president in our nation’s history and has a chance at becoming the first female president.
As a child, she learned not only about this country but about important U.S. allies abroad. While Ms. Harris was born in Oakland, Calif., she moved to Quebec when she was 12. Her mother would regularly bring Ms. Harris to her native India, and Ms. Harris’s father immigrated from Jamaica.
Mr. Trump is a billionaire who made his fortune in real-estate before running for president in 2016. Many remember him for his successful, long-running television show “The Apprentice.” He has already served one term as president, during which he was impeached twice, and he finished his term during a global pandemic.
After losing to Mr. Biden in 2020, Mr. Trump immediately began running again, and Republican voters coalesced around him in this year’s Republican primaries. Some believe his survival of the assassination attempt was miraculous.
Mr. Vance, who converted to the Catholic faith in 2019, stepped into the national spotlight with his book Hillbilly Elegy. In the autobiographical book, he describes growing up in Ohio with a mother that struggled through substance abuse problems. He was raised mostly by his grandparents, a phenomenon that has become more common in recent years.
From his humble beginnings, Mr. Vance joined the Marines, attended Ohio State University and eventually received a law degree from Yale. Ohio voters elected him to the U.S. Senate just two years ago.
Finally, there’s Mr. Walz. He grew up in Nebraska, served for 24 years in the Army National Guard and made a living as a high school social studies teacher and football coach. In 2006, he won a seat in the House of Representatives while running in a Republican-leaning district of Minnesota.
Minnesota voters elected Mr. Walz to serve as their governor twice, in 2018 and in 2022. While he is a Lutheran, he has previously noted the strong influence of Catholic social teaching in his upbringing.
We are more than our political beliefs, and calling others names oversimplifies their complex, lived experiences. Further, when it comes to political opponents, such petty putdowns can disparage not only candidates but their supporters. Political rivals become nothing more than obstacles to overcome rather than fellow citizens with a shared destiny.
To be sure, recognizing the intricacies and unique stories of our fellow citizens should not mean ignoring significant policy differences. Democrats and Republicans are far apart on issues like abortion, immigration, climate change, gun restrictions and education, to name but a few.
But their disparate positions on these issues, as well as their visions for a shared future for Americans, seem to have become secondary on the campaign trail—or at least in the media coverage of the campaigns. The issues deserve our attention, and the party platforms deserve a national hearing. Instead, buoyed by the media and viral memes, the candidates have busied themselves belittling each other.
We are becoming a lesser nation for it, and members of both parties should expect more.
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