Michael Gerson: Trump’s tests of loyalty are really tests of character
Wed., June 27, 2018
Donald Trump’s mentor, the colorful controversialist Roy Cohn, once said: “I bring out the worst in my enemies and that’s how I get them to defeat themselves.” If this is Trump’s strategy, those who jeered Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a Mexican restaurant or protested at her home have been playing their part effectively. They apparently believe that intensity of conviction is demonstrated by incivility, just as Robert De Niro seems to think that conviction is proven by crudity. This is childish but not harmless. It is one more step in the personalization of political anger. One more method to turn fellow citizens into bitter enemies.