It is absolutely appalling and preposterous that we must suffer with this incompetent president. Our standing all around the world has been affected in a hugely negative way. The only positive part is the large numbers of democrats of all races and creeds coming out to join the government to fight for our constitution.
12
These ver very bored kids, in bad schools, are modeling their behavior after reporters: hanging on Trump's even word. In good districts with enough money and two parent households, studies have shown we are among the best in the world. In terrible districts, bright kids with no future are counseled endlessly to not be aggressive, and also have nothing to learn. Docile, and stupid is not what we want to raise.
1
So it hasn't been drilled into the youth of America that when they bully someone, they are only displaying their own insufficiency? It hasn't been drilled into the youth of America that someone who is being bullied is only being used to cover up the inadequacies of the one doing the bullying. Bullying, by now, should be the most useless meaningless activity to take place in Middle School. Just make plain the cry for help that bullying actually is.
1
If y'all want to see the sort of parents these bullies have, take a quick glance at this Breitbart article reporting on the recent abuse of an autistic child in a Kentucky school and read the comments.
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/01/09/watch-teacher-drags-9-year-old-autistic-boy-down-school-hallway/
Of course bullying is on the rise in public schools, just as it's on the rise in public society at large. Look at our "leaders".
8
Ms. Goldberg has made it her specialty to draw on highly suspect analyses to make far reaching accusations of bigotry against people who disagree with her views. This editorial is another example of her approach. I skimmed the paper she referenced, on which she bases her position. It’s incredibly dense, and one has to dig deep into it to find any details or simple numbers. Well into the article is the data point that under one measure, bullying increased by 3.4% after Mr. Trump’s election. No mention of the absolute incidence of bullying, ie no listing of how many incidents were reported.
Quoting percentage changes, rather than absolute numbers, is a tactic used by breathless commentators who are looking for something - anything - to fuel their outrage. For example, the New York City Council is contemplating anti bias legislation. NYC records about 350 hate crimes per year, or about 1 per day. In a city of almost 8 million! New Yorkers are many times more likely to be in an automobile accident than suffer a bias crime. Even if bias crimes were to increase 50%, the incidence would be vanishingly low and likely a statistical anomaly.
I’m also wiling to bet that Ms. Goldberg didn’t give the paper she referenced more than the most cursory read. I recognize that her piece is in the editorial pages and therefore gets a pass on factual accuracy that the news sections would not receive. But the NYT has some responsibility for marginal truth telling even in the editorial pages.
5
When they take high school civics, at least they'll have a good understanding of "How a Ransom Tweet Becomes Law."
3
My daughter, a long time teacher of first graders in Pueblo, CO, told me one of the boys said quietly and firmly to another “DONALD TRUMP” and walked quietly and firmly away to end the dispute. Pretty perceptive put down for a midAmerica seven year old.
2
My kids are Latino, we live in fly-over country, and they haven't experienced or witnessed one iota of such bullying. Frankly many of the instances documented sound like they've been prompted by overzealous Trump-hating parents or educators who have stoked unnecessary paranoia. This is something I have witnessed personally. Yet, even if this so-called research were authentic and accurate, should we, in the same spirit, begin thanking Trump for our decrease in military interventionism, the passing of a bipartisan prison reform act, the sharp decline in the popularity of the ultraviolent, toxic-masculine sport of football, and (why not?) the increase in a long-overdue critical attitude towards a mainstream media that has historically sensationalized in order to turn a profit, and gotten way with it under the guise of "journalism"? You really can't keep having it both ways: blaming Trump for everything bad while refusing to acknowledge his role in anything good.
2
Bullying has always been winked at in schools, many slightly less thuggish bullies are rebranded as "leaders," and given tacit authority over student communities. These are the people who grow up to be politicians and "hard-boiled" business people, and always say, "bullying? not in my school."
Ask any nerd (or whatever they're called these days).
5
I don't think that I could be friends with an unrepentant Trump supporter.
5
When the ‘best face’ that America can put forward to its’ children is the likes of Donald Trump who could expect those children to do anything more then emulate that ugliness?
6
Middle school. Horrible for me. First time I lived off base (Air Force) and went to school with "regular" kids. I couldn't believe the stuff that came out of their mouths. Denigrate women, denigrate minorities, always talking about sex not because they desired it, but because, when I grew up and went to work, these were the things the men I worked with talked about. All the time. These were those boy's fathers. Black Lives Matter, Me Too. A long overdue reckoning for American men. I have no sympathy for those complaining about these movements. Yes, I'm a white male.
5
In Australia it's long been observed that people unconsciously tend to start copying and sounding like the current incumbent Prime Minister's accent.
So as the 'leader of the free world', the POTUS would have much more influence, and I'd guess even more so due to conservative voters' tendency to rely more on feelings than intellectual argument, with key indicator being 'disgust'.
Thus the lead photo - someone proudly wearing a t-shirt showing various expressions of disgust.
I've been teaching in a middle school since 1996 and, without question, the kids are not behaving the same way.
It could be the internet, or parents working longer hours with kids not having enough family time....
but I suspect the predominant reason is our president.
9
I'm a liberal and will not waste space here discussing the innumerable problems I lay at the doorstep of the President, congressional Republicans and Fox News. However, the liberal media and, frankly, my more hard-core liberal friends are perpetuating the hate and the fear, too. My adult daughter is notable for the breadth of her acceptance of people of all types, but I can't imagine how challenging it would be to find much in the way of balanced, nuanced reporting if I were trying to educate her about current events right now. Thankfully she's old enough to make her own decisions and can ignore the nasty things our family and even our friends of both political parties throw her way seemingly without thinking.
Selling advertising seems to be "trumping" real reporting on all sides and the resultingsensational, often nasty publications are unquestionably altering the development of adolescents and young adults just as their brains are doing the final pruning of excess connections critical for mature decision-making. Not to mention the effects on any and all adults in the room. Even the incessant reporting of whether Mr. Trump will declare a national emergency often sounds to me like taunting by the left, and I can hear the disappointment as each hour goes by with nothing to publish except, "He hasn't declared one yet."
Parents of young children---I wish you the best in this difficult climate.
7
I think it was Tom Brokaw who once told a graduating class in a commencement address that adulthood was more or less just an endless middle-school. If that's true, the American civilization is in for a world of hurt.
3
If you took a look at the peer-reviewed research, please note that disabled students were excluded from the study. Why they were excluded is not mentioned.
Does anyone not know that Trump publicly imitated a disabled man in the most widely-reported, video recorded and egregious example of his prowess at bullying?
Is this lapse in the data because the researchers don't think students with disabilities percieve or experience bullying? Or is it because the researchers simply aren't interested in them?
Let's be generous: I guess the researchers found it too daunting to take the measure or (more specifically) the self-reported perception of bullying experiences by students with disabilities. Which tells me something about how serious they were in actually examining the subject in which they purport to be examining with methodical scientific rigor.
Educational research funding and publication, too, is apparently susceptible to clickbait and questionably selective data collection.
1
@Quite Contrary
Astute observations, but ...
The study's methods section states:
"Alternative schools, schools that dealt primarily with a special needs population, and juvenile detention centers were not included."
Possibly interpreting results from these student populations is more complicated, so the research stayed with more "normal" populations? Nonetheless:
"with student participation rates exceeding 80% in all years"
One might expected bullying upon disabled students would be high, but the researchers chose (out of abundance of caution) to exclude the disabled because the same group included "juvenile detention" students.
To my mind, this makes the study conclusions stronger.
1
@Quite Contrary
Even the researchers weren't that cruel!
Society has and should have a pecking order, and such an order is preserved by pecking. Many Americans believe there is a natural pecking order that needs to be restored, and are quite happy with Trump's leadership in restoring it. Bringing back bullying as natural and good for society and those bullied (it makes them tougher as well as keeping them in their natural place and reminding them of that place) is not a bug but rather a feature of this presidency.
These two values systems are both historically American; each regards the other as unworkable, unrealistic, and immoral, and to be kept from power even if otherwise tolerated. Since we all live in the same world with problems that need to be addressed, conflicts are inevitable. Agreements to coexist get lots of lip service but little sincere adherence.
Those who do not want to choose a side merely prolong the conflict and the gridlock we now experience; if one side marginalizes the other and gets its way, we can regard this as an experiment and see if we like how it works. As long as both sides fight to gridlock, we cannot learn how either side would succeed or fail.
Those who do not want to choose a side are shirking their civic duty and prolonging our current mess. You have to serve somebody, and if you do not want to choose, this choice will in fact serve the side whose strategy includes getting you to stay uninvolved.
3
@sdavidc9
Do you also endorse pushing your puppy's nose in his mistakes? That's been proven to be counterproductive by successful animal trainers.
I remember picking sides in grade school sports to the tune of a little taunt that was widely practiced:
"Red rover, red rover, let (name) come over!"
As an asthmatic kid who hated sports competitions, I was probably never in the first draft. The fact that I remember it 50+ years later... well, need I say more?
Thanks for reminding me how base we hairless apes really are, starting on the playground. Pushing our noses in it doesn't help us function in society, nor does bullying however. Compassion and understanding might work just a little bit better - for dogs and kids.
6
Prior to the 2016 election, I drove through central Pennsylvania -- specifically in the area leading to Gettysburg and was repulsed by the number of confederate flags and Trump signs that I saw. It was as though I was driving through the land of the ignorant in which the ignorant were proud to advertise their ignorance, racism, bigotry, and boorishness. That area of PA voted for Trump and my bet is that bullying was very prevalent among the kids growing up in those homes and being infected by the disease of hatred of others.
17
When Trump was on the campaign trail in 2016 and first said “A lot of Illegal Mexicans coming into this country are rapists and thugs”, I first thought, well, that’s the end of that, he can’t possibly win with an openly racist statement. A week later, he was the Republican front runner, advocating war crimes on Fox News. Nearly two years since his inauguration, with all of the despicable statements he’s made and cruel things he’s done, he nonetheless commands some 40% our country.
Trump's supporters love him because they feel empowered to openly say how they feel about things that were all but unspeakable a short while ago. Despite how many of them are suffering from Trumps policies and actions, they continue to support him. To site but one example, perhaps the most fiercely brand-loyal Americans are those who ride Harley Davidson motorcycles (it’s not uncommon for them to have a prominent Harley logo tattoo) yet many of them took Trump’s side when he publicly shamed them when they talked about how they would have to make changes to their business due to Trump’s tariffs.
I’m having a hard time finding any sympathy in my heart for people who have no sympathy in theirs. One thing is certain—Trump opened Pandora’s box and the public face of America is much uglier than I can ever remember.
18
Not many conservatives will make much attempt to defend Trump when he expresses himself politically while sounding racist (probably not) inarticulate or even stupid.
Still one has to wonder if he is any of those things or a genius for making the Democrats and liberal progressives look insane.
Even Nancy Pelosi has to be worried about the near future of her party.
Attempting to blame Trump for a small number (yes small) of bad immature actors who probably come from homes that are arguably already dysfunctional is not the problem
I once heard Pelosi at a Berkley graduation encourage students to be "agitators" and the now famous statement of Maxine Waters encouraging her supporters to get in peoples faces, but they were never blamed for rioting, destruction of property and intimidation that has taken place all over the country.
The concept that people, young people too, should be held accountable for their actions is an idea that liberals have not subscribed to for a very long time. Rather they would blame individuals they disagree with and even society at large for perceived social ills.
Donald Trump is not the problem and never has been but instead is the result of bad liberal policy that has catered to wealthy liberal donors and Wall Street while ignoring millions of people between the two coasts.
4
@JAC, you and I live in very different worlds. In your world, Donald Trump is the champion of the little guy and enemy to wealthy donors and Wall Street. In my world, he just passed a $1.9 trillion tax cut benefiting these same Wall Street big boys, while shafting the middle class. In my world he's in the process of undermining Wall Street regulations and priming the pump for another recession, which will affect you, not him. In my world, he attempted to cut Medicaid by 40 percent, and he's still laboring to do away with protections for preexisting conditions.
In your world Donald Trump will never be accountable for what he says or does. As he once said, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and his supporters would stick with him. He's been a well-known con man, self-styled playboy and racist for at least four decades. He's selling his supporters on a nonexistent crisis on the Mexican border, while depriving hundreds of thousands of them of paychecks, disaster relief, farm subsidies, tax refunds, housing assistance, etc.
The only thing brilliant about Trump is that he's able to con so many people into believing he works for them.
2
This is ridiculous -- the uncritical presentation of this research by Goldberg and the unquestioned acceptance by most of the commentariat.
Before and since the election I've been attacked verbally by ADULTS for saying I supported Trump. I bet that among adults there were many more dems who have said anti-Trump things than repubs said anti-Obama things.
Even the authors of the research report don't suggest this is proof of Trump having any effect. IT COULD BE the internet. Or maybe year to year statistical variation. It could be a whole lot of things but if you believe that Trump is the cause of any increase in bullying in middle schoolers -- I've got a bridge to sell you -- because you've got to be pretty gullible. Here's an alternative explanation -- kids in Republican districts were so upset about Trump being attacked by adults they knew, HRC calling his supporters deplorable, etc., that they acted out more in school. Prove me wrong. Come on.
9
@Ralphie, I think you've already bought the bridge. Nobody wants to take it off your hands.
Sure, kids are just defending their poor parents. Or rather, kids are attacking other kids because they think that's the way to defend their parents.
Goldberg and the authors of the study both say that they're describing correlation, not causation. Still, it's striking that bullying went up significantly in these counties between 2015 and 2017, but it only went up in areas that voted for Trump, and its rise was also correlated with the degree of Trump's victory in those areas.
4
@SandraH. Sandra, you must not understand stats very well. And look closely at table 7 -- 3 of the 5 perception items went up in democrat districts as well.
And understand that with a huge sample, that almost any difference between groups will be significant. Statistical significance doesn't mean anything other than the probability that the sample data applies to the population as a whole. Period. And in this case, the sample is essentially the population.
And do you really think any of these differences are meaningful in any way shape or form? When I was in grad school, my mentor, a leader in his field, very clearly said that statistically significant differences does NOT imply meaningfulness. An important thing to remember. Do you really think that "teasing about sexual topics" about 58% v 56% is meaningful?
3
@Ralphie - oh cry us a river. I am in good 'ole Texas and the anti-Obama talk was in my firm, my church, my neighborhood and out in the open when it came to client meetings. No one and I repeat no one in the professional arena was hesitant when it came to making derogatory statements about Obama.
2
Kids growing up with permission to act like the president are going to be in for a rude awakening. Trump has gotten away with most of his bad behavior but he was CEO in a family run enterprise and now President of the USA. The kids are not.
3
We need a study of 155K students in Virginia to reveal evidence of what is approximately as prominently visible as your nose upon your face? When adolescents aren't striving for peer group acceptance, aren't they are mimicing adults and trying on the styles of celebrities in their sphere? I think it's called growing up. This needs research?
Students of all ages exist within the grasp of the internet, media and adults who are all increasingly hostile and politically polarized. Might this cause increasingly hostile and aggressive behavior, including bullying, on the part of these students? Why wouldn't it?
Can schools do anything about this? is a better question for educational psychologists to address. But that might require some really hard thought, original ideas and risk-taking, even. Is that stuff that timid social psychologists and columnists are afraid to tackle? This op-ed lacks substance.
4
I agree that it is "trickle down" malice. But I certainly don't envy junior high school social studies teachers who have to instruct about the three branches of government and the effect of the Trump administration on it and the Constitution in general.
10
@Alan J. Shaw. Do tell us about the effect.
My concern is that trump will discourage all students from learning more than 30 words, say "tremendous" and "he's a great guy" all the time, not learn to spell, punctuate sentences, or rules of capitalization.
7
Soon after the election my biracial grand daughter was warned by a concerned while classmate in her progressive Atlanta school that Trump was planning on sending "brown people" out of the country. She was in the first grade. She took this warning to heart and came home from school in tears.
Of course, the President sets a tone and it gets filtered to children, sometimes distorted and sometimes capturing the essence, if not correct in the details.
I could hardly imagine a worse example of what it means to be a human being than our current President.
160
@Bob M. My daughter, a long time first grade teacher in Pueblo, CO, told me that she overheard a heated discussion between two of her boy students that ended firmly and quietly with one of the seven year olds saying: DONALD TRUMP to the other. I am still smiling.
4
@sarah
I fully respect the office. I believe I respect the office more than this president does however. I am glad you think he is wonderful but on this we quite disagree.
32
@sarah, I thought you were going to say what a terrible thing to say to a small child. I guess I didn't have my eye on the real victim--Donald Trump.
4
I don't doubt that kids have been influenced by Trump's apparent racism. But I think this study exaggerates the problem. In fact, I think it probably measures the peak of the reaction and is not representative of what is happening now.
Keep in mind that a study of Virginia students in 2017 measures their behavior at the time of the incidents in nearby Charlottesville. And those incidents mark the peak in racial tension associated with Trump. In the last year, Trump hasn't defended neo-Nazi marches or racist car attacks. Pure and simple, racist statements by Trump have never reached the level they reached in Charlottesville.
The study referenced here would be comparable to a contemporary study of middle school kids living along the border who have been told there is an impending crisis. Generalizing from kids who live where the crisis is worst during the peak of the crisis is probably misleading and not likely representative of the situation over the past three years..
2
@michjas, I don't think there's a trend line in Trump's racist rhetoric. He's pretty consistent, and just because there haven't been any new neo-Nazi rallies for him to support doesn't mean he's taken his foot off the pedal. These days his most racist remarks are directed at Central American immigrants seeking asylum.
Maybe middle school bullying has only increased in Virginia, but I doubt it.
See as a high schooler in the 21st century, This is not normal. Normally as this would be done online. Signs taunting in person and other stuff talked about is not what we'd normally seen. Then again as a student in Washington state most people are Democrats so what I see are anti Trump remarks. Any and all "You're getting deported" jokes are done by Mexicans to other Mexicans so they don't get offended. Here It's if you like Trump them you get hate. Really if you are a Republican then you get hate. I have more Republican views then Democratic. Mostly relating to firearms. Because of that people think I like Trump. I don't. Just because I'm more Republican people think that. I'm 50% Hispanic. Not Mexican. My family way back 150-200 years ago came from Spain to America. Because of that people wonder how I could be Hispanic and Republican. I explain and then I get called a fake Hispanic. Or I get called a fake Republican. Now I you to reply and answer this one question. Does Race factor into what political party you side with? Explain why you think that. I'd love to hear other people's take on this issue.
1
Let's not pretend this coarsening of attitudes and behavior has been limited to middle schools. The great myth perpetuated by the American right is that any crude expression attacking people for their race, nationality, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, income, or any other characteristic is somehow brave and honest just because it's not "politically correct."
The (totally unfounded) assumption is that most white people want to say and do these bigoted things but were cowed into silence under the Obama administration, when there was a black man elected to the White House. Now they can speak and act freely! For anyone who feels that way, Trump talks their "nationalist" talk. Give a bully a bullhorn and he'll show you just how weak he really is.
8
Children also behave the way that their parents behave. One just needs to simply peruse the comments section of The Wall Street Journal to witness adult displays of insults, attacks and bullying. All unveiled by the anonymity of a username. Don't even get me started on the Fox News comment section.
11
Poison. Our country is being poisoned by a President and those who are supporting him. It was not too long ago that this cultural shift would have been unbelievable. Until we remove him and his enablers from leadership and elect leaders that will unite us and demand civility we will continue this slide into hatred and division. We know that people have a dark side but it is usually kept in check. We have seen leadership on the right turn to egregious lies, distortion and naked power grabs to maintain their power and their benefactors wealth. The Republican party has abandoned any pretense that they have "conservative" values. They have intentionally left the path of Democracy and instead are flirting with authoritarianism. Bullying is the symptom and it has spread to our culture along with a willingness by a huge number of people to accept authoritarian acts from their leaders. Those of us who are not willing to tolerate this in turn must demand that this be stopped and that these "leaders be expelled. This must be combined with consequences appropriate to the crimes they are committing against our country and it's Constitution. We must work to unite and heal this country when they are gone. Don't tolerate the hate. Demand that our leadership be accountable to their oath to the Constitution and the people that they swear to serve. Then we can show the bully's that they have to rethink their ways by example. VOTE
5
This article also reminds us that evidence accrued by the scientific method matters. The studies cited show methodological rigor, of the kind that is too easily dismissed by right-wing zealots. Besides providing evidence to support the conclusion that thuggish leaders encourage thuggish behavior in their communities, the article does something else. As if we need more evidence of Mike Pence's moral and religious hypocrisy, and his intellectual shallowness, Michelle Goldberg provides it.
5
From a social "science" perspective, this study is pretty tenuous. FIrst, it's based on self report -- there are no objective measures. Second, it's not the same population from 2015 to 2017-- the tests are 2 years apart. Third, you have no idea whether the uptick in reported bullying is due to something like greater sensitivity to bullying by students for whatever reason -- or more bullying actually occurring. We also don't know whether the kids were referencing frequency, intensity, or what.
As the authors note, the 2017 study was made immediately after the election -- you don't know whether bullying increased or declined after that. Of note, however, the anti-defamation league presented a study last April and it showed anti semitic incidents peaked in feb 2017 then declined the rest of the year.
Further, the results aren't strong. This was a huge sample, it doesn't take much in group differences or correlational values to produce significant results with large samples.
Finally -- the authors present no evidence that (a) Trump was perceived as more bullying (remember HRC & deplorables) or (b) that Republican parents emulated bullying behavior or (c) that kids had much exposure. ETC> As well, there were other campaigns going on -- and campaigns can get nasty, with negative ads on TV etc. There was no attempt to quantify any predictor other than voting Repub or not.
But of course, this is typical Times reporting.
6
@Ralphie
I think you missed the point of the article.
After the U.S. Election of the POTUS there was an 18% increase in reported bullying in areas that are known to have been supporting Mr Trump. There has been no corresponding increase in the areas known to have voted for Mrs Clinton.
That seems pretty clear to me. I was blessed to be the subject of bullying in middle and high school. It's vicious and extremely demeaning.
Fortunately I had good parents who kept me aware that all humans are of the same stock and are prone to make mistakes but may grow up to be decent folk.
9
@Alecfinn Maybe you should reread. Also look at figure seven. Actual incidents of bullying were much lower than any of the perceived items (bullying is a problem at my school) -- the difference is 19.8% vs 16.8% -- but the rate was slightly higher in Republican districts in 2015 as well. With over 100k participants any difference is going to be statistically significant -- but we don't know whether the difference is meaningful -- it's 3 % points -- and if you flipped it around you'd have 80% in republican schools reporting no bullying vs 83% in dem schools. And we don't know whether kids were referring to intensity or frequency. And we don't know what the long term trend is either, do we.
Also note that for the four perception questions that they are all higher than self reports of actual bullying -- and that 2 out of 5 are not significant and there aren't huge differences on any of the items -- and again we don't know the long term trend.
And the authors don't make a causal link -- there could be a jillion other factors other than Trump -- maybe the Republican areas have always had slightly more bullying -- or there is at least greater sensitivity among students.
1
@Ralphie
Part of being bullied is frequently not complaining about being bullied. I know this from personal experience. If you admit to being bullied it encourages more bullying. Unfortunately that is a fact that others who have been bullied can attest to but may not admit it.
So on the surface you are correct but subjectively it's not completely accurate. I used my experiences to try to understand others (I attribute that to my parents and that I read a lot).
When your role models are bullies and seem to be successful then that is a viable option for your future development.
I agree these studies tend to be subjective but much of how we view the world is subjective and role models and peer pressure can distort views.
Then there is what is observed around and much of civility is being discarded in this "My right to free speech" as well as putting someone down who doesn't agree with you.
1
The biggest influence o Children are their parents. The followed by there friends. Trump is way down the list, if on it at all.
1
@Frank Leibold
Many look to those in "Power" as the folk to emulate that is parents peers and our "top" political figure.
3
That Pence quote … WOW! (Might Pence be the very smallest of all those men and women who bow to trump?)
P.S. I think that, while those maga-kids 'parroting' of trump's 'taste' for bullying is a grave concern … so, too, is the 'likelihood' that listening to him will result in widespread illiteracy in their numbers.
6
@Thomas Murray
Mr Trump has said on more than a few occasions he loves the uneducated. Think that's a telling comment?
7
It's not just Virginia. There is a noticeable spike in hate crimes, and kids appear to be encouraged by racist and victim-blaming parents as well. I'm in Boston, which leans Democrat, but I see far too many instances of kids bullying, spray painted swastikas, violence to the homeless and women, etc. etc. Road rage is up too.
Jesus wept! (Try the Gospels ... he was one of "those people".)
14
@Susan Anderson
I have noticed some similar trends here in Brooklyn N.Y. and it bothers me to my soul.
There is a push to stop that behavior but it still raises it ugly head. I had hoped we had left that stuff behind.
On the BBC show Hardtalk Stephen Saunders interviewed the present president of European Rabbis about the rise in anti-Semitism in Europe and the U.S.. It was an educational interview as well as alarming.
1
I entirely agree with Ms. Goldberg here, but would respect her more as a commentator if she admitted that she disagreed with Representative Mike Pence and defended President Clinton back in the day, and that she was wrong. Democrats told Republicans pretty clearly that presidential moral leadership was not important in 1998. Nobody is going to listen to a Democrat who supported Clinton when they criticize Trump's lack of moral leadership today.
1
@Tom - Here's the problem, in bumper sticker form:
When Clinton lied, nobody died
We'd all be a lot better off if he could control his libido, but consensual sex? Really? Worth destroying the world for?
Gore would have been president, and we wouldn't be staring the death of civilization quite so close in the face, as we ignore the planetary disaster just ramping up. You might not have noticed that vast numbers of trees are dying too.
Not good. Earth's apex predator, getting its just desserts, a population trim of all the billions of unfortunates who can't afford to move or protect themselves. A hatefest on the vulnderable.
9
@Tom
You make a good point, but there's a tinge of false equivalence in it. Clinton's immorality (and yes, as a left-wing-leaning Democrat, I concede), although deplorable by several measures, was entirely private and self-directed: his dalliances and lying about it to save his marriage weren't morally ideal, but they didn't hurt anyone, as much as they may have modeled undesirable behavior with respect to relationships and mens' treatment of women. Teens looking for behavioral models in that context may have interpreted a green light to be less than ethical.
In contrast, the specific ideologies and behaviors exhibited by Trump are fundamentally about hurting others, with purpose, and with impunity. That's a huge difference. They model behaviors that typically gear toward physical violence and intimidation, not "merely" emotional impacts that MIGHT result from poor choices or indifference on the part of the perpetrator.
9
I agree that the divisive political environment leads directly to more bullying.
Trumps lack of respectful treatment of opponents leads his others down that road.
What is missed is that Trump's opponents lack of respect and attitude is doing the same for his opponents children (call the man an MF in national media and proud of it?).
"..I suspect it’s an indirect effect of the social environment that kids are in. It may be their parents, it may be other adults, it may be the adults in schools.”
I have seen reports of students attacked for having a MAGA hat.
Sure Trump started it but when everybody goes low expect your children to follow.
1
I know conservative kids who are shunned, disdained, and socially made into pariahs by "woke" majorities. Their parents do not report it because they want their kids to understand how the real world is. Plus, no one is hitting anyone.
3
My daughter went to school at Evergreen in Olympia, WA. Because of Klan rallies and threatened violence there, students were afraid to go out at night. Classes were cancelled for several days and graduation ceremonies had to be moved to Tacoma to avoid right wing racist violence.
My sister teaches at the elementary school level. She tells me of students, small kids, crying out of fear that they will be deported or worse.
So yes--this has affected schools.
12
Oh, the irony. Picture Trump as a middle school kid with dyed blond hair swirled into a bouffant style and a thick layer of orange foundation on his face. Imagine the bullying he'd be subjected to.
8
Decades upon decades ago, far right ''conservative'' groups decided to make a conscientious decision to grow their movement from the bottom up, instead of from the top down. (which was failing)
That would mean pouring money into and directing efforts to take over everything at the local level. That would mean teachers, school boards, textbook suppliers, and everything on up that had sway on not only the adults, but the very young. It was and is an indoctrination program.
We fast forward to today, and an administration and President exist because of that grass roots movement that has been in effect for decades. It was pushed over the top by two things, which were an African American Democrat leading the country for the last eight years, and most likely a conspiracy from foreign actors to steal an election through misdirection and propaganda.
All of this did not happen in a bubble, and has been below the surface of society for decades. Now with this President with his tweets, rants and actions, it has given permission for the adults to come out of the shadows.
Those adults are now given permission to their children.
There is one silver lining, and that is that there is a backlash to the backlash. (shown in the last election of massive Progressive wins) It will continue on to the next election with more massive Progressive wins, and then we might begin to heal and come together.
Keep teaching our children that love conquers hate.
7
Goldberg falls victim to the classic misunderstanding of correlation versus causation. The studies mentioned in this article demonstrate a correlation, not a cause. Goldberg's title suggests otherwise. Attributing a rise in bullying to the results of a presidential election is unrealistic when an ocean of other equally-viable variables exist.
3
The author makes exactly that point in paragraph 3. Without drawing a line from correlation to causation the author devotes the column to describing what factors MAY explain this apparent correlation without directly attributing causation.
9
@Brian Britt
Goldberg explicitly makes the distinction between corollary and causal in the article. Please read again.
5
What's really scary is that fundamentalist preachers and their followers condone Trump's vile behavior.
17
It's the picture that accompanies the article that troubles me most.
The boy in the picture is obviously a Trump supporter (standing and gesturing at a Trump rally), but his choice of clothing fills in the silence of the photograph, revealing a troubled mindset.
The cutouts of Trump's face, in all its petulant, aggrieved, snarling, vengeful glory, suggest that the wearer embraces these attitudes.
It explains the anger of Trump supporters, but also how such anger can never be appeased: it's anger for anger's sake.
Where's the thoughtful, composed portrait of a president?
It's nowhere to be found. All we have are real-life caricatures.
And that, apparently, is what about 40% of Americans want in a President.
Unfortunately, the age of its wearer suggest that the demons Trump unleashed will not die out over time. We have work to do once our current President exits, pursued by lawsuits, stage right.
14
As a high school teacher, I have observed that our freshmen this year are different from the classes that preceded them. Our school values and teaches respect and kindness, and it is usually not a terribly hard lesson; it's a rural school with a generally terrific student body. But the freshman class this year is a tough one. A greater number of them are quite mean to one another, have no compunction about insulting and mocking people, and have far less interest in helping their community or those less fortunate. Other teachers have noticed it, too, because we find it odd; we are not used to this. One colleague suggested it might be the Trump effect. Perhaps she's right.
20
It starts at the top.
3
In addition to kids who learn bullying from the reporting about Donald Trump or from their parents who consume that reporting, some kids also learn fear of Trump from their parents or from the reporting on him. I am sure that some of these fears are greatly exaggerated because the parents are participating in the drama that this president whips up. Those of us in both parties need to be careful to frame Donald Trump to our children as neither savior nor Satan. Our kids need to learn to make reasoned determinations about what are imminent dangers and what are not.
3
Michelle- thank you for writing about this...and not writing about whatever bright, shiny object trump is putting forth today!
While it is true that correlation does not equal causation, the facts gathered from the survey are pretty damning. And, the results show the real life consequences of the trump era.
Kids are not going to automatically return to their pre-trump levels of bullying once he has left office. This administration is doing more long term damage to this country than we can imagine. The tone, breaking of norms and laws, judges appointed for life, the national debt, deconstruction of necessary institutions...our children are going to live with the aftermath for many decades.
3
I thought I could not be more horrified than when I read about the two small innocent children who suffered and died while under border security "protection".
To see this repulsive t-shirt with the many angry, ugly Trump faces plastered all over it worn like a badge of honor is just stomach churning.
Then to read that these same young white males were chanting hateful, racist taunts at opposing sport teams of color is is just stomach churning.
Sounds like the youth in Germany professing their devotion to their dictator whose actions were unspeakable.
Wake up America! Look at what this low-class, hateful president is encouraging in our country.
Is the country in which you want our children and grandchildren to grow up?
14
Yes this is exactly what Trump supporters want.
3
Be Best.
4
@Karen Lee
Thanks, I needed that!
Succinctly, Melania (or her publicist) trumps "MAGA" with a slogan that somehow manages to be linguistically, morally and intellectually offensive all at the same time. Maybe somebody in that camp truly has a wicked sense of humor. Perhaps the same one who colluded with the wardrobe consultant on The IDC Jacket or the storm stilettos.
Or perhaps Trump is the middle schooler.
1
It should be constantly reminded that the foundation for bullying, racism, sexism, all isms, is ignorance. Make it clear that, when a person displays their ism, they are really displaying for all to see that they are an ignorant person. Donald Trump is an overtly ignorant person, and that is why these increases in anti-social behavior in our country can be directly tied to this president. Ignorance is having its heyday. Trump followers, while denying they are racist, seem proud of their racism (a typical dichotomy that is in abundance in the Trump culture), but only because "racism" is a bad word. But "ignorant" carries its weight, and no one wants to be pegged as ignorant. Therefore, a discussion on the vast racism, sexism, anti-Muslim, etc., ethos of Trump world should never be had w/o noting that one can be none of those things w/o the main ingredient: ignorance.
3
When I was in middle school in San Francisco, my father took me to see Adlai Stevenson give a speech in Union Square, who said, “Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse....Unreason and anti-intellectualism abominate thought....But shouting is not a substitute for thinking and reason is not the subversion but the salvation of freedom.” Shortly thereafter, I was fortunate enough to have the likes of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. as presedential and leadership role models during my formative years. God save and suffer the little children who receive their monstrous marching orders from Individual-1!
13
@Steve Griffith
Your story makes me feel sad for the children going with their parents to 45's rallies.
Thanks for sharing.
7
We had similar upticks in hate crimes following the disastrous Brexit vote. The campaign was awful and am MP was actually killed by a crazy man screaming “Britain First”. It was all so obviously linked that they all agreed to stop campaigning for the week. They haven’t learned of course. The same people are screaming “traitor to the country” etc. Once again our political representatives are being intimidated and threatened. One lady last week being interviewed for the BBC couldn’t even continue her interview outside parliament for these same far right Brexiteers screaming she was a “Nazi”. Irony never was their string point. It was a nasty sight.
I don’t know where this leads. The Brexiteers are close to violence and another campaign will clearly be worse than the first. Finding out that lying so shockingly works will likely get them repeating their actions. Those that believed those lies are still likely to believe them given they were stupid enough to fall for them the first time and unwilling to inform themselves of the truth, or incapable of fact checking. Sound familiar?
It seems to me there need to be a MASSIVE education effort to teach people how to fact check, how to be able to identify potentially foreign propaganda (from Russia to us too) It will take a huge campaign- and it will take both sides co-operating, but unfortunately that doesn’t not help both side equally. It would only help democracy.
4
This trend of Trump emboldening rural white nationalists started with the election, when the young boys in the GOP-infested area of PA we are in started becoming aggressive from Trump’s fascist-style rallies and went about shooting guns in the pumpkin fields to assert their “rights” and scare women and girls. These people have nothing to protect but their failing, bigoted “morality,” which consists of facing their denial with bluster and violence and church-going, maybe to please their useless parents, who seem “nice” and pray for the turkey Trump while they fall farther into debt and their kids become even more ignorant and intolerant.
8
When the President is "The Bully-in-Chief" ALL bullies follow his lead.
Bullies are always with us, they present an aspect of human nature that can only be controlled when a sense of 'shame' prevents open expression of bullying.
DJT is a bully with no shame, and he is the role model for all bullies.
9
Not just Middle school kids with crazed emotions. Adults we can’t take TRUMP anymore.
Trump lovers this is what you get twisted kids!
3
The president is a disgrace, but Ms. Goldberg's piece is really a stretch. What's next? Blaming him for acne in middle school?
4
Just take one line from DT yesterday. The one about how Dems call his border wall emergency “manufactured”. No! The word “manufactured” is manufactured he says. “I know you are but what am I”: a classic middle-school, playground bully taunt. One of DT’s favorite.
1
Bullying, hate speak, and anything related to this is up in all areas of the country because of Trump not just in his strongholds.
In liberal Brooklyn where I live, I saw a back meter maid repeatedly called the N word because she gave a white women a ticket.
Also there is sporadic anti semitic, anti black, anti immigrant etc. posters on public property.
5
I’m more disrturbed at the shirt that is depicted in the photo accompanying this article. Who in the world is the person wearing that rag? As for the article - let it go.
2
Middle School is just a tiny part of what Trump has made worse. Consider the long-term economy, the environment, women's rights, the world community, rule of law, freedom from bigotry, racism, economic thievery, fiscal irresponsibility - and the list goes on ad infinitum.
Can the fly-over old white males be THAT stupid and trash the future of this country for some false macho Hannity/Trump lie? It would seem so. They are out of the fray; they have their money and have obviously lost any moral value (if they ever had any) in following this narcissistic sociopath.
Time to trash what has become of the Republicans - they are past the point of no return and have little choice but to try to run out their terms or go to jail. Trump is probably preparing pardons for all of his "supporters" and himself, waiting for Mueller's already sealed indictments to be released. Let's see how far that gets him! Best wishes to SDNY - go get 'em!
9
The few unfortunate times that I've glimpsed a trump rally (remember "plaid shirt guy?") it is always the children that catch my eye. Watching a 5 year old girl screaming Lock Her Up is not something that should exist in this country. If parents were taking their kids to Nazi camps to learn how to march, salute and hurt people they'd be arrested for child abuse. I'm not sure how a trump rally is any different.
14
Wow! An amazing article. I am a white man of Trump's age and grew up in the 1950s and 60s. I experienced bullying all my youth, until I moved to California, when I was 16, which only had laid back surfer dudes. I looked back on why the bullying, and it wasn't the President, but I think it was left over aggressiveness and complacency of parents and teachers who just went through WWII. A boy was told that aggressiveness was necessary to survive. The parents and school masters looked the other way, when they became bullies. Middle school was a nightmare. Kids were making brass knuckles in the school shop. We had "circle fights" where a crowd would convene in the playground, to watch some sort of gladiator contest. I carried a knife to school to protect myself. It got confiscated by my home room teacher. Today, I'd probably get arrested. We didn't have Ritalin to calm the chemically imbalanced bullies. Calling each other "homos" was a regular feature. As responsible adults we need not to look the other way, and to recognize and deal with bullying of all forms, including this President. Interesting that Melania leads a social media anti-bullying campaign, while her husband is the most strident and followed on-line bully. Go....figure!
6
Of course he's a horrible influence. I feel so sorry for children who are exposed to his obnoxious braying day in, day out. He is class and content-free and so loud. If you have nothing to say, shout it! There is nothing to admire in that bully, and he is 100% detrimental to every child on the planet.
2
In a saucepan over low heat, place Donald Trump. Allow to simmer for a lifetime while the country "browns". In a mixing bowl, pour in the 10% of our population who have always been overtly racist (neonazis, WNP members). Add another 15% of our population who are normally closet racists, those who only rant at home with the family or among close look minded friends. Stir this 25% and pour into the saucepan which has been simmering. Let continue to simmer for a few years. Pour contents into a large serving dish and let stand until firmly set. Cut into slices, then garnish with confederate flags, travel bans, massive walls, and manufactured crisis. Serve to our youth.
157
The answer to your question is obvious: A big thunderous, YES! When a person occupying the WH is a racist, a bully, and a with no positive character traits it not only affects middle schools but all Americans!
6
But teacher, “Gee, if the President can act like a jerk; you know, lie, cheat and have tantrums, why can’t I?”
8
So much for “Be Best”. What’s Melania doing about it? Oh right, she really doesn’t care, do u?
8
So this President we now have is incubating a future generation of racists. It just gets worse every day.
8
It tells you something when chanting a president's name is code for white supremacists
283
Bullying works both ways. No mention here of incidents involving Hispanic gang bullying of course.
2
Melania? Are you reading this?
5
The socialist democrats initiate "bullying" of this president everyday and have since day #1 after he was elected. The NY Times's specializes in verbal bullying as does the press and social media. They are leading the children to be hateful; karma is harmful.
1
Jan,
You believe the middle school bullies are acquiring their attitudes as a reaction to liberal media and "socialist democrats". Your logic defies understanding. I'm pretty sure they don't read the former and couldn't recognize the latter. They are just repeating and emulating their role models, as we all did at that age.
7
Well, thankfully innocent Trump has you to defend him.
If you watch Nazi era documentaries you will see middle school age children gleefully insulting Jews as they are being rounded up and marched off to ghettos or camps. As a school volunteer
reading to 7 year olds children are aware of statements the
President makes and repeat to me what their parents say
in this regard. Some of their comments are disturbing.
12
This article hits home, as both a parent of a middle schooler and an educational consultant for whom middle schools represents a sizable portion of my business. I also happen to live in the reddest county of an overall blue state. As with the media, Trump is good for business but bad for our national psyche. There's a very clear line to be drawn from Steve King's recent comments to Trump's behavior to the fresh hell that is to come.
4
Face it Michelle America and the West in general is a sick disturbing society in every aspect when it comes down to any sort of identity politics whether race, gender, or class. Always has been always will. Thanks in no small part to our liberal elites who talk like Communists and act like CEOs on Wall Street and our so called conservative elites who worship money and free trade or capitalism or whatever they are calling it. Just look at this right wing civil war with very Tucker Carlson who made some criticisms of the status quo amongst the elite in regards to their attitudes towards the unwashed working classes be they black or white. I can make no rhyme or reason out of a socioeconomic strategy that tells minorities they are in need of all sorts of government aid but winds up penalizing supposedly deplorable poor white people who are ignored by both parties except when being ridiculed for receiving government aid or smeared as racists. This schizophrenia has created Trumpism. The working class of all stripes are easy marks not only for Trump and the Dems thanks to this quasi Marxism and quasi Fascism but sadly for the ordinary psychopaths amongst the electorate.
1
@Peter
It seems like there's a lot of confusion in your commentary, mostly in terms of false equivalencies between the ideological aspects of the two parties:
Republicans or conservatives or Fascists—same difference—are fundamentally about division: Us vs. Them, whether regarding race, religion, or gender. Conservatism is about maintaining a status quo of power for those who, historically, have had it: the rich, the Christian, the white, the straight. You know, how it was in the good ol' days.
Democrats or lefties or Communists—same difference—are about the working class, the marginalized, and the disenfranchised. Yes, I agree—the urban liberal elite has made some regrettable errors (see NAFTA, Hillary)...
However, the fundamental difference remains: the leftie is about inclusion, or "all of us together". Communism and Socialism (if we wanna get detailed) are ideologies that promote everyone being equal: no class distinction WHATSOEVER. It's not a bad idea, even if it hasn't worked out well thus far. "Identity politics" is a clever misuse of words to promote a conservative agenda that aims to divide; in reality, those "politics" are an attempt to annul the disparities in race, gender, and class that conservatives have fostered throughout history. And that includes the poor, whether white or any other ethnicity. "Poor" has always been powerless, as much as any other minority group.
Please investigate more and, above all: Follow the money.
1
In every school, church, business, organization, or government that I know of, the people at the top set the tone.
98
@Pdxtran Sorry, but people at the top of a middle school might set a tone for the staff, but setting a tone for the students is extremely hard to do.
3
@Pdxtran
......"the people at the top set the tone."
that would/could/should be the title of an article all its own, especially in light of the most extreme divisiveness our country has seen since the civil war.
7
@Pdxtran Trump may have abused the bully pulpit, but at least he knows forestry.
How I wish I could send this article to my nieces and nephews who live in Virginia. They voted for trump and, I’m quite sure, never read the NYTIMES. But, I know it wouldn’t change their minds.
1
What's even more remarkable is how the party of "family values" flipped virtually overnight to become the party defending Mafia family values: bullying, lying, bribery, money laundering, misogyny, self dealing, open bigotry, etc.
Republican middle schoolers at least have a chance of out growing their worst impulses. I wish I could say the same for their parents.
5
My God, is it any wonder or surprise that there is an increase in bullying in schools across the country, especially in states won by trump, given the lack of caring, lack of thougtfullness, lack of empathy, and lack of an intelligent demeanor by our president.
How far down does the country have to be dragged before Republicans in Congress say ENOUGH?
4
He's making everything worse.
3
There are so many moments to teach from under this administration.
While we discuss the horrific behavior of Donald and his gang with our son, we also focus on the importance of verifiable facts and the reason to vote in every election. There are also many people in public life to draw a contrast with and we do at every opportunity. We talk a lot about bullying and cheating versus winning fair and square.
I have volunteered in a school library for 6 years. I have yet to have a child ask me to help them find a biography of Donald or Melania or to check one out. By contrast, our copy of Who Is Michelle Obama? is worn with love; the kids could have told you that Becoming would have been a smash hit.
1
As a recently retired teacher of juniors and seniors in an esteemed private school that prides itself on its honor code, I've been horrified by this president's lies, slanders, and cruelty and its effect on young people and the future. How could there not be a rise in bullying — and an acceptance of bullying — not just in middle school, but in high school and beyond? For the children who have parents and teachers to talk them through these troubling times, one hopes they'll survive and be the hope of the future. But imagine the kids going home to households in which these conversations are not happening, and Fox is the ongoing news source. Imagine if what you care about is winning, and your own money, and believe that all the people telling you not to bully are "losers" who should be "locked up." Imagine being in an 8th grade social studies class learning about checks and balances and then having to figure out why our Congress continues to sanction the kind of behavior that would earn poor grades and expulsion at school.
I could obviously go on, but I'm completely depressed. And btw, there's a march of white nationalists in Princeton, NJ tomorrow.
THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!!!!
2
Those little Trump-supporting bullies are going to be humbled (choked into submission) by the nerds and other smart kids who simply take Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (a learning arena in which "bullies' are immediately and permanently humbled) and will wrap any larger punk into a painful pretzel position. The more Trump bullies there are, the more "sparring partners" there will be--make sure you video these for permanent embarrassment.
1
Nowadays the bullies are likely to have martial arts training too.
The mental health of the Country has declined due to an illness residing in the White House and the GOP. Fear is the predominant symptom and with it comes a cascade of harmful effects. Fear unleashes greed activating racism. The disease spreads through auditory and visual by vectors of false words and images. How did this virus become so virulent?
The reservoir of the virus resided in pockets of the deeply diseased, always watching and waiting for environmental conditions to fuel an outbreak.
In this case, it was the rise of an intelligent gentleman with slightly darker skin pigmentation and highly effective infection delivery mechanisms lacking immune responses. The elimination of the fairness doctrine in broadcasting opened our airwaves (TV and Radio) to propaganda, but the Internet's complete lack of immunity to fakery created today's virulence.
The inability to punish President Nixon for his crimes through the application of pardon by President Ford created a pathway for the Reservoir to return. George H. W. Bush's pardon of those in the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra Scandal again protected the Reservoir's failed strategies. George Bush and Dick Cheney transfer of our Nation's treasure to their supporters without punishment "For the good of the Nation" has led us to the dysfunctionality where a foreign advisary also part of the Reservoir can infect weak-minded Americans and install their puppet.
The GOP's and Russian leadership are the Disease Reservoir.
2
Sad but true. I’m starting a page called @mymiddleschoolmyself on Instagram if anyone is interested in sharing a story. Hoping to create a drop in the bucket toward healing.
1
Well, now we have an actual correlation between a mean spirited, bully President and his mean spirited, bully followers. Why doesn't this surprise me? One wonders, did he beget them, or did Trump realize he should reflect the views and beliefs of this bully-base, precisely so that they would elect him? No matter--we need to shove them all to the side and get on with running this country in a positive, forward looking fashion again. Ignorance, anti-science, anti-intellectual, anti-immigrant, anti-female, anti-diversity, anti-LGBTQ, anti-government, anti-environment and anti-healthcare reform basically sums them all up. Note the common prefix? Are these bullies FOR anything? Nope, because bullies, like Trump himself, are just a lot of hot air, ranting and raving AGAINST everyone and everything, but offering no real solution to anything. Tariffs? A return to coal mining? A wall? It's just a lot of old white guys, frustrated that the world has changed, and still trying to be relevant. When an entire party cannot articulate their ideas beyond finger pointing and self righteous anger, and the predominant image of the President is that of a doddering old man with a dyed pompadour hairdo, sputtering about invaders at our border, it is no wonder that no one but pathetic bullies are attracted. Trump's middle school mentality reflects the arrested development that has now overtaken the entire Republican party--a party, like the Whigs of old, that is on its way to oblivion.
3
I clearly remember attending my middle-schooler’s orientation in the summer of 2017, and listening to the principal give a speech about zero-tolerance for bullying & cyber-bullying. I thought at the time that it was a glaring irony that the president of the United States himself is a leading perpetrator of bullying both online and off. This president should be ashamed of himself (of course he’s incapable of shame or self-reflection) for the poor leadership he exhibits on a daily basis, most importantly because our children are watching. Our children see the irony and hypocrisy of our president. Our children see the abhorrent toxic-masculinity he displays. Our children see a president who lives by quid pro quo and who respects no-one. It’s a tough time for parents and teachers everywhere.
2
Thank god my kids are growing up in San Francisco. There is a zero tolerance policy for bullying here, and it's enforced from kindergarten up. My kids think bullying is the lowest of the low, right down there with racism.
Of course, they also think Trump is the lowest of the low. At my house, "you're being a Trump!" is the biggest insult we've got, haha.
1
Color me thoroughly not surprised.
IMHO, we are going to see these bullies proliferate and their behaviors permeate their lives - and the lives of their victims - in the coming years. This will manifest itself in more anger, bitterness, and hostility in these demographics and new white supremacist and white nationalist movements.
2
One can't help but wonder what Mike Pence really believes. Joining Trump was the ultimate change of stripes. Pence is the apotheosis of disingenuous, two-faced, smarmy-dom. It's unreal what supposed people of character have let themselves go along with - or even help lead the charge on. Pence has sold his soul to the devil. It's sad for the whole country - to see so many supposedly self-righteous people siding with Trump - even acting like Trump. Pence is a moral failure.
3
Trump uses social media( tweets) to bully and berate-inexcusable.Meanwhile Melania Trump has a campaign against bullying .His voice drowns out hers.Students should learn that Trump is an angry, immoral old man and does not represent our country.
3
Thank you Ms. Goldberg, for introducing this topic. I believe that one of Trump's most damaging effect is the lesson that he is teaching young people. He daily demonstrates that it is perfectly ok to bully, call names, fail to do the hard work of one's job, lie to others, and break rules and laws. He models behavior that shows no empathy for others. This is a terrible model that will damage the social fabric of our nation, and for this, Trump needs to go.
209
Of course middle schoolers know who the president is. Of course they know he hates immigrants and black and brown people? From “build the wall” to acting as though 5,000 rag tag asylum-seekers are the greatest threat to our country, his entire platform has been scapegoating and blaming black and brown people for all the ills that whites who support him suffer.
I no longer feel welcome in the US because of Trump and those support him. I was born in Everett, WA and am Danish Dominican. I grew up in a town of 2,000 people 60 miles north of Seattle as the only black person in that town. I haven't felt it was safe for me to return since 2016 after the election. The hostility is blatant and just under the verbal insults is always the threat of violence. The idea that "you don't belong," "you aren't welcome" and "you aren't a real American" are publicly said. He ran on the idea we were going to go back to the "good old days." Well, the GOP certainly wasn’t talking about the tax rates of the 1950s. Or unions. Who didn't get the message loud and clear that it was about "putting those people back in their place?"
I'm in Mexico right now looking at property. This story isn't a surprise to the black and brown people I know at all. It has always been bad, but the message is that we aren't welcome here and have to show our papers is like being back in the 1960s.
I'm leaving the country it's so bad. And I'm meeting all sorts of black and brown people here doing the same.
1
In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson describes how children acquire tyrannical dispositions from observing their parents. He writes that the children of slaveowners observe their parents' mistreatment of their slaves and "learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative animal." He explains that "the parent storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to the worst of his passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily excercised in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities." A similar thing is happening in Virginia (and elsewhere) today. Trump supporters feel emboldened by their authoritarian presidential father figure, they gleefully express their loathing of "the other," and their children unsurprisingly give vent to the same hatred. Thus are sown the seeds of poisonous plants that, sadly, will continue to grow and to threaten what Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature" long after Trump is gone.
1
When President Kennedy encouraged the youth of America to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country", he inspired a generation of young Americans to volunteer, both in our country and abroad with the Peace Corps.
President Johnson implored the youth of America to serve in Job Corps, volunteering in support of America, and while the program dipped in popularity over the years, Bill Clinton revived it and it flourished for a brief time before George W. Bush let the program fall by the wayside. President Obama encouraged all Americans to volunteer to help children, the elderly, and those impoverished in America. He and his wife continue to volunteer and set an example for all of us.
Trump encourages behavior that no one would want their children to emulate. His callous attitude, his unabashed dishonesty, his selfishness, his childish taunts, and his overt racism are symptoms of a sickness that has flourished in areas of the country that support him, creeping into other vulnerable areas, and infiltrating our schools and the minds of our children. Is this what the chanting crowds at his rallies wanted? Sadly, apparently, the answer is yes. That's the saddest thing of all.
2
Lots of “Deplorable and proud of it” bumper stickers in my area. I’m guessing the parents are teaching their children the values they (and trump) are proud of.
3
Love the Pence quotes. Politics again trumps principle for this little, little man.
1
I read the headline and assume that Trump had enrolled in a middle school. I was going to complain that he was being advanced too far, too fast. He should do half-day kindergarten.
1
Trump has made a lot of things worse. But it's especially sad when school environments are degraded as sources of civics and civilization. Some might argue that it has always been so, and I would say yes, but not on this scale across a country of this size. Essentially, millions of young people are involved and subjected to polarization. It will take more than a generation for this effect to dissipate, if it ever does. Like beget like. Trump came from a racist home. Absent government action, church mediation, and thousands of heroic efforts by true patriots, we're in for a rough ride.
2
Children today are learning that bullying is not only tolerated but also effective at getting what you want out of life. Effective bullying is seen as a practice that gets results and is implicitly encouraged. The lesson being taught to America's future: bullying gets you what you want, facts don't matter, and if you're a star they let you do it. So. Sad. So. Terrible.
2
With the media and Democrats calling Republicans racists , homophobes and "deplorables" is it any wonder that perceptions are distorted. I doubt that any of these counselors or teachers said, the president is not a racist or is sending legal immigrants back to Mexico. Instead, they probably agree with this interpretation and further the perception of fear.
11
@greatnfi, kids get their signals from home. They're not being influenced by the New York Times. Also, we're not talking about the victims of bullying and what they might hear. We're talking about the bullies themselves.
What are the bullies hearing at home? Why do they think it's okay to go after vulnerable kids? Why the change in their behavior over just two years?
3
@greatnfi
On what basis could a counselor or teacher assure a child that Trump is not a racist when his whole adult life is chock full of evidence that he is?
4
@greatnfi. Hmmm. This post seems rife with projection. Distorted perceptions? perception of fear? You misplace responsibility for those phenomena. Donald Trump is openly racist. He stoked and used racism as a bedrock of his election campaign, and continues to do so in scapegoating desperate and vulnerable brown skinned people. The Republican Party and those who used their democratic power to vote for Trump voted for and enable a racist. You have made very clear that open racism was not and is not a deal breaker in a candidate or president. For some supporters it was, in fact, a reason to vote for him. Those who support Donald Trump support racism. Distorted perception? No problems with my perception in calling a spade a spade. Perception of fear? The person who fear mongers as his principle governing strategy is Trump. To call Trump racist is simply to make an observation of what is so. To make desperately poor brown skinned asylum seekers the enemy is classic racist scapegoating. He's telling his supporters to be afraid, be very afraid. Meanwhile, those of us watching what is happening to our country are also afraid, not because we are being told to fear, but because history has shown what happens when those in power use scapegoating as a political and power strategy. It is scary, indeed.
10
Articles like these are disheartening to read. I don't believe all Trump supporters are racists, nor do I believe all racists are Trump supporters, but I also believe that democracy is a mirror and its victors are a reflection of the people who vote for them. When I feel discouraged about the direction of our country, I focus on the fact that Trump lost the popular vote by three million votes. It gives me hope.
57
School administrators: the most important factor for adolescent minds to mature to adulthood is to learn that actions have consequences.
When individuals bully, in addition to the discipline required by school regulations. take names. Put it in their personal records.
For competitive schools and universities, such behavior is unlikely to make such students desirable for admission.
What employers be eager to hire such individuals who are nothing more than disruptive lawsuits-in-waiting?
When students realize that marginal behavior can lead to a lifetime on the margins, it may serve to mitigate such behavior. Trump had no such worries, because he inherited $200 million from daddy. The bullies need to learn that the rest of us have boundaries.
As a former educator Trump's bullying has been a major concern. State laws make it the responsibility of schools to deal with student bullying that happens in school and at home. The problem is kids spend more hours away from school than they do in school and they are not unaware of the rest of the world. Trump's election showed us America loves a bully. Kids are more aware than we give them credit for.
1
The person at the top ALWAYS sets the tone. A trickle down effect is not only predictable, it is inevitable.
3
I would guess the proliferation was caused by students themselves. The idea probably originated from either bad or thoughtless parents. Maybe the TV screen. Maybe overheard conversations. Who knows?
Once that seed enters the school though, the problem is exponential. You can try publicly shaming the instigator. However, it sounds like teachers were either unaware or unconcerned this behavior was happening. If the middle school group psyche has already latched onto the idea, good luck. You're not going to correct the behavior until high school at least. Your only hope is to make sure the behavior doesn't stick.
1
As a mother, grandmother and former educator I have often wondered how hard it must be for today's parents and teachers to give their children and students the basics of ethical behavior in today's chaotic political environment. We have looked up to leaders, be them parents, or teachers or elected officials and despite not always agreeing with them, we hope that they at least can be an example of ethical behavior. I worked in a middle/high school with a large percentage of refugees and DACA students. Many of them came to school crying the day after Trump was elected afraid, feeling the President hated them. They were spat at on the bus to school; told by strangers to "go home" to a country they left due to discrimination, abuse or atrocities . I applaud this study because it proves the point. What more will it take to move the needle to a more ethical and moral leadership?
2
"Acting presidential" used to mean strength, diplomacy, a sharp mind and a good judge of character.
I am semi-seriously worried that some bullies, when defending themselves to school administrations, will say, "I was only acting presidential!"
Thankfully, we still have so much further we could fall. Sadly, it looks like we're still falling fast.
9
It isn't just the President. The President, in part, was elected as our standards for civil behavior have slipped. Reality television, the collapse of journalistic standards, and social media have played a big part in this. My children find him "entertaining," to my horror. However, that is exactly how he got elected.
11
I tend to worry less than most writers about losing a "cold war" with China, because our culture and institutions would most likely prevent the degree of abuses and corruption that is often the undoing of authoritarian states.
Trump's behavior is a real test of both of these, and it is the damage to our culture that will take the longest to repair.
3
Thanks for this important information!
From PSY 101: When it comes to learning and changing behavior, role modeling is one of the most powerful ways people learn.
Culturally, we are in some warped era where we celebrate bad role models--in films, on television, some video games, Fox News and right-wing propaganda outlets, the NRA, and. of course, our current POTUS.
Here is an old study from psychology in role modeling:
Which role model is more likely to be copied?
a. a role model engaging in positive behavior and perceived to be rewarded for it?
b. a role model engaging in negative behavior and perceived to be rewarded for it?
Yup, b is the answer
However, one of the most important intervening factors in whether youngsters copy bad role modeling is the parent(s).
Parents who talk to their kids about why Trump's behavior (or Harvey Weinstein's behavior) is wrong, and the parents' own behavior is positive, are likely to counter bad role modeling (it gets complicated with adolescents sometimes).
So what does this generalization say about children and adolescents growing up in homes where the parents support and even idolize Trump?
Or sometimes, adolescents may not take their cues from parents, but have a greater affinity for their "friends." (A lot of bad behavior among teens is because they want to impress their peers, So for some middle school kids in VA, maybe their bullying is conformity to bullying peers.)
Bottom line: In 2020, character counts! Vote for it
4
Michelle brings up an excellent point. I grew up as a middle schooler in the 40’s. I remember my absolute hatred of the Japanese and Germans, even though I was of German heritage.
I was brought up in a loving Christian family and went to Church and Sunday school every week. I never heard my parents argue or hear any kind of profanity in my house. I mean NEVER, yet on the playground, we could hate and curse the Japs & Krauts.
As a rule, most children will mimic the society that they’re living in.
The question I have now is how many generations is it going to take to overcome all the harm that Donald Trump has imposed on our present society? These include,
Lying
Cheating
Bullying
Promiscuity
Ignorant Behavior
Lack of Ethics
Dangerous Propensities
Etc, etc, etc...
16
Beyond bullying in schools, I imagine there has also been an increase in the number of husbands and other male family members who feel emboldened by this president to mistreat members of their own families, either verbally or physically.
16
It must be said, Trumps time in the White House is making EVERYTHING worse, except some billionaires portfolios.
8
It's quite simple, really. When a Democrat does something bad, (Clinton's affair) it's a national outrage. When a Republican does the same or (now) far worse, the only consequence of note is maybe Fox News is a little quieter that day. Al Franken was made to resign. Trump still has support of the evangelicals. If Obama had done any one of the now thousands of immoral, illegal, just plain gross things Trump has done, he would have been impeached January 3, 2011, when the Republicans took control of the House.
18
On the streets of NYC, even absent surveys, in how drivers treat pedestrians, the change is noticeable and obvious. Free reign to the worst impulses.
Our dear leader. Maybe he has in fact done more than any other president in his first two years. How bad, insidious and permanently damaging to our country his actions prove to be, will be apparent only in time.
4
Maybe it was not Trump directly influencing the kids so much as the parents of the kids...Trump supporters stands to reason they buy into and discuss the messages they are getting from Trump. Probably have the TV tuned into Fox News as well. What a mess
4
Not surprised at all. The right wing is big about how public action influences things, were all over Bill Clinton with the Lewinsky mess, claimed it mattered, but then suddenly with someone like Trump are amazingly silent or worse, defend him. Some of them privately hate what he is doing, regret his words and tweets, but because he is giving them something they want (yes,all the good Christians who support this bullying, angry, nasty man who controverts the prime commandment Christ taught us), stay silent, the other group (equally large) revel in it.
What they refuse to understand is that the presidency is (ironically) called the bully pulpit, and that the office of the presidency sets a standard here and around the world. With the kids involved, they pick up clues from what adults do, take guidance from it, and when mom and dad cheer when Trump denigrates people or acts like a bully, they get the idea it is okay to be that (meanwhile, mom and dad, I am sure, tell them piously "It is not okay to bully others"). The expression that covers it is behavior is not taught, it is caught, and Trump is sending the message it is acceptable to be a mean, nasty bully. It is much like churches, who proclaim morality, moral teachings, then wonder why no one listens after finding out they morally are questionable in actions (Catholic Church, anyone?). "Do as I say, not as I do" simply doesn't work.
4
@bill d "the office of the presidency sets a standard here and around the world". One of too many delusions Americans hold about yourselves. FYI - it has never been the case in Australasia.
1
Lest it be forgotten, Melanie Trump’s first lady’s initiative (as listed in her bio on the White House website, somewhere after her main professional modeling accomplishments, highlighted by Sports Illustrated swim suit issues) was targeting bullying. Specifically cyber-bullying. Did anyone else get this irony? And what happened to taking on that issue?
6
"basket of deplorable" may have been a politically unwise phrase, but it wasn't completely inaccurate...
13
Influences come from early impressions. We were told by the nuns in Catholic school that only Christians ( Catholics especially) were allowed in heaven. I played in the city parks with all denominations and had to scratch my head over this elite attitude held by a 'faith'. That automatically meant Jews and god-forbid non-believers were going nowhere. So I decided I didn't want to go to heaven. Nobody there to play with.
Times change but attitudes are shaped by many influences-don't give Trump credit for this-he'd love it!
3
The results of these surveys surprise no thinking citizen. We know that Trump is an admired, adored roll model for bad behavior, even dangerous behavior.
Up until Democrats took control of the House this month our government has been represented by the faces of Trump, Pence, McConnell, Ryan, Kavanaugh; the faces of the ugliest motives, the worst people in America. Republicans have enabled Trump's bad behavior, hence are complicit in it and must be held accountable for it.
Now consider the fact that the Trump emulating kids are growing up with their bad behavior reinforced, accepted, supported by their communities and the Republican Party at large.
What kind of nation will we live in when these obnoxious, bullying, white supremacist kids grow up? And keep in mind Trump-infected Americans are also the most ardent gun lovers. What a dangerous mix of killing weapons and machine-like people who, like Trump, have no compassion, no empathy, no feelings for other people.
We don't understand the hypocritical, delusional, contradictory "thinking" of the 40 percent of voters who currently support Trump, what will we make of their children when they grow up?
Can we hold Republicans accountable before it is too late?
9
Well, he's making everything worse. He is the national crisis.
7
Trump's rhetoric has increased hate speech and acts of violence in all facets of America.
Hate speech and violence against minorities has skyrocketed since trump took office. This is no coincidence.
This is a very sad time for America !
5
Lets, be honest. The real way the president is making middle school worse is by destroying the environment - and unfortunately the future of these students.
2
Everyone knows that kids are a product of their environment. No surprise that kids who bully have parents who are bullies themselves. And also no surprise that those parents in Trump voting areas think our bully-in-chief is just great.
The major question is whether Trump is the cause or the effect.
4
I started middle school -- it was called junior high school then -- just as JFK was elected president. The message of his that I gleaned was inspiring: strength, hope for the future and the passing of the torch to a new generation. The day he was assassinated certain students were shockingly gleeful. Later I learned their parents were John Birchers. That's when the division and real bullying began in my school. America is squandering it's legacy.
5
Middle school (or "junior high" when I attended) is a terrible time, regardless of political climate or who is president.
4
I think you've put the cart before the horse here. It is not people emulating the president, it is the president emulating the people. The cruelty and racism was always there. Trump is very astute in knowing what his base want and he gives it to them.
8
“Romney would like you to believe you can have your cake and eat it, too — that you can be against Trump’s character but for his policies,” complained Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, in The Washington Post.
So, to paraphrase: Only a racist, misogynist, bullying, semi-literate and immature narcissist with authoritarian fantsies and no regard for the truth could have come up with Trump's policies.
A lot of fundamentally good conservatives have needed to hear something like this for a long time.
2
Why is anybody surprised? Everything Trump touches is corrupted. Whether Trump came first and created more bigots and jerks, or if they were there first, sometimes in plain sight, he justifies their attitudes and behavior and amplifies it. But I guess it’s nice to having something resembling data to document the obvious.
It makes it that much more important to protect the people who live in areas that don’t support Trump from the people who would drag us backwards to an earlier era, backwards down the arc of history. Luckily, we still have something like democracy in America. We need to guard it with all our might so it can allow us to protect ourselves and each other. And that includes protecting the voting rights of those who live in less fortunate regions, regions controlled by a GOP that is committed to rule, whether as a majority or a minority
4
Good article, but there is another aspect to bullying that Ms. Goldberg overlooks and that needs to be investigated more thoroughly. Bullies try often to intimidate good students by devaluating learning itself, something that Trump has done continuously by emphasizing that he can learn nothing from others, that books needn't bee read, that lies are more valuable than seeking the truth and more admirable.
That we have a bully and a liar in the White House must have an effect on the quality of education itself. Little has been written about this and it is a question that urgently needs more exploration as it will effect the very nature of our society in the future and our position in the world.
10
Not surprised. Trump brings out the worst in people, probably because his foul example has given them permission to release the evil that lurks in the human soul.
3
Trump has always reminded me of every middle school bully that I've had the opportunity to meet. Big, loud, not too bright, but possessing a cunning ability to physically and mentally abuse their victims. Now we have such a person as president.
Republican presidents, until Trump, always had their bully boys to do the dirty work. Nixon had his cadre of criminals. Reagan and Bush I had Lee Atwater. Bush II had Karl Rove and right wing media. And throughout all these administrations, the ever present Roger Stone.
Make no mistake. Donald Trump has made the executive branch more efficient by cutting out the middlemen and doing his own trolling. But I contend, that this negativity is part and parcel of the Republican Party success. Some people just gravitate to tough boy (and girl) bullies.
10
Trump brings out the worst in people, doesn't matter what their age is.
5
Somewhat far afield, how about Melania choosing anti-bullying online as a focus as her tenure as First Lady?
I haven't heard anything about how that's going, except in a brief interview not too long ago where she said something like - she is the most bullied person in America.
When this effort was announced the irony was jaw dropping. While this type of bullying has caused all kinds of problems, with tRump still insulting his way across twitter, maybe she could have started at home?
2
While I certainly don't espouse white supremacist ideas, I wonder why some white kids yelling white power in a school is different from black kids yelling black power? The former is heartily condemned, and the latter is considered okay because it is from a " persecuted" minority. I don't think so. This is why I am concerned that President Trump is constantly referred to as somehow a support of David Duke, when he has repeated (now and far in the past) denounced him, while black leaders generally refuse to denounce Louis Farrakahn.
1
This current presidency has given signals that rude or racist behavior is ok. I am a high school teacher and noticed just days after the election the change in behavior by some students towards students of color. Trump signs on lockers, t-shirts,etc.
Its sad that this president does not seem to care how his words or actions have influenced the young.
5
Is anyone surprised by this? Of course the president affects the behaviors of the people in his country. For better and worse--unfortunately with this president, I am at a loss for 'the better.'
All some people need to let their worst selves prosper is a little license. #45 gives a giant license to insipid hate, to demeaning the 'weak,' to promoting bullying.
#45 is a really bad hombre.
3
So the adults have step up and teach social skills to these bullies and the people who enable them and
1
For the love of god! Can we please stop blaming Trump for all and sundry. Of course the man lacks character and good tast. Of course it is evident, how his behavior bringsout the worste in people. But the cruelty of growing up is of all ages.
It's like America is enchanted -bewitched- by its president. How the desecration of the US presidency even reflect on the profanities of some random teenagers.
Good ol Goldberg. When you need a good laugh or an example of poor cognitive rationale she always comes through. The worst thing that has happened to the schools in general is of course in the university arena but middle school is definitely important. the coddling of children as well as the lack of discipline in schools is where the focus needs to be. Grade school is incredibly important but Middle school is where the kids really begin to act out. The political correctness that kids are being forced to grow up in has devastating effects upon their personalities and personal initiative. Yes Trump makes horrible clown faces; and we all wish he didn't have that characteristic.
1
Recently, a Trump supporter suffering the effects of the Trump shutdown complained, “He’s not hurting the people he’s supposed to be hurting”. Since when is it the job of the President of the United States to hurt any segment of the nation—unless, of course, he’s a bully. QED
6
Trump has always reminded me of every middle school bully that I've had the opportunity to meet. Big, loud, not too bright, but possessing a cunning ability to physically and mentally abuse their victims. Now we have such a person as president.
Republican presidents, until Trump, always had their bully boys to do the dirty work. Nixon had his cadre of criminals. Reagan and Bush I had Lee Atwater. Bush II had Karl Rove and right wing media. And throughout all these administrations, the ever present Roger Stone.
Make no mistake. Donald Trump has made the executive branch more efficient by cutting out the middlemen and doing his own trolling. But I contend, that this negativity is part and parcel of the Republican Party success. Some people just gravitate to tough boy (and girl) bullies.
The media, just like the middle school newspaper is afraid of calling these people out, because who in the world wants 'the bully and their followers mad at them?!' I mean really, come on!
1
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...hate breeds hate
1
Humans are hairless chimps. Trump, Steve King, and their ilk are riding high now. The lesser chimps follow and emulate them from a sense of shared power. The members of the troop perceived as weaker are abused. For the moment. When the tables turn and a coalition of the highly-motivated "losers" rush and overpower the alpha, he is then quite literally torn apart. Wait for it.
What irony! Trump, the bully-in-chief, is married to a woman who supposedly is leading an anti-bullying campaign. Strange bedfellows. The conventional wisdom to deal with bullying is "bully the bully" - give it right back to him. I don't understand why Trump's adversaries don't get this. The moment Trump called Schumer "Cryin' Chuck" Schumer should have struck back with Dumb, Daffy, Deranged Donald. Have we not learned that Trump thrives as a bully because no one stands up to him? I'm not buying the tired adage that two wrongs don't make a right. Let Trump have it! If the Democrats think they can beat Trump in 2020 by ignoring his insults and focusing on issues, they are in for another fall. Their campaign slogan should be Sully the Bully and expose him for the paper tiger he is.
4
Rubio & Warren tried “bullying” Trump...with insults and nicknames...It didn’t work...
This is an example of why the unbridled criticism of President Trump rings hollow in the ears of may. Maybe if you tried very, very hard you could blame the weather on Trump. Oh, that’s right, you already do! But seriously, not everything wrong in the world is Trump’s fault, though no doubt many things are.
5
Donald Trump is a emblematic symbol and symptom of the worst demons of the nature of the 63 million Americans including 58% of white people who voted for him. Trump is not a cause nor a condition.
PSA to White people. The President will eventually be gone. But your angry outrage, might be caught in tape, or worse, result in assault charges against you. That record will be permanent and make you virtually unemployable. Think before you yell racial slurs, verbally or physically attack non whites or even make threatening gestures. Same things go for your kids, bullying is bad, bullying due to race will be shortcut to life in poverty.
..what's your opinion on members of Congress shouting vulgar obscenities towards the President of the United States - do you tell the children that's acceptable - which your article the other day supported.
You're being insincere - it's a problem when the President is disrespectful and presents an unflattering picture for our children...but it's fine when a member of Congress uses obscene language.
It's called double standard Ms. Goldberg.
There is nothing under the sun that the president is not making worse
1
"Character is a partisan issue?" But the GOP supports a vile, vulgar racist and bigot, that is character, bad character but character none-the-less.
1
Typical. When you run out of real arguments, just throw in a “what do we tell our children?!” Works every time.
1
Indeed, Ms. Goldberg, Trump and his band of bullies have given free license to demean people of color, LGBT people, immigrants, Muslims, Jews....you name it. In my mostly progressive area, similar things have occurred at schools--middle and high schools and universities as well. On the positive side, the response is to deal with these issues with more depth than in the past. Just as we are seeing the worst in people--snarky people predisposed to somehow thinking Trump is entertaining and competent--we are also seeing the best in people who shake their heads every day and feel determined to counter the evil that has arisen.
Trump is the golem of the Republican party. He serves them and they have no moral compass, so it works. He is the logical result of this culture of reality tv and social media that has led to celebrating the worst elements of human nature. As many of us watch and wonder (and feel trauma and deep concern), it becomes clearer that groups of people throughout history have been "entertained" by violence of one form or another against people for simply being who they are.
When I see children at these Trump rallies, my heart breaks. Their parents are teaching them to hate. It is child abuse. If we work our way out of this era, what is to become of them? Will they reach for the light or grow up to be thugs?
Other adults in their lives must intervene to show that love and respect are the way to live. I am not surprised by this report. Shame.
2
What ever happened to "Be Best"?
2
@Preserving AmericaRemember Melania’s fashion turn in her stunning “I don’t care. Do You?” coat?
1
It’s their parents also. Just check Twitter.
excellent column . I grew up and left Virginia for all those simmering prejudices which Trump has seen fit to flame.
4
Middle school is a turbulent time for most students. The competitive ones are stressed about how school. They are going through puberty and possibly concerned about their attractiveness for the first time. The influence of their peers starts to strain the influence of the adults around them. So at this time while young people are struggling to figure out what kind of person they’ll be, a man is elected who refuses to divulge his tax returns. He gets elected by appearing at “rallies” where he chants “lock her up.” He is under a federal investigation. He openly lies and belittles on TV. I don’t have to be an expert to say look at the example this man is setting.
3
Trump is the quintessential middle school bully. No wonder he’s sparked a rise in middle school bullying. Middle school bullies sense he’s one of them, and so with him in the White House it’s their time now.
10
Michelle,
Today's column brings into to focus the dangerous precedent set
by a man out of control. No healthy society has leaders that incite violence and bigotry among its citizenry. A majority of leadership in the GOP is willingly co-operating with this sick/ and very sad man.
They appear unable to make the necessary corrections to his misguided suggestions on a multitude of policy issues. Young people living with poor role models ,who promote bigotry and hate are creating problems for their own children and society.
America's mental health is in jeopardy, and in need of a correction NOW!
The only person benefiting from all these strange misguided issues is Putin. His HUGE goal is to destroy our precious democracy. Look who's co-opearating
Building unnecessary bridges, creating chaos in American society, unpaid government workers
The old saying , divide and conquer
Let's keep strong in hopes revelations in the Mueller's investigative findings keep our country together in the end.
26
When the "man at the top" demonstrates a lack of civility, it gets noticed very quickly. Children, looking to push the envelope, will often pick the worst of role models instead of the best.
While I do think that many people look at the past with rose colored glasses, it seems generally true that civility is being replaced by nastiness in many institutions.
18
“...in 2015, there’d been little difference in bullying rates between areas of the state that went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and those that would support Trump. But in 2017, students reported 18 percent more bullying in Trump locales than the Clinton ones...
It’s just that some bullying is more nuanced than others...
In states carried by Hil, class presidents now expropriate more lunch money than ever from other students – but explain this away as fees for long and boring policy speeches they’re going to give at noon in the cafeteria, between the pizza and the mac-and-cheese...
3
I wonder if the coverage has anything to do with it. When everything is demonized and intent is assigned based upon a goal of demonization, it may very well have an impact.
2
@Tim Kulhanek And what is being covered?
1
@Tim Kulhanek Trump has not been demonized. He has been demonic from the get go. Anything else is a lie.
2
My husband and I literally cringe when we see the behavior of the president. His taunts of individuals and groups reflect behavior we have stood a life time against. I have had to turn by face away from physical examples of his body postures which indicate physical power rather than thoughtful action. My emotions have been bruised by this man who cannot express an idea without an accompanying ridicule of another person or group. I really can't verbalize the humiliation and embarrassment I feel as an American and a person when I think of the rudeness, arrogance, and bullying evident in this president. Our children and their families evidence success and well being in their lives without having to bully or push others around. I believe America can also succeed also when we practice real courage, reflective thinking, and morality born from genuine spiritual practice.
35
I have 2 internationally adopted, non-white children. Two days ago, I had to dig out my 16-year-old's Certificate of Citizenship so that she could apply for a learner's permit for driving. Seeing that certificate, she asked me if it guaranteed that she couldn't be deported.
I never dreamed that she even thought about this, let alone worried about it. But under this administration, even citizens aren't safe.
This is not to diminish middle schoolers' experience, but let's face it, we are all being bullied every day - by the "most powerful man in the world."
125
@democritic I hope you also told her by 2020 if this president has not already left office due to his criminal past, he will be voted out by the people and let’s go volunteer and work towards that goal!!
8
@democritic
I do recall hearing a story several months ago about the citizenship of adopted children being challenged. I mention this not to alarm you, since you have your paperwork, but to alert others not to assume that your adopted child's citizenship may not be automatic.
6
Thank you, Michele Goldberg, for this insightful piece exploring the attitudes of middle schoolers in relation to the attitudes of those in power.
In the 1980s, my daughter was a middle school student with many friends. We are secular Jews living at that time in a predominantly Catholic area. Although my daughter had lots of friends, she told me she pretended to be Catholic because she didn't want to give anyone reason to tease her or leave her out. In fact, one day when she came home from school, she informed me that she hated all Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and Jews. When I reminded her that she herself was Jewish, that made no difference.
I cannot imagine what her attitude might have been had Trump had been in power at that time. Thank goodness my daughter grew up and now is the loving person I always knew she was inside. Middle School can be a frightening time for parents and kids alike and it is imperative that we maintain a culture of compassion so that all kids emerge from the hazards of this dark time into the light of compassion.
I just hope the dire results of the attitudes symbolized by "the wall" and "shut down" will awaken us to face history and ourselves and lead to policies that support the lives of all people.
17
I am a school counselor in a Bronx middle school. Just yesterday, a sixth grade student; a small, quiet, thoughtful young girl, expressed anxiety and fear caused by our President and his "hatred" of "immigrants". As a mental health professional and school employee, it is not my place to agree or disagree with her thinking, but to help her process the fear she is experiencing. Her parents came here from Mexico 12 years ago, and they are raising a beautiful family of generous, kind hearted children. If we think that this President isn't having a large, and detrimental impact on our students, we aren't paying attention (I see the "bullies" in this story as victims of this President's influence as well.) It is a stunning development that our President is no longer a role model, but a source of fear for our most vulnerable community members, and an enabler for those who lack empathy.
820
@Rachel
I applaud your sensitive comment. However, I disagree that "it is not my place to agree or disagree with her thinking."
I think it is your place. Soothing children who are fearful and vulnerable is necessary, but sometimes insufficient. That "small, quiet, thoughtful young girl" needs to know that you understand and agree that the president causes anxiety and fear - that it is his behavior and beliefs, not just her feelings, that you are concerned about.
68
@Barking Doggerel
If I could have, I would have "loved" your comment about middle schoolers. I agree wholeheartedly with your description of these students. However, I must respectfully disagree with you on your point above about sharing my beliefs. As a school counselor, it is my job to remain neutral on these issues. And here is why. If I had one of the "bullies" in the article at my school, I would love the opportunity to work with that student. However, if that student was aware that I have been vocally "anti-Trump", he won't trust me with his beliefs, let alone allow himself to be vulnerable, and therefore I have failed that student. My office needs to be a safe space where middle school students can share unpleasant thoughts and feelings, without feeling judged. Without that as the foundation, there is little hope of establishing the trusting relationship required for a student to feel safe; eliminating the possibility for change. I am a school counselor for all of my students, not just those that share my values, ideologies, and beliefs. Thank you for the opportunity to explain my reasoning for what I wrote above.
64
@Rachel
That's a very thoughtful response, Rachel.
I do think it is possible to share your honest feelings about an unfit president with the fearful, sensitive student, while keeping a safe enough space to support another student. In my many years as a head of school I had to thread that needle.
You would have been a good person to work with. Your school and students are lucky.
22
I have a cold this morning. My daughter has a hangnail. My wife's back hurts. It's raining. All clearly Trump's fault.
9
@Steve Rick Wilson did write a book titled “Everything Trump Touches Dies”.
4
@Steve
Maybe not. But all those things are worse with Trump in office.
5
I was in middle school when the then proxy "father of our country" was assassinated. Partisans who would like to believe the current president has no responsibility for how social attitudes are molded have forgotten this patricide.
11
How incredibly sad our state of politics is right now. I can’t begin to imagine what today’s children will take out of it, but it can’t be good. The hypocrisy of the religious right is glaring, yet they do not see it. I know many of these people.
So, if we survive this grotesque presidency, the damage is so great who knows what the future will bring.
24
From what I have seen, the racist and sexist bullying has become worse. Students' parents are being more openly racist and sexist in the Trump era, so they are following suit.
23
Trump is teaching Americans of all ages everyday that greed, lying, slander, bigotry, and demeaning women is all great. Unfortunately the MSM is helping him by allowing his constant
falsehoods to be broadcast 24/7 into our homes.
40
If anyone thought that adolescent suicide rates were bad now, just wait a few years.
8
Trump is making everything worse.
20
@Skier. Also a skier here. See reformed Republican strategist Rick Wilson's entertaining book, Everything That Trump Touches Dies. Great writer, not fooled for a moment about the Orange Menace.
1
Trump is making everything worse.
3
The bullied could be advocates for social change in the making.
We just need to figure out a way to guide them to the NYT and MSNBC, so their anger becomes a force for good.
The problem with Trump's behavior is that he is cruel, crass and a liar. These behaviors are problematic in and of themselves regardless of which groups they are directed at or the President's policies.
35
Ethics: some people have them and some don’t.
3
Is this behavior nurture or nature? My guess nurture. I tell any student (I teach elementary school) who was called a name or such to "take the high road" and ignore the nonsense. Bullies will also go away when you ignore them or kick them where it counts. I tell them I do NOT condone kicking anyone, however if I don't see it?
2
Perhaps when Donald Trump ceases to behave like a sullen, undisciplined, self-absorbed middle-schooler who spews hatred and scorn with his every utterance and Tweet, the actual middle-schoolers (and their parents) will have to look elsewhere for a role model, one who will appeal less to their devilish impulses and more to their better angels.
16
They get it from their parents.
9
@Lorie
The only problem with that is if they get it from their parents, how come the rate of bullying increased after Trump got elected? If it was purely their parents, then the rates shouldn't of changed. With Trump, there are two things at work here:
1)Trumps bleatings and bashings and bad behavior in public as president has fired up the parents into beingg more openly racist and bigoted and nasty around the kids, and they pick this up
2)The kids aren't stupid, they hear, read and see what Trump says, other kids repeat what Trump and their parents say, and they pick it up.
Again, if it was purely parents, we should have seen the rates not go up, but they have, and more importantly, in places where most of the people voted for Trump, who presumably has a lot more influence over those who voted for him than those who opposed him.
5
Donald provides Melania's anti-bullliyng campaign its raison d'etre. What a lovely collaboration for our First Couple.
28
He's just doing his job. The one that Putin hired him for.
34
‘The universe … is like a vast prison whose inmost dungeon is the Earth, the scene of man’s life.’
Hans Jonas
I'm told the weather is Trump's fault, too. And Alabama losing, etc.
5
And yet, what was it again, 53% of college educated white women were immune to the example of moral character and leadership exhibited by the POTUS. Well of course they did. As they continue to vote for the enrichment of republicans (and a few dems) to ensure that anyone can acquire a vast arsenal of high powered weapons to rapidly shoot up schools and other public places their children may be.
Republicans are a clear and present danger to human life on this planet. The choice is yours. Vote accordingly
12
@Songsfrown
52% of all white women voted for him, including 44% of college educated ones. The good news is that fewer women in every category voted for republicans in the mid terms, there is some hope that people are coming around. Also when they poll people for approval rating the most recent findings are that only 43% of white women with no college approve and 27% with a college degree approve.
3
@Songsfrown
52% of all white women voted for him, including 44% of college educated ones. The good news is that fewer women in every category voted for republicans in the mid terms, there is some hope that people are coming around.
And in other news, it gets dark at night and brighter during the day, "a study showed."
3
@Peter
Funny. This exact response has been said by every Trump supporter in the thread. But not a single thing about the substance of the piece.
18
He makes EVERYTHING worse, so why not middle school?
8
Perceptive insight but not a surprise. When I was in school, gays were tormented or shunned. Racism was the rule. Even open anti-Semitism was tolerated. Girls clearly were the subordinate sex. Fights were frequent. You were compelled to develop some type of self-defense, either by open aggression, group support or flight. I thought that public attitudes with regard to race, sex, sexual preference, religion, etc. had changed. Trump's election, which tapped the vile underbelly of America, showed how wrong I was. Trump's MAGA chants are calls to return America to the way it was in the 50's and 60's. Why should we be surprised that children are behaving the way they did during those decades?
242
Why is it perceptive? School is in an institution in our society. Of course the President's behavior has an influence on the culture of our instutitions.
12
@Peter
And judging by your other posts on here, then you are okay with the influence Trump has had? Otherwise, why would you write something stupid like "studies show the day is light and the night dark?". The article isn't about the value of studies, the article is about the negative affect Trump has had on this country, the study merely confirms what most people 'know'. The sad part is a lot of Trump supporters out there know what he is doing to our society and the US place in the world, and basically claim anyone talking about that inflience is whining.
24
@Peter Parents are failing. for allowing this permissimness in school. seems alright But Only acceptable by those with NO respect for the Presidency.
2
Trickle down malice is what it is.
45
I would argue that growing up in a house where Fox News and its shrill propaganda, race-baiting and fear-mongering is on 24/7 also has a negative effect on a child's behavior.
57
@AEB
Very true, but the problem with that is Fox News has been around many years now, and the data in the study shows that the increase in bullying happened post 2016. If it were Fox News alone, it would have been evident all along, since likely in those areas people have been watching Fox a long time. Does Fox News amplify the 'trump effect'? Of course, but the ultimate contagion is him, Fox Talking heads have been racist, nasty, bullies and bigots since the channel was founded, Sean Hannity is a perfect example of this.
3
@bill d AEB did say "also"
2
If you read this article, you should be very concerned for the mental health and for the soul of our people. You should be terrified that a cable network, yes, Fox, is not only live-streaming anything Trump says, but actually taking policy positions and influencing the president.
You can believe rise in bullying has nothing to do with trump if you don't watch TV, if you don't talk to friends, if you don't go to church. This right wing extremism leads to worse and worse behaviors and norms; history teaches us.
8
As someone who teaches in an affluent suburb of NYC, I can say that the Trump trend popped on the scene during the campaign and has not let up.
I teach 5th graders, and the behavior and chanting is nothing like it was just 5 years ago. Bullying, taunting, and generally obnoxious behavior is ever present. Boys in particular enjoy emulating this President.
Imagine what our future holds when this generation is in charge....
378
@Kate So how is your school/district handling it? What do you do when you catch these kids in the act? What consequences do they face from the school?
3
@SD
Teachers and administrators do their best to give consequences. The trouble is, often the parents do not support the consequences and do not impose them at home.
Parents MUST firmly reject this behavior and model good manners and educating them in civics if it is not taught at school. We all come from immigrants, and must stop labeling and rejecting those that look different from ourselves.
38
The election of donald trump has set this country back years in the struggle for racial equality. History will judge trump and his fan club very harshly..
21
@Tom Howard
History????? Are you kidding the World already judges Trump and his fans harshly.
3
As Michelle points out, correlation is not causation. However, correlation goes into the slope terms which might define causation. This seems like a small sample, plus Virginia is hardly representative of the country. But it is a start. And frankly, the results don't surprise me. And as far as hypocrisy is concerned, when it comes to the 10 Tooth Cult and its purveyors of putrid propaganda, it is now an expectation.
1
@Paul
There is other data to back this up, FBI reports of hate crimes have increased beyond mere statistical noise since Trump was elected, studies of reports in local media and papers across the country have shown an increase in reports of school bullying, racial taunting and the like (could this be increased reporting of what already had been goig on? Perhaps, but not likely given how large the numbers are).
Half my county voted for Trump (a lot of this because they hated Hillary), and even though it is the kind of place described as relatively liberal or moderate, I have seen signs of the Trump effect here, I have heard from the parents of kids locally of bullying in schools increasing, of taunting kids who are non white, I have heard people in casual conversation in restaurants and stores and the like using things like the N word, other words denigrating non whites, words degrading LGBT people, and even crude jokes people before this would never say in public. So I have no doubt that correlation and causation are the same here, Trump has made being openly hateful and bigoted okay once again.
2
Donald Trump was not born evil. He too was once a small boy, ready to absorb whatever filled his life, whether unconditional love or unbearable pain. In one way or another, we all fulfill the prophetic acts that are visited on or withheld from us. If love is conditional or absent, callouses grow on the inside and eventually encase the heart because it cannot bear further assault. A narcissist has an insatiable appetite for adoration – not because it feels good, but because it can’t be felt no matter how persistently sought. If love for a child is unconditional and generous, narcissism is impossible, because the heart is open and feels deeply. We can’t be sure what acts were visited on or withheld from our President during his childhood, but a 2016 New York Times article hints at the family dynamic:
Mr. Trump (Donald) said that their father (Fred) “could be unyielding,” and that (brother) Freddy had struggled with his abundant criticism and stinginess with praise.
“For me, it worked very well,” Mr. Trump said. “For Fred (Jr.), it wasn’t something that was going to work.”
It is a familiar pattern. A child of an abundantly critical parent who is stingy with love and praise might crumble and self-medicate as did Freddy Trump, an alcoholic who died at age 43. Or such a child might grow callouses of sociopathic narcissism and become a desperately tweeting President of the United States. It didn’t work very well for either of them.
21
@Barking Doggerel
You missed the part where Trump senior was arrested marching in a KKK parade, or where he helped his son exclude black tenants. The mother was also a bigot bent on advancing herself at the expense of others.
2
In general, I am finding more aggressive behavior on the highway and in stores post Trump. Unfortunately, this mistake of an election (2016) will keep costing us until the sources are removed. Clearly Trump is succeeding in destroying the very fabric of our government, it's laws and our constitution. The repair of his mess will be slow and expensive. Trump is a model bully and his tweets and speeches show this bully for what he is. His concept of a negotiation is "give it to me or else". The longer Trump remains as president, the more aggression and anger will be expressed from our young and impressionable. He is our countries role model whether we like it or not.
13
In this part of NJ, where my kids go to school, and where 8,000 voted Clinton, 4,576 Trump and 417 other, the answer is YES, all during the campaign there was anti Hillary and pro Trump bullying in the middle and high school.
10
He poisons the rivers and streams with toxic coal ash.
He poisons the clean air with deregulation of emissions control.
He poisons the youth of America with his language, actions and demeanor.
Trump addresses 40,000 Boy Scouts and the Head of the Boy Scouts of America has to apologize for the speech!! (Lock her up, build the wall, disrespecting political leaders, etc., etc., etc.)
How many teens, preteens and young ones were exposed to his divisive road shows during the campaign and midterms elections? Tens of thousands.
Access Hollywood tapes. Kids watch TV, too.
The collateral damage is massive!
38
No one is immune from bullying. We have always ignored it as part of growing up until we have to face the consequences of the bullying: increased suicide, higher rates of depression, and violent acts by young people. But it doesn't stop at the borders of middle America. Don't you think that Trump's son is also subjected to taunting and bullying and ridicule on a daily basis? He either internalizes it or comes home and tells his mother : "Guess what the other kids said today?" And his mother tries to tell his father who does exactly what, do you think? Here's my guess: He says: " Come here, son, tell me all about it". All the while looking at Fox on the TV when his son is trying to tell him about it. It doesn't take a whole lot of intelligence for a kid to figure out that Dad is just like those kids at school. Working to create the next generation of bullies. Once he gets the credit card and the sports car he will forget all about it.
@walking man
I doubt it, his kid is going to an episcopal school that isn't exactly an evangelical Christian school (very upper income, very, very socially moderate to liberal, as the Episcopal Church itself is), and the rest of the world when people commented publicly on Barron, shut those down talking about it (rightfully so), because he is a child and as much as people hate Trump, they refused to put his ugliness on his kid..so Barron lives in a nice little bubble that wealth and privilege and the decency of others gives him.
1
Headlines such as this will only make the public grow weary of transgressions actually committed by Trump.
If everything the man does is offensive or wrong, or to the point, whose name is linked by the talking heads or opionators with the transgressor, pretty soon nothing will register with the public.
It's reminiscent of the right wing uproar over the black panthers' so-called "security" services around some Philadelphia voting booths in the 2008 election. Pretty soon, the right wing associated every instance of black intimidation with Barack Obama or his Atty General.
Propaganda amp'd by mob emotion is not a good thing to indulge in when confronting serious matters of the men we entrust to lead our governance.
5
There is a huge market in America for "in your face".
The values learned in Middle School help propel a sizeable chunk of the GDP.
The arrested juvenile state of big and loud are our trademarks.
1
You people are funny, one more thing to blame on the POTUS and relieve the parents, or parent, of any responsibility. As a +25 yr school employee I have observed that childeren from single parent families are much more likely to perform poorly in school, get into trouble more frequently and be a disruption in the classroom. Layer it w/access to social media and the violence projected in video games, yeah, I can see why it’s #45’s fault. It was probably #43’s fault, too. Too funny if you weren’t so sad.
4
@MTM
Your observations are just that...observations- watching behavior without studying it in a structured manner using validated measures. The study that was written about is a different matter. Both the researchers and Ms. Goldberg were careful to note that correlation does not equal causation. However, the most salient feature of the results is that the levels of bullying in trump dominated areas changed significantly over time. No doubt that others factors impacted the level of bullying. The same is true of your 25+ years of observations about children from single parent families. No doubt that factors other than single parenting have impacted your students' behavior.
11
@MTM
You sure are off base - Parents are to blame for taking their children to listen to Trump and rantings. The President and parents are the only role models they have.
5
@MTM It IS his fault. Just as the overt bigotry and racism is his fault. He's given the most hateful of those in our society validation and a reason to live. He, himself, is a bully. He's a one-trick pony. If he can't bully people into submission, he leaves the room. ("I'm the best negotiator") He's encouraged violence at his rallies. He's a plague on this country and the world.
8
Bulling is everywhere, with Trump being a daily visible example of it. But adults behaving badly don't stop at the White House. I've had to have my son turn off the conversation capabilities on some of his multi-player X-Box games because there are grown men cursing and spewing hate because they're losing the game or, really, losing at life. Bullying is the default of people who feel, rightly or wrongly, disenfranchised somehow and can't find the strength or help to face their problems with thought rather than tantrums.
I saw this during the 2016 election, freshmen boys chanting "Lock her up," and responding with derisive epithets when other students dared to challenge them. I saw it during the Kavanaugh hearing and Blasey-Ford's appearance when senior boys (football players) scoffed at sexual assault and false claims of scorned girls. Children see their parents watching Fox News and behave accordingly.
11
I live in a bubble. A liberal, progressive bubble.
I know it.
And even in our bubble, my Mexican American daughter has been told that she might have to "go back to Mexico" because of Trump. Blessedly, it was followed by, "But we won't let that happen. We'll fight." This was 2nd graders!
Our community is wonderfully diverse and comprised of first generation immigrant families and old-school Americans of all races/ethnicities. Our school spands household incomes from the poorest of the poor to very comfortable.
That diversity is key. No one group makes up the whole. We must all communicate and work together to make our schools work.
My daughter would still tell you that middle school stinks for all the same age-old reason middle school stinks, but not for the reasons cited in the article, thankfully.
177
@Kelly Tell your daughter the difference between
ILEGAL and Legal immigration. YOU may not want to know the difference.
1
I am sure the same study would have the same results for high school students, college students, young adults, middle aged adults and seniors. Supporters of Trump are more bigoted and consequently more likely to be bullies.
13
Well I guess if you believe that the White House sets the agenda in education (Hint: it doesn't) then the White House is to blame for the problems of education. Isn't government from the center fun for journalists? Much simpler than dealing with the issues in 50 separate and divers States.
There are some people in this country who understand the way it is put together. For better or worse, they're currently in charge in most places. Imagine that.
@Daedalus
The article isn't talking about the problems in education (where education policy is involved) like not learning, it is talking about observing the hehavior in schools, behavior is not education policy. Kids behavior is not a matter of education policy. Education policy is to discourage kids from bullying others and having policies to punish those who bully, but that isn't what we are talking about, we are talking about how Trump's behavior as an angry, bullying, bigoted jerk as president influences things. Kids aren't taught bullying in school, they pick up attitudes from the world around them, a lot from parents, the other part from peers and yes, from authority figures like *gasp*, the president.
More importantly, Trump is a lot more visible to kids than any other president in US history, he is literally everywhere thanks to social media,Trump is after all 'the social media president'...and no president in this era of social media has done what he has, Bush II, Obama, when they used social media did so sparingly and were conscious of what they were writing. Trump on the other hand IS a schoolyard bully, he tweets anything he wants, and it is instantly magnified all over the place, and kids are exposed to it far more than with prior presidents. Trump basically has no clue what the office of the presidency means, has no understanding of the impact, he is basically "L'Etat c'est moi" without understanding the gravity of it.
4
This bully phenomena is sometimes apparent at the Canadian border as well. It is not uncommon today to encounter aggressive behaviour of US customs officers when entering your country. Bullies are not restricted to youth and today it seems that many feel emboldened. Once upon a time we used to feel like we were neighbors - who liked each other. Now many of us just don't visit anymore.
11
No surprise here. They voted for what they want in the White House. Mirror image, no wonder the kids are acting that way. Those attitudes were there before 45...he just feeds it .
4
Pointing at Trump is not where the problem lies, it is with the parents whose inherent negativity and basic disrespect of others and lack of personal insight has been encouraged by Trump. What I find so scary are the mothers of these young bullies, who support a man who brags about sexually assaulting women, who has affairs while his wife recovers from giving birth to his child. This is a devastating message for the daughters of these mothers and a bye for her sons when they emulate the behaviors of their mother's choice of presidential candidates. How many of these mothers are even aware of what they are communicating to their children? I would like to see studies about the level of sexually based crimes over the next few years in those areas that went for Trump.
7
I would be interested to see the bullying statistics broken down by gender. I suspect that most bullying is done by young boys, trying to establish dominance and/or macho creds, although girls also bully as we know. Trump's behavior and comments, combined with the disgusting Kavanaugh hearing, seem to condone, if not encourage and reward, male bullying, dominance, and assault of women. If the household boys live in is pro Trump, and their mothers don't condemn his behavior, then as Trump said, they believe they can engage in disgusting behavior with no consequences. The right wing advocates who attacked demonstrators in Charlottesville have learned differently, but there seems to be a consistent view that women can be bullied and assaulted free of consequence.
4
Congressional Republicans are divided into two camps about Trump's character or lack thereof. One group has joined the president in the race to the bottom. The other, a much smaller group but perhaps growing, is leaderless, ambivalent, and wary. Men in this group have stepped aside and are hoping Speaker Pelosi can confront the bullying Trump and put a stop to his insane, erratic, and dangerous behaviors.
One man in this horror story stands alone. Mike Pence, on any given day, is willing to join whichever group looks like it might survive Mr. Trump.
2
This is what I have said from the very beginning - the occupant of the Oval Office needs to show a moral character, above all. Now, I know that certain events have transpired from former Presidents that the public was ignorant to at the time that person was in office (JFK, for instance?) but still . . . President Trump has set a dangerous precedent that I fear will continue to have terrible consequences regarding our youth for generations to come. And we as voters KNEW, we KNEW what his character was about long before he was elected. WE KNEW!!! He showed us time and again. I am a born-again Christian, and probably one of a minority of evangelicals who do NOT support President Trump, nor his policies, so I know why the evangelicals support him (I'm reminded weekly, if not daily, by my local church and church members) but I disagree with them. The President is in effect himself, a large BULLY, and I see rudeness, incompetence, willful ignorance and vindictiveness in his tweets and speeches. I see NOTHING that Christ told us we were to be like. So, yes, I FEAR for our youth - this is a terrible example of leadership, and I only hope and PRAY that someone who is more dignified, kind, INFORMED, willing to negotiate and compromise, etc., etc., etc, will be elected to the office of President of the US of A in 2020.
15
Michelle Goldberg seems unaware that non-Hispanic white students in our most populous states—California and Texas—are an increasingly small minority. They make up about 23.3 percent of California K-12 students and 28.1 percent of Texas K-12 students. When you ask parents of non-Hispanic white K-12 students why they send their children to private schools, the answer often is that their kids were bullied in public schools. However, it is true that some California and Texas non-Hispanic white students are unhappy that 70 percent of their classmates are eligible for racial and ethnic preferences when it come times to apply for college admissions. But you can’t blame affirmative action on Trump.
4
The president is our nation's most significant and influential role model. And here we are, with young people thinking that the definition of toughness is tormenting minorities, POC's, or people with a different sexual orientation. Why does this not surprise me?
3
Character has left the GOP building. Once the bulwark of their notion of a proper president, character is now simply background noise. Why, Christianish Republicans have even invented a biblical justification for voting for an unrepentant and evil sinner: like some Old Testament bit player named Cyrus, Trump has been chosen by God to lead the people to the promised land.
So, who needs Moses? Who needs Jesus? Who needs St. Paul? We got the devil in a red dress, and we've put the creature in charge. What could go wrong?
3
I suspect that if flames appeared around Trump and he sprouted horns and a pitchfork and bellowed that he was Satan himself, his followers — evangelicals included — would not abandon him.
3
I'm not surprised at all. I live in rural Virginia.
Just after Trump was elected, a friend who works as a guidance counselor in our high school told me of a black girl who came into her office one morning, sobbing, nearly hysterical.
The white kids on the bus had been taunting her, telling her "that now Trump is president, you're going to be a slave again".
The poor kid was inconsolable.
I bet there are countless stories like this.
I blame the parents. Trump has given the green light to the 'deplorables' to express their hate openly. Kids learn by example.
Heartbreaking.
563
@S.E. G.
even at the northeastern college I teach at, right after the election some students said essentially the same thing
coincidence? I think not
63
@S.E. G. That’s awful of course. And I’ve heard of a similar thing with a Mexican kid I know. But I wouldn’t necessarily attribute it to parents — at middle school age kids become much more responsive to what their peer group is doing, and they may be picking up stuff heard online, radio, tv, and it gets spread among the kids.
8
@S.E. G. As the song goes, "You've got to be carefully taught..."
32
As Ms. Goldberg notes, the norms have changed, and not for the better. Getting back to pre-2015 norms--- those that were in place before Mr. Trump declared he would run for President--- may prove to be as difficult as getting tax rates back to pre-Reagan levels. In both cases, our democracy will suffer.
4
Now that I've seen that shirt in the photo, it cannot be unseen. Trigger warning, please.
I was distracted from the comment I was first prompted to post by the sagacious observation from my former governor that "now more than ever, America needs to be able to look to her First Family as role models of all that we have been and can be again.”
My brain stopped functioning after that.
35
I read a poll from one of the respected national polling organizations last year, and one of the most depressing results was that approximately 75 percent of Republican-identifying respondents said that they thought Donald Trump was a good role model for children.
3
I attended the RNC convention as a civic education practitioner. And even though I was a passionate Never-Trumper, I quickly came to understand the appeal of being empowered by the audience’s pugilistic masculinity.
I was bullied a lot as a kid; all of us without social status and/or athletic prowess were. When I was standing shoulder to shoulder with the Trumpers in Cleveland, I felt like a leather-glad biker, a heavy metal rock star, the black-hatted cowboy; the bad boy that I never was. I’m ashamed and more than a little mystified to admit that the feeling was... intoxicating.
As a secure, 58 year old professional I was not surprised or disappointed when the buzz of the Uber mania faded. My guess is that many 12 year old boys would cling to it as long as they could; especially when it’s encourged by the adults in their life, or the president.
49
@SLE As I read your description I am reminded of newsclips from 1930's Germany.
5
I went to Junior High School in NYC before Middle School had been invented in the late 50s and when teachers still had some right to control unruly students and classes. Nonetheless, I can say that these were the worst years of my long school career as a result of having to be with some predatory fellow students that I happily was not forced to be with in my later school career. Funny that Mr. Trump was not in the picture then. And yes, my school was integrated.
13
@SR While I agree that middle school was hell, this article does not disavow that. It is about the drastic increase in bullying following Trump's election and the correlation between that and where it took place in relationship to Trump supporting areas.
4
I place very little value in sociological research on bullying. In part, this is because of the profound ideological biases that overwhelm every aspect of sociological thinking. But also because so many young people, especially boys, are taught to feel ashamed of being bullied. And let me add...nothing is changing about the expectations of masculinity any time soon.
My guess--and it's really no more a guess than anything else--is that bullying has always been under-documented and under-counted, is far worse than people realize (or any of our "evidence" shows), and that the impact of Trump would probably not be all that great if the full magnitude of it were observed.
5
@MA, you really think when parents disparage other people because of their complexion or sexual orientation it has no effect on their kids and how they think it is ok to behave?
4
@Michael Respectfully, your comment has absolutely nothing to do what I said.
And FYI, Trump supporters--and white people generally--are far from having a monopoly on "parents disparaging people because of their complexion or sexual orientation".
I could shrug and say how I'm not surprised. I could shrug again and think how these people deserve the environment they created because they emulate the man they voted for. But the educator in me resists those impulses because my heart aches nonetheless.
17
@Westy as someone who, many years ago, moved away from one of the states that Trump ended up winning, I feel for all the people who don't fit the mold and are being bullied.
7
This is very sad. I hope the phenomenon is not occurring in other states, farther from Washington, D.C.
2
I grew up and went to public school in Hampton, Virginia, a small working-class and heavily military city on the state’s southeastern coast that is close to 50% white and 50% black. The adjacent municipality of Poquoson is nearly 100% white.
After the 2016 election I looked up the results for Hampton and neighboring jurisdictions including Poquoson. Hampton went strongly for Clinton, and Poquoson, not surprisingly, went strongly for Trump. But here’s the thing, even if I assumed that 100% of Hampton’s black voters went for Clinton, to account for the observed vote margins, a much higher proportion of Hampton’s white voters also had to vote for Clinton than did so in Poquoson. This is interesting in that Hampton’s whites tend to be less wealthy and less educated than Poquoson’s, signaling a reversal of prevailing propensity of less educated whites to back Trump more strongly.
It’s a lot easier to demonize The Other when you don’t live with him and go to school with him.
23
While a reasonable (even desirable) conclusion, we should be hesitant to accept this sort of correlation as causal. There are other factors that could bear a substantial portion of the responsibility for the observed uptick.
Primarily, we may want to consider "catch-up" effects from programs against bullying. Not only does the messaging of these programs adjust the responses of administration, but it likely adjusts the perceptions of those students who experience the regime. Incidences of normalized middle school jockeying take on new meaning when the aggression you experience is contextualized. Clinton regions tend to be more suburban, so it seems plausible that these areas would receive this sort of intervention earlier than more rural, less funded areas.
1
As head of a school for 19 years, I take umbrage at comparing Trump to middle school kids.
Goldberg points out that they have a propensity for "tormenting one another." That's not entirely inaccurate, as those developmental years are volatile, as children try to forge a place in their world.
But by and large, middle school kids are the sweetest, most endearing and compassionate humans on the planet. Their emotional range is wide in both directions. A school environment that supports the natural affection and empathy children bring is rewarded by the daily joy of their development.
Bullying in school is invariably a symptom of a sterile or punitive school environment, a difficult home, or both. Middle school kids are precious, vulnerable and deeply alive.
Trump is none of those things.
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@Barking Doggerel Thank you for your comment. I taught middle school for 40 years because the students were so sweet and lovable. Now my grand daughter is in middle school. She is very capable of understanding that this president is a sick and terrible person and that our precious democracy is under attack. She knows the difference between a bad man and a good government. Goldberg is one of the best commentators, but it is obvious she has little experience with middle school. It's true what she says about Trump supporters though. Birds of a feather. They are mean. They do want to hurt people. So do their children, of any age.
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@Barking Doggerel: I would not be surprised if the schools in Trump country are sterile and/or punitive.
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As a seventh-grade teacher with 18 years of experience with that age-group, I frequently compare Trump's behavior to that of a certain kind of seventh-grade boy. The typical circumstances of such a boy are that he has an absent father or had grown up in Group or Foster homes, desperately needs attention, but not necessarily approval, and is bitterly resentful of and unable to function within the reasonable limits and constraints of a public school.
Typically, such a student flunks almost every class, but is socially promoted anyway. He has a massive inferiority complex while at the same time acting as though he is better than everyone else.
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I'm confused. What middle schooler pays attention to who the president is? What's the supposed line of causation? Parent's emboldened by Trump passing attitudes contributing to bullying on to children? Considering researchers think it's questionable that violent media significantly contributes to aggressive behavior and the upper bound of effects found in pro research is quite small the large effect on bullying suggested by the author here requires more substantial evidence.
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I work in three middle schools this year. The schools serve a total of about 2400 students. Every one of them save those with serious cognitive impairment know who the president is. Most of them don’t like him—because their parents don’t. I don’t think the article needs more research, and the article refers to a study, which you would need to read before dismissing its findings.
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If you were a teacher of middle schoolers as I was for 15 years then you'd know that those students do pay attention to such facts as who's the President. In fact when I was holding class (I was the librarian), I made it a point to not betray my political leanings, so as not persuade them either way. And not only were there many who knew who the president was, they had some pretty negative things to say about him. I still did my best to hide my bias.
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@quidnunc How can you think middle schoolers don't know who the president is? My 6th grader does and is in complete confusion because Trump breaks every rule in the anti-bullying curriculum my son's been getting since he was in 3rd grade.
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I think Trump is a symptom, not a cause. Any country that can elect a man who is so boldly crude has made a statement about what it values. The election (and continuing support!) of Trump is proof that we think it is more than okay to behave this way...we reward it. And don't get me going on Brett Kavanaugh...
Let's be honest. We have rewarded very bad behavior by putting the miscreants in the highest offices in the land. And mostly because we think it will be good for us economically! And then we are upset with the kids?
I feel only sympathy for parents who are trying to raise decent citizens in this environment. Don't give up.
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@loiejane very well articulated, I certainly agree with you. A ruthless dictator more a thousand years ago told his subjects as they complained about his behavior and actions: "your ruler is a reflection of who you are". Having said that, lets remember that the majority in this country did not elect this individual and are resisting him every step of the way. Trump's clownish persona served to put a magnifying lens on a certain groups in this country that have a racist and xenophobic ideology, this debacle offered the majority a chance to reject this ideology.
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@loiejane
Not to nitpick, but trump is both a cause and a symptom, they are not mutually exclusive. It's a positive feedback loop in which symptom and cause reinforce each other. Because of trump's very public face, his role as cause is has outsized strength. The problem is, if he were to suddenly take himself out of the loop, he would have left behind among the public a larger population of new "causes" than existed before.
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@loiejane
"We" did not elect Bluster-Baby, dagnabbit!
"We" elected Hillary Clinton by almost three million more votes.
We personally voted for Bernie in the primaries but went all out for Hillary as the nominee. As precinct chairs, we block-walked to deliver both voter information and campaign literature. We registered voters at the doors, at the schools, at the library. We block-walked in other precincts besides our own. We sent money to Hillary and other Democratic candidates, including local ones. Our dead-red precinct went for Hillary by 12 votes.
Whooozis was not "elected"; he snuck in through the basement window of the Electoral College.
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As middle school and high school teacher for 39 years, I noticed that during the puberty years kids go through a great deal of internal turmoil most of which is about establishing a sense of self. They see the world and try to figure out how and where they fit in. It's all testing, testing, testing.
The great teachers as well the bad all play their part in molding their character. But the good teachers -the beautiful ones - are ultimately the ones they love the most. Why - because in the end, love is stronger than hate and deep inside - they know it.
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I don't need studies to know that children are keenly aware of whoever the President of the United States is--even if only as background noise--and that in some inchoate and untraceable way they are always affected by the demeanor of the President.
If the President takes a run on the beach, welcomes a celebrity to the WH, or declares an end US involvement in Syria, you can be sure K-12 children will be aware of it, even if only dimly. In Trump's case, his presidency is built on an intense and daily display, in social media and on TV, of vulgar theatricality and bombastic bullying. Though liberals are loathe to concede he is a genius at something, he is an utter genius at his own honed version of performance art.
There's no question but that brilliant, charismatic entertainers like Trump have a profound effect on their chosen. In Trump's case, those who are already inclined to be like him--full of themselves, cruel, bullying and vulgar--are drawn to him precisely because they admire his persona; the rest of us, meanwhile, are numb at best, repulsed and sickened at worst.
With social media and television, there's no hiding Trump from children. Those coming from families who admire him will naturally be inclined to want to imitate what they see of him.
Studies about Trump's effect on children won't hurt, but they sure aren't required.
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@Emile Yes you used the correct word for Trump - “entertainer”. Except the clown show is out of the studio and now on the world stage of life. So we have a horror show !
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Social psychologists have mountains of research on how humans behave when they join certain crowds in certain situations. We all have in us the capacity to do some pretty awful things when placed in the wrong situation with the wrong people. I would add that shifting behavior is so automatic in these kinds of situations, that a society/culture must have institutions and yes, leaders, who establish guardrails against the sources of these toxic situations.
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I am no Trump fan, but this reasoning seems simplistic. There's so much more that could explain why there's an increase in bullying in this part of Virginia. Has the school's approach to discipline changed? Are teachers encouraged to report any (broadly-interpreted) instance of bullying? I, admittedly, haven't read the underlying paper (just the abstract), but this headline feels click-baity.
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@Sarah A Why would the school approach to discipline be changing, resulting in an increase in bullying, only in those schools that are in areas that supported Trump? Your comment begs the question.
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Your comment merely reinforces the narrowness of the study Goldberg is using to suggest a national trend.
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Children are the mirror in which we can see ourselves. Sometimes we do not like how they portray us. Oscar Hammerstein told us this in his musical South Pacific when LT Cable sang "(You Have to Be) Carefully Taught". The children in Riceville, Iowa, told us this in 1952 in Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes lessons.
We need to put the responsibility where it belongs. Not on the children but on their guiding parents. If we actually believe ourselves to be sentient beings with free will with the freedom and license that accords we must accept the millstone of responsibility.
Substitute Mr. Trump for Mr. McCarthy as you consider the closing paragraph of Edward R. Murrow's 1954 editorial response to his time:
"The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn’t create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it – and rather successfully. Cassius was right. 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.'"
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Is there any indication that Mr. Trump was a school bully?
There is some indication that he punched a teacher once when he was a second grade student- there are various versions of this in the internet and apparently writes about it himself in his autobiography of sorts. But that is not a bully.
Based on this, impressionable youth should be punching out their teachers, and only in elementary school.
Mr. Clinton however had an affair with Ms. Lewinsky and the details are well known and public.
The research says that there is more bullying in areas that voted for Mr. Trump. But what about the bully? His (or her) parents? Maybe they were children of disgruntled Democrats?
I'm sure that there are a few more problems around in the US that might be blamed on Mr. Trump, past, present or future.
However, the conclusion of Cornell and Huang's paper in Educational Researcher states:
"Further research is needed to determine whether there is a causal link between presidential behavior and student peer aggression and what intervening variables may help explain the mechanism of this effect. Regardless of its origin, however, the prevalence of student teasing and bullying demands greater attention and intervention in our schools."
I am sure that we can all agree on the second sentence.
By the way Ms. Goldberg, these days it is not enough to state "peer-reviewed". An impact factor of 4, according to the internet, is fine, impressive, but out of the ball park.
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@Joshua Schwartz
The researchers provided adequate information about their methods for the reader to reach a judgment of their work's merits independently of the impact of factor of the journal in which it was printed.
Appeals to authority are never enough.
(These data , btw, are consistent with a large body of data collected using a variety of methods and sampling from a variety of populations).
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@Joshua Schwartz
The evidence that Trump was a bully as a child is significant:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/young-donald-trump-military-school/2016/06/22/f0b3b164-317c-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html?
https://www.nowaytrump.com/?p=107
The WaPo article suggests that the reason Trump was withdrawn from the Kew-Forest School and sent to the New York Military Academy was his forays into Manhattan and his purchase of knives. Circumstantial evidence suggests more serious infractions. Fred Trump was a major donor to and sat on the board of Kew-Forest. Jerome Tuccille's fawning biography of Trump briefly recounts several acts of bullying by him while at Kew-Forest. Based on what we know about his earlier behavior and his behavior at the New York Military Academy, we can pretty safely assume that as a middle-schooler Trump was a pretty serious bully.
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@Joshua Schwartz - I don't know if trump was a school bully, but he was a bully as a businessman, refusing to pay people he hired and then litigating them into the ground when they protested, and he is a bully in the White House, name calling and refusing to accept that Congress is a co-equal branch of Government.
13
There's definitely a coarsening and hardening of our culture, both in language and behavior.
A country already a tinderbox, remains poised in a partisan divide where who you associate with, talk to, support, and root for becomes contingent on their politics.
Yesterday, I heard one pundit remark that the country seems on the verge of a new Civil War, and the one person delighted over this is Putin.
What we don't know, at this point, is how school officials in districts (where bullying has increased) think and respond to the incidents of pushing, shoving, taunting, and attacking in school corridors.
Do they use such incidents as teachable moments, or do they pretty much condone it because they too are swept up in party politics?
Kids will be kids, but what about their teachers?
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It was so strange visiting my grandchildren (8 and 6) in Boston over Christmas and having to be very careful of what we adults said during conversations about American politics whenever the name Trump came up in the conversation. Obviously they know things about the president, but we didn’t want to worry them about some things we felt they might not fully understand. It would have been nice if we could have just used that old ploy of saying- “pas devant les enfants,” but unfortunately they speak French so a lot of conversations ended rather abruptly if they were in the room.
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@Susan
Speak up "devant les enfants". Let them hear it.
As John Candy's character in Home Alone said: "Kids are resilient. They can handle it."
It's our duty to speak our minds and let people know that this con man's behavior is -- and on every level --unacceptable and dangerous.
My brother has chided me for posting criticism of Trump on FB. My retort: "Why, because people may know what I believe and think?"
What is a person who is afford to speak her or his mind?
What is a citizen who sits by idly as civil society crumbles under the suffocating weight of a criminal bully?
12
My daughter teaches grade school in rural Colorado.In a totally unscientific observation she agrees with this totally. Shoving,screaming and demanding behavior on the playground rose greatly in the last two years. Her and her colleagues have to deal with it,the "experts" can figure out why.
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I had the same experience working in a rural school in a Trump voting area. The administration had many programs in place to address bullying. The behavior of our president seemed to embolden the students’ worst impulses. Unscientific study. Anecdotal information. This study seems to be well done and the most telling aspects were that the higher the percentage of Trump voters, the larger the bullying increase, and the effect stayed when when SES and parental education were considered. Wonderful that they had the 2015 data and could do this study.
There is nothing more important than setting examples for children.
20
Have you ever heard this one?
Those who can't teach, teach college. Those who can't teach college, do research. what many school teachers see and have to deal with each day is more difficult by a power of 10 than the work that researchers spend years doing to reach conclusions that we usually (though not always) know already. If the university bubble ever burst which it probably never will because there are no university exit exams (unlike in the K-12 institutions), we would find out how effective tertiary institutions are. Exit exams for universities would lead our economy off a cliff like no one has ever seen.
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@Peter Yes, nothing worse than gathering and studying data, as opposed to just accepting what "everyone" knows.
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My view is that the President alone may or may not be making middle school worse. In many ways, student behavior depends on how families, and fellow school community members, negotiate and process the messaging. Perhaps the biggest challenge is when non academic or non-community minded people, such as intolerant parents or influential siblings, endorse and later embolden what the author has given as evidence of the Trump effect. The President has a powerful, influential voice, that remains without a doubt. However, how we help students get past that stands as a challenge to both the message itself as well as the constituency that supports it. True, it would be much easier if he didn't say anything; but that wouldn't clean proverbial slate in any case.
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Goldberg will believe anything that blames Trump, but this is pushing the limits.
The paper she refers to draw no such conclusion, but she finds it "not hard to imagine" that her preconception is correct.
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@kwb
After the election the Southern Poverty Law Center noted a similar spike in school bullying.
I recall middle school children I was friendly with reported witnessing verbal harassment from classmates when their middle school poll showed Trump the winner in a pre-election poll.
Perhaps you have preconceptions yourself, as well as a willingness to excuse perhaps the consistently worst behavior ever exhibited by a President.
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@kwb
No, the paper doesn't draw the conclusion "that kids who spend their time around Trump enthusiasts might be getting the message that picking on racial minorities, and those who deviate from traditional gender norms, is O.K." since this would be difficult to prove with the available data, but Goldberg's supposition is an entirely reasonable one and very much in keeping with what my kids observed with their own eyes in the immediate aftermath of the election.
Not everyone who voted for Trump was necessarily a white nationalist homophobic bigot, but there is little question that virtually every white nationalist homophobic bigot who voted voted for Trump because they've been very loud about it. I see no reason not to think that some of their children haven't picked up on and emulated their excitement.
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@Christopher What are Trump supporters who take their children to Trump rallies are teaching them? Young children learn their values from the adults in their lives. We should be worried.
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I have no data to prove it, but I observe that more people are driving aggressively in the past couple years: speeding, running red lights, tailgating. Another consequence of life under Trump?
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@K D P
I would like to support your observation and say that is very apparent in drivers where I live. My friends and relatives also comment on the extremely aggressive drivers. They speed outrageously, cut other drivers off, tailgate, and run traffic lights that are clearly red. Two to three years ago, this used to be the behavior of just a handful of drivers, now I would estimate that about 30 to 40 percent drive like this. Accident statistics must reflect this problem.
5
@K D P Based on my own driving experience I say a resounding YES! If I am listening to the news on the radio and Trump is mentioned I know my BP goes up and I become less tolerant of slow, careless or stupid drivers. As a result I am a much more aggressive driver - I was not before Trump and his minions.
It would have been nice to see that 2013, 2011, 2009, 2007, etc. data on bullying. There is a good body of research that suggests that a gradual, more-or-less linear increase in bullying would have been observed in Trump versus Clinton leaning regions (e.g., going back as early as the 1940s Gordon Allport research, and continuing to a more recent stuff like Maureen Craig and Jennifer Richeson's work). If so, it would support the hypothesis that Trump is a symptom rather than a cause of the uptick.
I sort of suspect that he's both (a non-linear trend in which a gradual increase is interrupted by an acute upsurge would be consistent with the symptom and cause hypothesis).
In any event, the trend is distressing.
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A major corporation, believing character/personality is forged during the junior high years, has new recruits undergo a bit of personality cleansing/recasting. Yikes to this policy and yikes to personality being forged in junior high/middle school!
Small wonder our nation is engaged in food fight policies.
8
Thanks for writing about the new survey
and thanks Romney for being willing to speak
the quote from Pence is just amazing-he has in fact, sold his soul to the very devil that HE believes in.
I wish I believed that there will be a reckoning for him in the afterlife
But in this life, how does he look in the mirror and across the breakfast table from "mother' every day?
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@Bonnie Rudner
Pence is like most extremely conservative, evangelical people who are required to blindly pledge themselves to a rigid belief system with authoritarian rules or be told they are sinners and are choosing eternal condemnation. His allegiance to the Republican Party and Trump are glaring examples of how he practices his faith. Espousing the party line, whether it is political or religious guarantees salvation and requires no independent thought. Let's remember
how many potential running mates Trump tossed aside until he found one who would be the ultimate yes-man. His entire presidency has been a revolving door of changes in staff until he has surrounded himself with a group of acolytes who loyally support every twist and turn of his self aggrandizement disguised as policy. Pence is just an example
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@Bonnie Rudner
It really is remarkable how Pence and his ilk of white conservative Christians have turned their support to someone who epitomizes the anti-Christ. It is a cult like worship of a false idol, almost as if they have created a new "god" in their minds. To me it is a clear indication that religion plays no role in moral formation, and actually leads to the type of hatred and bigotry that Jesus himself spoke out against.
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@Bonnie Rudner
Remember this from Aug 5, 2016?
Raleigh, North Carolina (CNN)Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday fielded one of the toughest questions he's faced as Donald Trump's running mate - from 11-year-old Matthew Schricker.
"I've been watching the news lately and I've been noticing lately that you've been kind of softening up on Mr. Trump's policies and words. Is this going to be your role in the administration?" Schricker said at Pence's Raleigh, North Carolina, town hall.
Pence was at first taken aback. "What did you say that I've been doing?" Pence asked, to laughter. Schricker repeated: "You've been kind of softening up his words and policies."
Mike Pence is nothing if not transparent. He wears the emperor's old clothes.
26
Perhaps the screeching, unanimous, formulaic, omnipresent anti-bullying thing has led to a backlash. People don't seem to understand that 20% of the population wants to do what they're told not to do, though 80% only wants to do what it's told.
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@crispin
If this were so, you wouldn't expect to see the increases in bullying only in the Trump-supporting regions (they would be manifest everywhere).
So, the reactance hypothesis does not appear to be supported by these data.
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@ToddTsch It's possible that Trump supporters are more likely to see anti-bullying work as a "screeching, unanimous, formulaic, omnipresent thing", and therefore to lash back in their day of vindication.
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@crispin
We can only hope that the screeching, unanimous, formulaic lying spouted by Trump and swallowed whole by his increasingly small "base" will eventually lead to a backlash. Actually, the backlash started with the 2018 midterms, so it's well on it's way.
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