You know Paul Rudnick from his work on movies like Addams Family Values, The First Wives Club, In & Out, and the screen version of his play Jeffrey. He’s written many other things, all of them funny and smart but I’ve been following his posts on Facebook lately and his astute observations have turned to politics and Trump’s influence on America.

“Trump has made hatred, on both sides of the divide, the American way of life. During President Obama’s two terms there was constant class animosity and racism, but here’s the crucial difference: Obama didn’t encourage or embody the ugliness. Trump feeds on it; hatred is what got him elected.

Cheerleading hatred, on every issue, is what Trump’s team refers to as “maintaining his base.” Whether it’s abandoning the Paris Accord, restricting all forms of birth control to a frightening degree, or turning immigration issues into a pitched battle, every move Trump makes forces Americans to turn on each other, with an unprecedented viciousness.

A president, above all else, is the face of our nation; he or she sculpts our national character. Trump still seems surprised when he comes under attack, when hundreds of thousands march against him almost every day. He appoints bigots, insults the rest of the world, and declares that only selfishness will make America great again, and then he wonders why his family has become a symbol of privileged evil.

The majority of Americans, red and blue, don’t like retreating to armed camps, which is exhausting, but Trump prevents any other choice. Liberals can’t reach out to people who refuse to question an ignorant tyrant, and that tyrant forces his fans to hate everyone who hasn’t signed a loyalty pledge. Trump has set this war in motion, and he’s destroying the nation.

When Ivanka tweets her support for women or the LGBTQ community, her family’s hypocrisy deservedly turns her into a target. When Betsy DeVos struggles to understand anything about public education, her status as Trump’s stooge is enraging. When Sean Spicer tries to repeat Trump’s incoherent lies, the media is completely justified in laughing at him, or throwing rotten vegetables.

Every incident, whether it involves Kathy Griffin or Melania’s private life or any diplomatic handshake, becomes magnified by Trump’s sneering thuggishness, and it’s only getting worse.

President Obama represented the best of us, all of us. He stood for hope, and the possibility of unity or at least respectful argument. He made us proud, which made us into better people.

Trump makes us ashamed, and he turns everyone into enemies.”

–Paul Rudnick

(Photos, Pacific Coast News)