Reagan ran against Ford, then ran against Jimmy Carter, Jesse Helms ran against Jim Hunt: Those were tough hard-fought battles where each side hammered the other but, tough as they were, back in those days no one called his opponent a ‘scumbag.’ Because, if he did, shaking their heads people would vote against him for hurling insults.

Back then I thought Jimmy Carter was dead-wrong almost every time he opened his mouth. But he was also an American – a fellow American. He had a right to say what he wanted even when he was dead-wrong.

That’s changed. These days people in politics see their enemies as scum – not fellow Americans. And mutual respect flies out the window.

It’s easy to point the finger at Trump and blame him for that. But the hard truth is Trump calls people scumbags because it gets him cheers. A lot of voters like it. Lies, once toxic, don’t hurt Trump either – or any politician.

And the roots of that malaise are spreading – you now see politicians on both sides mimicking Trump; look at Gavin Newsom (who Trump calls ‘Newscum’) – on ‘X’ he’s imitating Trump.

But last week I saw a sign of hope: Trump posted an AI video on social media showing him as a fighter pilot flying a jet, dropping poop on rows of ‘No Kings’ protestors – Gallup asked people what they thought of the video in a poll: 70% disapproved. So maybe the love of insult hurling is fading – maybe most folks have seen enough.

Let’s hope so. Because as soon as politicians start losing elections for hurling insults – we’ll stop hearing the word scumbag.