{"id":2609,"date":"2024-07-24T22:33:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T22:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/?p=2609"},"modified":"2024-07-25T16:44:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-25T16:44:40","slug":"five-polarizing-moments-2024-republican-national-convention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/07\/24\/five-polarizing-moments-2024-republican-national-convention\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Polarizing Moments from the 2024 Republican National Convention"},"content":{"rendered":"

In examining polarizing moments from the RNC, our goal is not to call out specific leaders or parties (and, yes, we\u2019ll be doing this for the Democratic National Convention, too): <\/span>Our goal is to draw attention to conflict-amplifying language and to try to separate that from the issues we disagree on.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

As a society, we often conflate <\/span>what we disagree about<\/span><\/i> with <\/span>how we disagree<\/span><\/i>. We aim to help more people see that <\/span>you can work toward whatever political goal you want while making choices that reduce toxicity<\/span><\/i>. We can be harshly critical of our political adversaries\u2019 ideas while we, as the NGA puts it, <\/span>disagree better<\/span><\/a>. And we\u2019d argue that taking less polarizing approaches actually <\/span>helps one achieve one\u2019s goals<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve barely begun to talk about such things as a society. It\u2019s our hope that the more we, and others, talk about these things, the more we\u2019ll put these ideas top-of-mind in the minds of leaders and pundits and other influential people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moment #1: \u201cThey will come for you\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cIf they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump, be careful, they will come for you\u2026 If we don\u2019t control all three branches of our government\u2026 their government will put some of us like me and Steve Bannon in prison, and control the rest of us\u2026 You may be thinking this couldn\u2019t happen to you. Make no mistake: they\u2019re already coming for you.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i> \u2014 Peter Navarro, talking about his recent release from prison<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Conflict makes us see the \u201cother side\u201d in increasingly pessimistic and scary terms. We can be prone to only seeing the worst-case interpretations of what \u201cthey\u201d have done \u2014 or will do. This can make us more paranoid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We can try to understand why our political opponents think we\u2019ve done bad things and find us threatening while also resisting the urge to see big, concerted plots. We should be willing to question our pessimism and think about the times our worst-case predictions about our political opponents haven\u2019t come true. <\/span>No one knows what\u2019s in anyone else\u2019s heart<\/b> \u2014 so we should all avoid speaking as though we have <\/span>that type of clairvoyance<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans who express fear of Democrats should be curious about the fears Democrats have of Trump so they can better understand Democrats\u2019 motivations (for example, Trump\u2019s threats to take <\/span>legal action against his political opponents<\/span><\/a> can prompt genuine and understandable concerns). We can disagree about the nature of the threats faced while still trying to understand why our opponents think what they do.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moment #2: Antifa = Democrats?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe day after the midterm elections in 2018, antifa came to my house, the Democratic Party\u2019s militia\u2026\u201d
\n\u2014 <\/span><\/i>Tucker Carlson<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Conflict can lead many people to see the \u201cother side\u201d as all the same: in psychology, this is referred to as the <\/span>out-group homogeneity effect<\/span><\/i>. Tucker speaking as if the Democratic Party is aligned with the militant, aggressive behaviors of some of those who identify as \u201cantifa\u201d is one example of this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We can see the same tendency play out on the left when people equate extreme and militant far-right protesters with Republicans in general. Republicans who are genuinely interested in reducing toxicity should examine how they feel when anti-Trump people take that approach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moment #3: \u201cThose who despise our republic\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201c[Trump] is not a threat to democracy, he\u2019s a threat to those who despise our republic, many of whom are bought and sold, bribed and coerced, people who have never signed the front of a check, and who have been dependent on the government their entire adult lives.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 Eric Trump<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Americans clearly disagree about many contentious issues \u2014 including the issue of Trump himself. But can we see things differently without insulting our adversaries \u2014 without reaching for the worst possible interpretations of \u201cthem\u201d?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Far too many of us reach for these easy insults and pessimistic framings. That is, after all, what conflict brings out in us. If Eric Trump were interested in reducing political contempt, he\u2019d be willing to examine how his language ramps up our divides. In the past, Eric has expressed <\/span>much contempt toward liberals<\/span><\/a>, seemingly because he feels many liberals have shown contempt for his family. Eric should be willing to examine how contempt begets more contempt \u2014 and how it can even help create the very pushback that upsets him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

(Regarding pessimistic views that liberals lack patriotism, and views that conservatives have a toxic form of patriotism, you might like <\/span>this piece of ours<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Moment #4: \u201cReal Americans\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to bring America back together one real American at a time, brother…\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u2014 Hulk Hogan, in a speech that mentioned \u201creal Americans\u201d six times<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Talking about \u201creal Americans\u201d implies that it\u2019s possible to separate America into \u201creal\u201d and \u201cnot real\u201d citizens. It\u2019s insulting to imply that one might be an American citizen but not be a \u201creal American\u201d because one isn\u2019t conservative or because one dislikes Trump.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s ironic for Hulk Hogan to talk about working to \u201cbring America back together\u201d while using divisive \u201creal Americans\u201d language.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hogan also said, \u201cThey took a shot at my hero and they tried to kill the next President of the United States.\u201d He used the word \u201cthey,\u201d implying it was the amorphous \u201cother side\u201d \u2014 <\/span>but the assassination attempt was the act of one person<\/span><\/i> (as far as we know). Conflict can make us see the \u201cother side\u201d as a uniform group (just as Carlson equated antifa with the Democratic Party). This can lead us to distorted and toxic framings (as we can see with <\/span>conspiracy theories that arose<\/span><\/a> on both the anti-Trump and pro-Trump side after the assassination attempt). Trump supporters should try to imagine how they\u2019d feel if someone had attempted to kill Biden and Democrats used similar \u201cthey\u201d language about that event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Moment #5: \u201cThe invasion\u2026 killing hundreds of thousands\u201d<\/b><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe have to stop the invasion into our country that\u2019s killing hundreds of thousands of people a year\u2026 It\u2019s a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease, and destruction to communities all across our land.\u201d
\n\u2014 <\/span><\/i>Donald Trump <\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

People have understandable concerns about illegal border crossings and <\/span>illegal immigrants<\/span><\/a> \u2014 but one can have those concerns while also seeing that exaggerated rhetoric can amplify fear and anger and further divide us. We\u2019re not sure what Trump was referring to by \u201chundreds of thousands of people a year\u201d being killed \u2014 but even if it was a misspeaking, it\u2019s an example of how loose he can be with claims about the harm being done to America on this and other issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019d propose that not only does such exaggerated rhetoric amplify our divides \u2014 <\/span>it can hurt Republicans\u2019 own goals by making their concerns seem unreasonable.<\/span><\/i> That\u2019s why we say that speaking in more nuanced and persuasive ways isn\u2019t just something we do to help lower divides \u2014 it\u2019s something we should do <\/span>to further our own political causes<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can we do better?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

These were just a few polarizing moments from the RNC; we don\u2019t mean to say that was all of them.<\/p>\n

This piece may strike some people as naive. Some may be thinking, \u201cThat person you mentioned doesn\u2019t <\/span>want<\/span><\/i> to reduce toxicity.\u201d <\/span>But we\u2019d call it optimism. <\/b>We think that some people who speak in polarizing ways do, deep down, want to reduce toxicity, but just don\u2019t know how. Of course, some people don\u2019t want that \u2014 but we still see it as valuable to talk about their language choices, if only to spark more public discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n

And of course you may disagree with one or more points we\u2019ve made \u2014 but hopefully you agree with the big-picture ideas. We hope our political leaders, those genuinely interested in reducing toxicity, will embrace these ideas \u2014 and work toward their political goals while trying to bring down the temperature.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to stay in the loop about efforts to reduce toxic polarization? Sign up for our newsletter<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In examining polarizing moments from the RNC, our goal is not to call out specific leaders or parties (and, yes, we\u2019ll be doing this for the Democratic National Convention, too): Our goal is to draw attention to conflict-amplifying language and to try to separate that from the issues we disagree on.\u00a0 As a society, we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"collection_feed":[],"type_feed":[83],"class_list":["post-2609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 Polarizing Moments from the 2024 Republican National Convention - Builders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/07\/24\/five-polarizing-moments-2024-republican-national-convention\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Polarizing Moments from the 2024 Republican National Convention - 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