In 2016, former First Lady Michelle Obama gave a heartwarming speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While not speaking as the Democrat's presidential nominee, she was speaking as a mother. She was telling the crowd how she has instructed her daughters while she raised them from little girls into adulthood in the White House.
Obama spoke of her family's values, stating, "How we urge them to ignore those who question their father's citizenship or faith. How we insist that this hateful language they hear from public figures on TV does not represent the true spirit of this country. How we explain that when someone is cruel or acts like a bully you don't stoop to their level. No, our motto is: when they go low, we go high."
While the audience applauded and listened, one man clearly did not pay much attention. That man was candidate and now President Donald Trump. Only two weeks ago, an angry man shot and seriously wounded Representative Steve Scalise during practice time for the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise was sent to the hospital and underwent numerous surgeries.
Other attendees were injured as well, including the two police officers who ended up killing the gunman. Media reports and law enforcement have suggested that the man was "anti-Republican" and wanted to hurt Republicans for their stance on tax cuts for the wealthy.
Just like every president who has had to respond to tragedy, President Trump issued a message of unity and sincerity, saying: "We may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember everyone who serves in our nation's capital because they all love our country."
That sentiment did not last long...
Last week, Trump took to Twitter in a tirade targeting MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, anchors of "Morning Joe." Trump does not like the hosts, and the hosts do not like the president. Presidents have always locked horns with the media, it's nothing new and will not be the last time. However, Trump cannot let any attack go unpunished. He sent out two tweets saying:
Trump's Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, took to the airwaves and defended the president's right to fight back. "The president isn't going to be someone who's bullied and allows people around him and himself to be personally attacked."
Both Sanders and Trump are acting like they are babies who don't get their way. Trump is the 45th president of the United States, he cannot lower himself to that of a schoolyard bully, regardless of what the media or any talking head has said about him. He is the leader of the free world and represents the people of America, and it is time he started acting like leader.
The "schoolyard bullying" has to end, it's disrespectful to the office that he represents. Civility must begin with his Twitter feed. As president of the United States, Trump is the most powerful man in the world and with that power he must practice restraint.
On the campaign trail, Trump disrespected public officials, Gold Star parents, immigrants and women. He attacked Senator Marco Rubio calling him "Little Marco" and made misogynistic comments about former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly.
Trump is not showing his family and young son, Barron, what a real man looks like. Instead, he is being a pathetic example.
Men don't berate women or bully. Brezinski is also to blame, she responded with her own tweet, while it may have been seen as funny, it only continues down the slope.
Like Obama said in her speech in 2016, "Every insult cannot be countered with yet another insult," "When they go low, we go high." It's time for Trump to become a real man.
