Trump has made it worse but the general tone was set before him. And regardless, it doesn't mean we should join in. Do you like the tone? Do tweets like that help the tone?
It's a metal prison tray, it made a statement I agreed with about the family dynastic and potentially indictable situation that's a reality for this administration, and in that light I thought the tone was appropriate and measured. So yes, I liked the tone. The writer didn't call Ivanka any names, certainly didn't treat her the way I've seen Michelle Obama treated.
So I'm not going to go any farther down this road with you, kmo. Maybe if more people had questioned the tone at TOL more often over the years, asking whether I liked the tone would be a helpful question. But most people don't question the tone here, they're either handing out the "truth smack" or toughening up against the "truth smack." Or leaving the forum because they're not into "truth smack."
Ivanka isn't some damsel in distress, she grew up and has lived her whole life with every creature comfort it was possible to have. This was her bed when she was a little girl:
It's an illusion that Trump plays on, that he really has anything in common with the average American, and that translates to Ivanka as well. Trump plays on the perception that he, a billionaire, really cares about the people of this country, when all he really seems interested in is tweeting snark and playing golf and eating hamburgers at one of his golf clubs, while the GOP establishment works to shaft the middle and lower class.
What the base shares with Trump, and they've admitted it and it's been admitted on this forum, is that he "truth smacks" just the way they do. In that, Trump and his base really are simpatico. That's part of the reason we're on a race to the bottom politically because the acceptable behavior for a president keeps getting lowered and normalized, lowered and normalized. People will always find a way to speak truth to power though, and that's going to keep happening, even if the tone doesn't always meet our expectations.