Krauthammer: Both Parties Speak About the Politics of the Other in Apocalyptic Terms

EXCERPT:

KRAUTHAMMER: "There's now a style in our politics where the ad hominem is a norm. People ought to fight over policy but once you begin to question the motives, the patriotism of your opponent, you have gone too far. The worst thing, and I think this is overlooked — the two parties, the two ideologies, you might say, speak about the politics in apocalyptic terms. If the other guy wins, it’s the end of the republic. If the other guy wins, it’s the end of the world. The man who did the shooting yesterday is a man who bought into that quite literally. You can speak about it hyperbolically. When those are stakes, when you say, 'Unless we stop Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, the republic will not survive,' then it justifies anything. That is the language, the ideology, the rationale of terrorists. The fate of the world hangs on this. And it’s up to the leadership to say, 'These are policies. This is not the fate of the republic.'”