On Monday, the murdered corpses of Rob and Michelle Reiner weren’t yet cold when President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social.
I’m not going to restate the president’s comments because they aren’t worthy of repetition. They are ignorant, indefensible, self-obsessed, and in every way lack class, civility, and humanity. And I know that Republican leaders, many of whom I know personally, would never in their wildest dreams consider responding in a way that Donald Trump, the President of the United States, did yesterday.
Hear Newell blast Trump’s “indefensible, self-obsessed” response to Rob and Michelle Reiner’s murder (click player above)
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Thoughtful communication is a cornerstone of civility. And in the same way, civility is a cornerstone of humanity. Hardly any other American leader understood this better than President Ronald Reagan, who exemplified a depth of emotional intelligence time and time again when engaging with political opponents.
In Reagan’s autobiography, he comments on his perplexing relationship with liberal Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill. By day, the two would routinely tear apart one another's political beliefs and policy proposals. But come evening, they would dine together.
“After 6 p.m., we can be friends. Before then, it’s politics,” Reagan wrote of this relationship.
After John Hinkly Jr.’s attempted assassination of Reagan in 1981, O’Neill was the first non-family member admitted to his hospital room. He sat beside him and held his hand, praying Psalms as his friend and adversary suffered through bullet wounds.
O’Neill once said of Reagan, “While neither man embraced the other's worldview, each respected the other’s right to hold it. Each respected the other as a man.”
Similarly, Reagan said of O’Neill at his retirement party in 1986, “I think the fact of our friendship is testimony to the political system that we’re part of and the country we live in.”
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This should be a moment of deep embarrassment for the Party of Reagan. And any of us who fail to criticize Trump’s words have zero business criticizing the faults, flaws, and backwardness of the opposition going forward.
I understand that voters often prefer a politician with a sharp edge. Someone who fearlessly stands their ground, sticks up for their beliefs, and calls out moral and ideological rot as they see it. Trump has largely built his political success on that bull-in-a-china-shop method.
But what good is it without room for humanity?
We can’t only recognize humanity when it works to our political benefit. And who right now will show the moral backbone and stand up to the President and state simply that such inhumane speech is un-American? Whose going to express this collective embarrassment and rage?
Is there anyone right now among the inner circle of the Oval Office—Susy Wiles, Marco Rubio, or someone else—shouting, “Hey! Fool! They were murdered! Do you not understand the context?”
I’d hope that our Republican leaders here in Louisiana—Bill Cassidy, John Kennedy, Mike Johnson, and others—would be the first to call out this twisted rhetoric. You have an obligation to Republicans to speak up and demand an apology.
But for whoever chooses to leave it unaddressed, ask yourself, is that where you want to continue heading as a country? If your answer is “Yes,” something’s fundamentally flawed.
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New Orleans began its year with a terrorist attack—New Year's Day: 15 lives lost.
Just a couple of months ago, on September 10th, we saw one of the highest-profile assassinations in modern history of Charlie Kirk, a public intellectual.
This past weekend, 15 people—including a ten-year-old girl and a Holocaust survivor— were gunned down during a Hanukkah celebration on the beaches of Australia.
And, yes, Rob and Michelle Reiner’s murders were likely apolitical, but Trump chose to take a tragedy and, in the immediate aftermath, force his own political viewpoints.
We don’t get to pick and choose which of these are tragedies and which are politically advantageous. This isn’t about winning midterms. This is about upholding decency.
Senseless murders such as these are the lowest-hanging fruit, the simplest opportunity to set an example for the country on promoting civility. How hard is it, cliché as it sounds, to just say you and Melania send thoughts and prayers? How hard is it to say nothing? How hard is it to dig down just a little bit and show sympathy?
It doesn't matter that he didn’t like you or that you didn't like him. When you serve in public life, you manage these types of relationships. You have disagreements, but you act like an adult, not a spoiled brat child.
And now, more than ever, we can’t lose sight of the fact that opposing viewpoints and the freedom to express them are the foundation of this country. You, Mr. President, should know that better than anyone because you are more aggressive than anybody in this country in defense and support of what you believe. But for some reason, you act as if others can’t engage in that same type of support of their beliefs.
Your remarks show that you consider yourself the center of the universe. Well, you’re not. You’re not the center of any universe, and never will be. And it would go a long way if you found it in yourself to make that admission.