No Kings posters, Trump’s AI video and America’s waning civility

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00:00Is civility in U.S. politics on life support? Recent polling data shows a majority of Americans

00:05believe civility has declined in the last decade.

00:15President Trump posted that video over the weekend in response to No King's protests

00:20across the country. Conservative leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson called the protest

00:25Hate America rallies, while a White House spokesperson called the protesters pro-Hamas.

00:31Meanwhile, protesters across the country repeatedly called Trump and other administration officials

00:36Nazis and fascists. A recent poll showed 85 percent of Americans believe civility in the U.S.

00:43is worse than it was 10 years ago. There's no question that our public discourse has been

00:48coarsened in recent decades, in recent years. No question about that. Experts we spoke with said

00:54American leadership acting uncivilly can impact the public.

00:58I think as leaders we set the tone, but also people want to find leaders that they can identify

01:05with. And that's part of this dichotomy that we're experiencing with Trump. People are drawn in

01:13because they can identify with his simple communication. It's come this timeless chicken

01:19and the egg problem that philosophers have been grappling with for a very long time. What

01:23comes first? Does a virtuous citizenry, you know, lead to a virtuous leadership or does virtuous

01:29leadership promote virtuous citizenry? Like which, which comes first? Both of those experts

01:34also mentioned social media's role. Data shows social media algorithms push people to act less

01:40civilly for more clicks and engagement. National media outlets also tend to focus on moments of

01:46incivility from public leaders knowing it's going to receive attention. It's performative, spectacular,

01:52you know, media hijacking. That's what we see on full display. And I'm much more interested in shining

01:58attention on the people who are digging down, cultivating, building something better and more

02:03beautiful in their communities. Another issue is what's known as identity politics, where partisanship

02:09has become a larger part of people's identities. I think that's a huge part of the problem. I think that,

02:15you know, one thing that we really have to focus on is what we have in common. And I think that

02:20one of the things that we lose sight of is that we truly want the same thing in the end, except we

02:26both, both sides frequently think that achieving that same goal is done in a very different way.

02:33So how does civility get restored in America? We need to put politics back in its proper place.

02:39We need to, um, find things in our, recover things in our lives that are totally apolitical

02:46in nature. Hudson said each person needs to find it within themselves.

02:51Social healing in our country is happening right now. The, the porchers of the world,

02:56the people who are saying, I can't control what the president says or does. I can't control the

03:00tragedy happening across the world, but I can control myself. I'm going to double down

03:06and make my community better and stronger and more beautiful. Zasada also said we could learn

03:11from our nation's youth. Our youth are really being taught a great deal of emotional intelligence

03:16and learning a great deal about civility and acceptance and listening to the other side.

03:23I'm a mother of multiple children under the age of 18, and I can see in the way that they communicate,

03:30the way that they're learning in school, that they're making strong inroads against incivility.

03:37And I, I think that we almost need to take a page from that playbook and recognize that we have to

03:46learn to play nice, just like our children are. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan.

03:50If you want more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SIN.com.