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It seems like we just went through all this, and we should still be working to mend the societal wounds opened by the intensity of the 2016 presidential election.
But guess what?
It’s happening again.
Donald Trump took the oath of office Jan. 20, 2017 — only two years and a few days ago.
That means his term is only half complete.
However, the 2020 race for the White House is already beginning to heat up.
And unfortunately, if early indicators (and comment boards) are anything to go by, it looks like it has the potential to get just as nasty and divisive.
That’s exactly what our republic DOES NOT need — a point we’re sure many Republicans, Democrats, Trump backers and Trump haters would agree on.
The New York Times counts eight Democrats already running for the presidency, two “all but certain” to run, and four “likely to run.” (Former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders are in the last category.)
That seems like quite a large field of candidates so far out from the fall of 2020, but the Times says it’s become the norm.
In fact, it says former GOP contender Jeb Bush was calling donors as early as December 2014. But U.S. Senator Ted Cruz was the first major candidate to announce he was running in that cycle, and that was in March 2015.
So, while presidential campaigns have become multi-year marathons, the current crop of contenders do seem to be at least a few months early.
That makes sense to some degree, considering the hyperpartisan political landscape and the passionate feelings our current commander in chief evokes from both sides of the aisle.
More striking to us, however, is the extensive coverage these political announcements are generating every few days now.
We’re betting hardly anyone noticed when Cruz announced he was running in early 2015. Sure, it made headlines and was covered by all the usual cable TV suspects.
But contrast that with Monday’s announcement by freshman California Sen. Kamala Harris.
Already CNN is crowing about hosting a town hall with Sen. Harris in Iowa next week.
And already she’s drawing a ton of reactions — both good and bad — which is a direct testament to the hyperpartisan mood we just mentioned.
The good: More than $1.5 million in online donations (a total that includes more than 38,000 individual donors) in the 24 hours after her announcement, The Hill reports.
The bad: Just take a look at the reaction from Times Leader readers.
Monday’s story about Harris running drew more than double the comments on our website (63) than any other local story as of Tuesday afternoon.
Most were far from complimentary.
And some delved into very personal details of Ms. Harris’ life that have nothing to do with how she might perform in office. (We’ll spare you the details.)
Bottom line: It’s getting very nasty again.
It’s a real problem, and we don’t see it ending soon.
That brings us to our final point today, one we cannot take credit for creating but only repeating.
If heated disagreement is the greatest threat to our democracy today, disagreement with civility is the only way we can save it.
At least try to remember that the next time you go on the internet.
— Times Leader