Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins captured an uncomfortable truth when she warned of a “politics of trickle-down hatred.” You hear it in the hate-filled rants of Donald Trump that have normalized prejudice and bigotry.

But the politics of trickle-down hatred didn’t arise spontaneously. It was cultivated and amplified by Trump, media platforms that profit from outrage and institutions that reward division.

When Trump uses inflammatory language to demean immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ+ people or anyone outside a narrow vision of “acceptable,” the message doesn’t stay in Washington, it seeps into everyday life.

That is how hatred spreads: from the presidential podium to news cycles to casual conversations. What was once unthinkable becomes merely “how people talk now.” And when hateful speech becomes normal, harmful behavior follows.

Trump’s version of trickle-down is not a tide that lifts any boats. It is a poison that corrodes institutions, pits neighbor against neighbor, and justifies cruelty under the banners of “security” and so-called “traditional values.”

We cannot accept the normalization of hatred. We deserve a society that refuses to let cruelty trickle down unchecked. Naming it is the first step toward stopping it and insisting on a politics rooted in dignity rather than division.

Michael Pardus

Penn Township, Westmoreland County

The writer is chair of Norwin Penn Trafford Area Democrats.

Penn Township, PA

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