The political discourse in America these days is so intense and fiery that it is almost impossible not to run into trouble if you’re expressing an opinion diametrically opposed to those of other people.

This is happening not only among Americans but also among Filipinos here in Michigan. Social media postings show that some of those involved are using impolite language in the discourse. As a consequence, even long-time friends are no longer friends.   

What is sad is that these people are known to be civil, respectable and honorable. But due to politics, they have lost not only their cool but also their good manners and right conduct.

The cause of this hostility is the political polarization which has become extreme and off the rail. This has split America into pro-Trump and anti-Trump. This chasm has become more evident in the wake of the Helsinki (Finland) summit between US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin.

Trump supporters, echoing the President’s claim, maintained that the summit was a great success. On the other hand, the anti-Trump people described the summit as a disaster for the United States.

And so when people who are passionate about their positions on the issue exchange views, a verbal clash is inevitable. This is illustrated by what happened at Fox News last July 19 between actress Whoopi Goldberg and Judge Jeanine Pirro.      

A detailed account of the encounter was reported by Taryn Rider in Yahoo News. Following is Rider’s  report: 

“In news that should be surprising to no one, Whoopi Goldberg and Jeanine Pirro didn’t see eye to eye on Thursday’s (July 19) episode of The View.

“The Fox News host (Pirro) stopped by to promote her new book, Liars, Leakers, and Liberals: The Case Against the Anti-Trump Conspiracy, and things started out normal. Pirro defended everything Donald Trump, blaming Barack Obama for basically any current problem in our country. But the fireworks started when Pirro mentioned “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and appeared to point at Goldberg.

“’Did you just point at me?’ Goldberg asked. ‘Listen, I don’t have Trump derangement, let me tell you what I have. I’m tired of people starting a conversation with ‘Mexicans are liars and rapists,’ … Listen, I’m 62 years old, there have been a lot of people in office that I didn’t agree with, but I have never, ever seen anything like this. I’ve never seen anybody whip up such hate. I’ve never seen anybody be so dismissive … What I suffer from is the inability to figure out how to fix this. That’s my issue.’

“Goldberg attempted to bring the discussion back to Pirro’s views, asking her about the ‘deep state.’

“’How long has the deep state been there and who’s running it?” The View host asked. But Pirro didn’t answer. The two got into a she-said, she-said spat before the Fox pundit (Pirro) shouted, “Whoopi, you know what’s horrible? When people who shouldn’t be here end up murdering the children of American citizens.’

“’You know what’s horrible? When the president of the United States whips up people to beat the hell out of people!’ Goldberg replied as the two continued to talk over each other.

“But Goldberg was fed up. ‘Say goodbye!’ she yelled to Pirro. ‘Bye. I’m done.’

“Pirro can be heard saying ‘wow’ as the camera cuts to a commercial break.

“When the show returned — sans the Justice With Judge Jeanine host — Goldberg explained her actions.

“’Welcome back. So, you saw me do something I very rarely do. I very rarely lose my cool and I’m not proud of it, I don’t like it,’ she said to the camera. ‘But I also don’t like being accused of being hysterical because that’s one of the things I try not to be on this show. So … have a great day.’

“The drama continued when the cameras stopped rolling. Pirro called into Sean Hannity’s radio show to talk about the incident.

“’When I went off the stage, Sean, I’m walking downstairs and I said something like, ‘Whoopi, I fought for victims my whole life,’ and she came at me as I was leaving and she said ‘F you’ in my face — literally spitting at me, ‘F you, get the F out of this building,’” Pirro said. “And I said to her, ‘did you just say that?’ She said, ‘that’s what I said, get the F out of this building’ and she was screaming at me, and I’m walking out of the building like a dog who was just kicked off. So forget about what she did to me on set, which was horrific in itself, but the treatment by Whoopi Goldberg is typical of what is going on in this country. The left, they invite you on to talk, they then won’t let you talk, they throw you off the show and then they throw you out of the building. And here’s the problem, Sean: The problem is once one starts doing it, the rest of them are going to start doing it.

“’These people, on the left, and I said it in the first segment, Sean — and again I have to look at it — I said ‘we need to start talking about this stuff.’ You know, we need to start recognizing that it doesn’t matter if it’s Donald Trump or if it’s a Democrat running. We’ve got to have a Department of Justice and FBI that is not corrupt…. I’ll tell you, Sean, I’ve been prosecutor, a judge for 30 years. I’ve sat on murder trials — I’d go toe-to-toe with anyone. I’ve tried murder cases, I’ve gone against drug cartels… I have never been treated like that in my life. I was stunned.”

“Page Six  (newspaper) reported the women’s alleged backstage encounter differently. Show producers and Goldberg have also reached out to Pirro to talk about the incident, according to the newspaper.

“’Jeanine could have walked by her,” a source told Page Six. “There was one more segment to do. She could have walked by her easily, she put her finger in her face and said, ‘I’ve done more for abused women than you will ever do’ and that’s when Whoopi said, ‘You and I have never had a problem,’ before everything else was said.”

So, even a veteran actress who is an Oscar awardee and a respected judge were drawn into the firestorm of the intense political debate and irrationally unable to control themselves.

To avoid this kind of nasty, disturbing situations, it is prudent for us to shut our mouth for the meantime.

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