Reiner's empathy beats Trump's bullying
Upholding truth in the bleak midwinter
It is a sunny and cold morning in Washington as I walk to the bakery for coffee. The Christmas tree near the Dupont Circle fountain is sparkling. Merchants are setting up for the day's business at the Dupont Holiday Market on a blocked-off portion of New Hampshire Avenue.
As I sit in the bakery with my coffee, a man bundled against the cold sips his on an orange crate by the curb. The din of conversation inside, even the barista calling out orders, is a comforting contrast to the silence of mornings spent at home.
We are social animals by nature. I remember the mental health strain caused by the COVID-19 shutdown in the spring of 2020. A desire to avoid that level of isolation drives me outdoors each day as much as any particular errand.
One positive thought that occurs to me is that most of us are better socialized than the resident of the White House.
The widespread condemnation of the president's nasty remarks after the tragic deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner at least established a floor in terms of public civility.
There are nasty voices among us, to be sure, especially on social media. Some appear to be bots designed to undermine public discussion. Those (whether bot or human) who reflexively defend Trump on everything drew a false moral equivalency between his nasty posthumous Truth Social post on Reiner and the claim that "the left" widely celebrated the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Many liberals deplored Kirk's murder, including Reiner, who responded with empathy. The fact that some of us also pointed out Kirk's many extreme and intolerant statements does not constitute celebration of his death, no matter how often that lie is repeated. It is monstrous to celebrate a political opponent's murder.
Aside from that is the hypocrisy of Republicans who blame all Democrats for nasty remarks made by any progressive, while they refuse to hold their own party's leader responsible for degrading and toxifying our national discourse.
To the extent that Trump's sociopathy has been normalized, we must strive to un-normalize it. This does not mean avoiding disagreements. We cannot avoid criticizing the damage to our country caused by the most unqualified presidential cabinet in history. In doing so, however, we should focus on the substance. The problem with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, for example, is not RFK Jr.'s raspy voice, but the likely dramatic spike in deaths from preventable diseases due to his attacks on vaccines.
Even Kevin Mc Daid's sharp October 10 Facebook post on Kirk's widow Erika mocked her exploitive behavior rather than her tragic loss itself: "She's going through the normal 5 stages of grief: Pyrotechnics, Merch, Podcasting, Grifting, and Acceptance."
A guiding principle in public discussions should be distinguishing truth from fabulism. One of America's two major political parties has been sabotaging our constitutional republic, and the other has not. It is Trump who has masked thugs abducting people (including American citizens) off our streets, not Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Trump's recently released national security strategy says, "The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over." If so, why is he not cutting our defense budget? The answer is he wants to bully everyone else. He has talked of taking over Greenland and Canada and retaking the Panama Canal. He seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and said he would keep the oil. He murders people in small boats far from our shores based on claims backed by no evidence. Perhaps he wants a piracy prize.
It makes no sense to dismantle the international order that America led in creating, only to replace it with one based not on cooperation but on America acting—like Trump himself—as a bully.
Kim Davis of Kentucky acted as a bully in denying marriage licenses to gay couples. Rob and Michele Reiner, by contrast, were staunch defenders of marriage equality. The difference lies in respect for others, or lack of it.
On one side of the political divide are people using the Christian label to promote cruelty that directly contradicts Christ. On the other side are people who follow His teaching to feed the hungry and welcome the stranger.
The word "weaponization" has been much in our news regarding the weaponization of government. In the bleak midwinter, as one beloved Christmas Carol calls this season, let people of faith vow to resist weaponizing their religion, and instead try practicing it.
Richard Rosendall is a writer and activist who can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2025 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.