Fair challenge especially given that my views on the appropriate response to Trumpist rhetoric is an ever evolving one.
However numbers summed it up pretty well. I almost always support civil discourse in the political arena (Frum's argument) therefore I am most appalled and bothered by the hypocrisy of Trump supporters (from the top down) who haven't said a peep about their own movement in the past two years. Add in the fact that their rhetoric is more frequent, more violent, and more damaging to cultural/constitutional norms than anything coming from the left (especially among elected officials and those running for office)...the hypocrisy is even more maddening.
Trump's base and the media (in an effort to show balance) are falsely portraying the transgressions of both sides as equivalent when one is far far worse. This isn't right.
Final thought:
The center/left anti-trump coalition will never out-trump Trump so we should be wary of fighting on his turf by parroting his calls for violence, juvenile name calling and racist rhetoric. It's not a natural fit and it will play into their hands.
That being said, I have no problem with the center/left (the majority of the country) acting as a check against this President - especially since Congress has largely abdicated its responsibility here. And especially since we are beginning to deal with more severe issues of human rights.
Trump has also completely re-written the rules of political discourse (for the worst) so we're going to need to evolve. I'm not sure what exactly that should look like but private citizens refusing to serve the White House's Chief Propagandist (who uses our tax money to lie to our faces on a daily basis) is okay with me. Harassment and threats are not.
