While I agree with Mr. Byrne’s call to recover peaceful political decorum in “Dems, Behave Yourselves (Please),” an Opinion piece published in March, I found focusing solely on Democrats to be biased for an article about hateful and inappropriate rhetoric used by politicians. To be angry at Democratic politicians for their language while almost fully disregarding that of Republicans, is, in my opinion, trying to put out a fire in a garbage can while the house burns behind you.
While it is important to recognize how the growing trend of political vitriol has impacted both sides of the aisle, it is not fair to focus attention on Democrats, especially when Republican politicians are more responsible for this trend in inappropriate language. Each of the examples Mr. Byrne provided of Democratic politicians’ behavior can be matched, if not amplified, by Republicans. First, Mr. Byrne mentions how Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar interrupted Trump’s State of the Union. Though Tlaib’s and Omar’s actions were not appropriate, it is important to acknowledge that they were calling out Trump for deriding Minnesota’s Somali community as “pirates.” On the other hand, Republicans have exhibited similar inappropriate behavior over things that are less understandable: during President Biden’s State of the Union in 2022, Rep. Lauren Boebert interrupted and heckled him repeatedly while he discussed the death of his son Beau Biden, an Iraq war veteran who succumbed to brain cancer, as did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (in all four of Biden’s addresses).
This lack of context behind the examples provided and failure to address the Republican side can be seen clearly in Jasmine Crockett’s case: while Crockett’s comments were unprofessional, they were in response to a comment by Rep. Greene—something that was not addressed in the article. Greene had insulted Crockett first when she said, “I think your fake eyelashes are messing up what you’re reading.”
Furthermore, childlike and derogatory language is used more frequently by Republican politicians, and the article fails to address them fairly. What about Trump’s and his supporters’ frequent attacks on Democratic politicians, claiming they’re “vermin,” “scum,” “animals,” “evil,” and “demonic?” And, beyond political opponents, Trump and many Republican leaders have attacked whole groups of people as well. For example, the leaked Young Republican Leaders chat included over 250 occurrences of racial slurs, calls for rape, and bigoted statements towards Jews, African-Americans, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community. There is no Democratic equivalency to this amount of degradation and hate.
I know this blame game is not what Mr. Byrne argues for. Again, I agree with restoring civility in politics, and recognize that he understands the impact of it on both sides. However, to focus the article on Democrats and largely ignore Republican counterparts is a biased and misleading representation of the issue. The unfortunate truth is that most of the culture of uncivil discourse stems from Republicans, specifically Donald Trump. Only when we realize that will we be able to make progress. Until then, blaming Democrats will only lead us farther down the path of incivility we seem to be taking—the one Mr. Byrne warned against.
This article also appears in our April 2026 print edition.
