This omits all the introductory stuff I wrote about what happened in “Mollygate” and my overall experience on Twitter so far.  So if you know what “Mollygate” is, jump in!

So… the many Twitter fights over Mollygate reminded me of something.  Not to do with prior fights on abortion, Donald Trump, or electoral politics at all.  No. What this reminded me of, were the VICIOUS office politics that ensued at a place I worked once, when the place expanded enough they decided they needed more middle management types and hired new people who tried to micromanage everything.

And while I am not privy to what exactly happened to the Weekly Standard when it closed; I am sure some of the sniping I have seen even pre-Mollygate, between TWS alumni and WEx staff (as many at WEx are far from rabid Trumpers) is more due to this kind of office politics, than because there is a large ideological divide between them.

Now, many pundits have opined on the recent state of political polarization in this country.  Many have suggested one reason is that the Federal Government is too powerful and overreaching, and that returning more power to state and local governments will help defuse this.

Certainly, one problem is that it’s easy to depersonalize one side of the political spectrum when there are so many of them and you have never met them!  Rural conservatives write off urban city dwellers as morally degenerate worshippers of Baal. And liberal blue state coasties dismiss the plight of red state farmers suffering from trade wars.  “Who cares!  They were stupid enough to vote for Trump.  Let them lie in their own bed now.”

But disagreements within a smaller, more intimate circle such as the Never Trump / Trump skeptical tribe (as hard core MAGAts have really not been the main participants), are not necessarily more civil.  They can be MORE uncivil due to the deeply personal nature of them.

Now, I don’t particularly care what some random Tweeter thinks of me.  When trolls pop up, I laugh at them.  But do I care what my followers think of me?  Yes.  If someone I find much agreement on were to attack me on something we DO disagree on (and this applies to real life as well), would I feel personally hurt in a way I wouldn’t if a stranger did?  Of course.

So there’s more to this problem of civility than government overreach, or even the loneliness epidemic that’s getting much press these days.  I’m starting to think personal character (or lack thereof) MIGHT have something to do with it.  That is one traditionally conservative value, after all.

And that it’s not just the deplorable MAGAts who are due for some self-introspection here.  Many of those on the Trump critical conservative side who have come to presume we are morally superior to Trump supporters, may be due for a look in the mirror. (And yes, I do include myself in that).