Daily Herald opinion: When provocative gets personal: Shameful mockery of a teenager displays a side of politics we must renounce

Provocative media pundit Ann Coulter has made a career out of political commentary steeped more in insult than insight, so it was not surprising when she posted on X a picture of 17-year-old Gus Walz tearfully applauding his father’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for vice president under the sneering epithet, “Talk about weird …”

Tasteless, yes. Insensitive, yes. Cruel, unseemly and arrogant, yes, yes and yes.

Surprising, no.

But that doesn’t excuse all the yeses. It’s those that we need to talk about as we begin wading deeper into the November 2024 General Election campaign.

For, Coulter wasn’t the only partisan to heap public ridicule on a teenager for his emotional display of pride in his father’s accomplishments. Jay Weber, a conservative talk show host in Wisconsin, mocked on X, “If the Walzs represent today’s American man, this country is screwed; ‘Meet my son, Gus. He’s a blubbering (expletive) boy. His mother and I are very proud.’ ” A prominent New Jersey Republican activist chimed in on X, “Tim Walz stupid crying son isn’t the flex the left thinks it is. You raised your kid to be a puffy beta male. Congrats.”

All these posts were deleted when the posters learned of Gus Walz’ mixture of learning disability, anxiety disorder and ADHD, but their appearance at all is what needs serious examination. Does it really take knowing that someone has a learning disorder to persuade commenters to exhibit simple civil restraint? Can adults with public platforms of some esteem not recognize the callowness of ridiculing any child openly, especially a child who is thrust in the public eye only because of who his parents are?

It cannot be ignored that such rudeness is a natural outgrowth of, first, the boorishness that social media enables and, second, the meanness that Donald Trump, a person who has held and seeks again the most prestigious position you can hold in the United States, has made a hallmark of his politics and staked out a personal right to. It cannot be ignored that our entertainment media make their own contribution to normalizing ridicule in the guise of humor. It cannot be ignored that liberal commentators see no disgrace in mocking Trump as “orange man” or repeating snide whispers around a certifiably debunked crude story involving JD Vance.

All these circumstances and likely many more contribute to a political dynamic that not only distracts us from the real and serious social and governmental issues that need to be the sole focus of our electoral decision making but also demeans the very government and society we wish to establish.

Much more to be desired was the response of another Republican to Gus Walz’ emotional outpouring.

“Gus Walz transcended politics and stole the stage at the DNC tonight,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted a Facebook post from Republican operative Craig Peterson. “If he didn’t make you ugly cry, you’re not human. I couldn’t help but think that’s a family that looks just like us. Just ordinary people. How refreshing.”

And, for his part, radio host Weber approached some acknowledgment of this reality in a later post regarding his crude lapse.

“In an X fever, I broke one of my own long-standing rules when I saw the video (of Gus Walz). I've said 'the kids are off limits for decades,' then fell into it myself. No excuses. Good reminder,” he wrote.

That’s a start. But we’re not truly going to have meaningful conversations or productive election campaigns until we recognize that respect and good taste should not be limited to our attitudes toward children or toward people with disabilities — though of course they should — but need to be extended to everyone.