As the 2024 election day draws closer, I am reminded how much civility has been lost in politics. 

Each day, the Democratic and Republican parties continue to grow further apart from each other through different beliefs, contrasting visions for our country, and most evidently, constant arguing and insulting. 

Part of this increase in ridicule is accompanied by the rise of social media applications such as X, which give users the ability to share opinions covered by a screen. Politicians and their fans have grown platforms around preaching their beliefs and putting others down. Name-calling between the parties has soared, and nicknames such as Sleepy Joe, DonOLD and Comrad Kamala have spread around social media in reference to the nominees. 

However, users are not the only ones seizing every opportunity to put candidates down. At the most recent presidential debate, several rude remarks were thrown by both Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. While it is common in elections to contradict the other’s policies, it is not frequent to insult each other. To commence the debate, Harris and Trump shared a cold, smileless handshake, which set the tone for the rest of the altercation. 

Harris began the debate by claiming the viewers will hear “a bunch of lies, grievances,” from “the same old tired playbook,” referring to Trump. She later attempted to diminish the size of his rallies, claiming that his audience would often leave out of boredom. 

But Trump fought back on the topic of rallies saying that “people don’t go to her rallies” and “there’s no reason to go.” He even went on to say that members of the crowd are paid to be there. On the topic of immigration, Trump made the bold claim that Harris has “destroyed our country with a policy that’s insane.” The petty personal attacks throughout this debate make me question whether politicians in today’s age are capable of leading with respect.  

In contrast, during the 2012 Romney and Obama debate, former president Obama started by “(thanking) Governor Romney and the University of Denver for (their) hospitality.” Romney continued the respect by stating he “(appreciated) the chance to be with the president” and congratulating Obama, as it was his wedding anniversary. 

Throughout the rest of the encounter, the comments and rebuttals were accompanied by respect and even occasional polite laughter. At the end of the discussion, both candidates thanked one another, and Obama described the experience as “a terrific debate.”

The polarity of these two debates makes me question where we went wrong. While one of these is accompanied by respect for the opposing candidates’ opinions, the other is a presentation of complete disregard for one another’s feelings. And when it comes to politics, nobody is going to get anywhere if there continues to be scorn separating the parties.