Results Over Rhetoric

President Trump deserves all the credit he’s getting for brokering the Israel-Hamas peace deal that brought about a ceasefire in the two-year war and the return of the remaining hostages who were captured during the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. 

The achievement was years in the making, dating back to his first term in office when he began laying the groundwork for broader peace in the Middle East by getting Arab and Muslim nations throughout the region in alignment with his vision. 

His signing of the peace deal in Egypt this week, flanked by leaders from the region and Europe, was a powerful message to the world that when America flexes its diplomatic might, nations will fall in place behind us.    

We’re still the leader of the free world. 

Despite that, some in the media couldn’t resist the “yes, but” and “whataboutism” that laces through so much of our political discourse these days on both sides of the aisle. I saw a couple editorials over the weekend with the general theme of “Peace Abroad, War at Home,” implying that the president’s peace efforts overseas are somehow negated by actions his administration is taking with ICE and the National Guard in some U.S. cities. 

To me, it’s part of the bigger problem in our world these days, whereby people refuse to see both sides of an issue and can’tcomfortably hold conflicting views in their own mind. Our current government shutdown is this dynamic on steroids, in my opinion.   

This all-or-nothing approach to our political discourse was evident in a poll conducted this fall and released a couple weeks ago that found nearly two-thirds of Americans, 64%, feel the country is too politically divided to solve our nation’s problems, with only 33% feeling we can come together to fix what ails us.    

That’s a reversion of the same poll’s finding 25 years ago, with the gap dramatically widening over the past three years.  

I’m an optimist by nature, so I fall into the 33% who think we can overcome our divisions, but I do think our elected officials bear the burden of leading us to a better place. The good news is that some already are. 

The Wall Street Journal had a great story the same week of the poll’s release detailing the work of elected leaders across the country who are putting aside their political differences to have civil debate and discussion about issues facing all voters, not just their respective bases. 

It detailed efforts by state legislators in Kansas, Minnesota, Arkansas, and other states who are making a concerted effort to do what politicians did for many decades until recently: get to know their political opponents on a personal level through socializing, in an effort to view the other side as simply someone with a different view, not “the devil,” as one official put it.    

One bipartisan group sings together publicly in a quartet; others exercise and volunteer together. 

In Minnesota, there’s a “Civility Caucus” in the state legislature that brings Democrats and Republicans together for karaoke, happy hours, and potluck dinners. One member of the caucus, Democratic Representative Sandra Feist, said, “We don’t demonize one another when we’ve shared a meal. Hopefully,that’s something the public sees and can emulate.” 

Perhaps the best known and widely praised practitioner of this new approach to civility is Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox, whose healing comments after Charlie Kirk’s assassination received praise from virtually all corners of the political spectrum, except from the predictable extremes.   

In late September, Cox was interviewed by 60 Minutes alongside New Mexico Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and both discussed at length their approach to disagreeing on specific topics while still working together on solutions. 

When asked if state governors understand something that Washington D.C. seems to have forgotten, both replied emphatically with a “yes!” 

“We’re completely about results, not rhetoric,” said Grisham. 

“We like to say that potholes aren’t partisan,” Cox said. “And governors do have to deliver actual results. I think sadly, in D.C.,we’ve seen this performative politics and much less substance.” 

That lack of substance reared its head last week when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Representative Mike Lawler (R-NY) were caught on camera having a tense exchange over the shutdown during which they talked over each other, literally pointed fingers, and devolved into taunting. I guess they performed well for their respective bases. 

So much for substance and results.