Perhaps the pettiest public display of Stage 4 Trump Derangement Syndrome-riddled former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was melodramatically tearing in half her copy of then-President Donald Trump’s just-completed 2020 State of the Union address. Remember?

Nancy Pelosi tears up Donald Trump’s State of Union Speech… Petulant or justified? pic.twitter.com/OI3Q0LJAZ6

— The Salisbury Review (@SalisburyReview) February 5, 2020

Childish for sure, but a perfect manifestation of the ravages of Pelosi’s already pickled brain after four years of acute TDS, with which poor San Fran Nan will likely be afflicted until she takes her dying breath.

So here’s the question of the day:

Will newly-elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy follow in Pelosi’s imbecilic footsteps after Joe Biden — the most inept president in history — delivers his SOTUS address on Tuesday night (tonight, as I write)?

And whether McCarthy decides to tear up his copy of Biden’s address or doesn’t, why will he choose whichever option? McCarthy was asked the same question(s) during a Monday interview. Not only was his response spot-on; the Speaker’s reasoning spoke to political discourse in general — and how McCarthy believes lawmakers should conduct themselves.

A lot of people have been asking if I’m planning on ripping up President Biden’s speech tonight. Here’s my answer: I don’t believe in the theatrics of tearing up speeches. I respect the other side. I can disagree on policy, but I wanna make sure this country is stronger, economically sound, energy independent, secure, and accountable.

Whether one likes or loathes McCarthy, his reference to “theatrics” was right.

A lot of people have been asking if I'm planning on ripping up President Biden’s speech tonight. Here’s my answer: pic.twitter.com/WRlAlYgCbs

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) February 7, 2023

While McCarthy’s reference to respecting the other side, pointing to the lost art of disagreeing without being disagreeable, was admirable, the tradition has been displaced by lies and attacks, and the coin of the realm is now largely the politics of personal destruction. So which side started it and when?

The answer, of course, depends on who’s answering it.

The Democrat Party insists the divisiveness began during the Trump administration, while Republicans rightly point to Barack Obama and his intentional efforts to divide America along class and racial lines.

Others (yours truly, included) suggest the bitter 2000 election battle between George W. Bush and Al Gore was the catalyst. The election wasn’t officially decided until December 12, 2000, when the Supreme Court ended a Florida vote recount, making Bush the winner and the Democrat Party angry. SCOTUS made the proper call, but Democrats continue to whine about the outcome to this very day.

The Bottom Line

Regardless of whom or which party one blames for today’s divisiveness, politics in 2023 America is rife with blatant hypocrisy, ridiculous whataboutism, the sorrowful “art” of confusing opinions with facts, lies and counter lies, and personal destruction, if necessary.

Spoiler: Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they even have a chance of getting better. That I can tell you, if you want to know the truth, as a certain former president is fond of telling us.