> >"Over the last few years, the mainstream left has resorted to name-calling and character assassination, instead of debate, any time their positions are quest

> >"Over the last few years, the mainstream left has resorted to name-calling and character assassination, instead of debate, any time their positions are questioned. [...] Intelligent debate has become rare." > With regard to the last sentence, was it not Donald Trump himself who devolved the debate to name calling (or 'character assassination', as this respondent might call it)? "Crooked Hillary", "Sleepy [Ben Carson]", "Little Marco", "Lyin' Ted" all come to mind. Or is this what the respondent might consider 'intelligent debate'? This is exactly why Trump is so popular in some circles - they see the Left as conducting a constant character assassination campaign for decades against a largely impotent Right. Trump is seen as the first guy on the Right in decades who's willing to use the same name-calling and character assassination tactics against the left that they've been using for so long. I gotta admit, it rings rather hollow to hear left-leaning people complain about how Trump is a name-caller. Where've they been over the last 30 years when the media was busy calling every single Republican candidate racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe? Where were they when anyone opposing any of Obama's policies was called racist? Where were they when all of their people were defending all of their candidates' sins? Donald Trump has his problems for sure, but does it really help anything or "raise the level of debate" to desperately try to tie him to the KKK somehow, which the media spent pretty much the entire campaign doing? Yes, both sides have a lot of work to do to reduce partisanship in this country. Can we start by asking the Left to stop tolerating and apologizing for all of the hate and intolerance their side spews? I'll also say that the Trump campaign is certainly erratic and far outside of the mainstream GOP in a number of ways. The results of this depend on how his Presidency goes. If he crashes and burns, it may have little effect. If he's seen as at least moderately successful, it could change the whole Republican party in ways that are hard to predict.