"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche
I hear an echo.
For the past five months, opponents of the president have hoped the next scandal would end his career. Even the appearance of one more would do. They are right. The nonstop scrutiny of everything President Donald Trump has or has not done has made his administration dysfunctional by any normal standard.
Trump fans contend this pursuit is a sustained act of character assassination. Even if that were so, the pummeling is working. Trump is the most unpopular new president of my lifetime, even though he won the GOP primary by bringing frustration and anger to life.
If that sounds familiar, then I owe you some gratitude. You are at least an occasional reader of mine.
Those first paragraphs are lightly revised from a Sept. 3 column about hate of Hillary Clinton during her campaign against Trump. Here is the relevant part of the original:
"For a quarter century, Republicans believed the next scandal would end Clinton's career. Even the appearance of one more would do. They were right. The nonstop investigation of everything Clinton did or didn't do has made her unelectable -- by any normal standard.
"Clinton fans contend this pursuit is a sustained act of character assassination. Even if that's so, the pummeling worked. Clinton is the most unpopular major party nominee for president of my lifetime -- except for one, who won the GOP primary by bringing all that frustration and anger to life."
Much of the rest of that wording from nine months ago can be repeated exactly. For example, I quoted then the old saying that "Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." Then there was the other old saying that the first step toward defeat is contempt for your enemy.
No one who reads this space even occasionally can mistake me for a fan, supporter or even sympathizer of the president. I frequently and earnestly express disdain for his capacity as a leader and question his loyalty to the country. I arrived at those views coldly, though.
As a political writer, I have seen some nasty stuff over the past eight years: photoshopped pictures of President Barack Obama being lynched, or decked out in witch doctor garb including a bone through his nose. I cannot recall, though, a single instance in which some mildly famous comic held up a fake, blood-drenched likeness of his severed head, as happened recently regarding Trump.
This is the kind of hate that can lead to believing anything as long as it is bad. It is the kind of hate that repulses people who do not feel it and many who do.
There are great dangers in hating someone even when you think he or she deserves it. For instance, there is an old saying that my enemy's enemy is my friend. That saying is false. My enemy's enemy and I have something in common, but I do not let my enemies pick my friends. Suppose my enemy's enemy is a snake. If I hate my enemy enough, I might not notice.
Look at where hatred of Clinton lead the Republican Party. The GOP victory in November was like the invasion of Iraq it launched. Each victory was a brilliant success that toppled a hated enemy. Then it left them in a quagmire. To the party's widespread surprise, they were not greeted as liberators.
If I could make President Trump resign by pushing a button, I would use both hands. But after doing that, I would forget him. I suspect his opponents, however, are finding him to be a very useful boogieman. They want to keep him. They just want to keep him in a cage until the next election. This is a mistake.
The Democrats lost to the worst presidential nominee I have ever seen. Too many of them are not asking themselves why. They are pointing and going "Look, look! Look at how bad he is."
When your most appealing, effective argument to voters is the candidate picked by the other side -- as was the case for both major parties in this last election -- then your party is hollow.
As hollow as an abyss.
Commentary on 06/03/2017