"Trump takes such glee in conflict, and cares so little for standards of decency or compassion, that his assailants often diminish themselves by betraying their own values out of desperation. But this isn't just true of Trump's assailants. It is true of all of us. To consistently engage with Trump is to be diminished by him. And we have all been diminished by his presidency."
"We are diminished when our president lies, and even more so when we begin taking his habitual lying for granted."
"We are diminished when our president uses cyberbullying as a communications strategy."
"We are diminished when our president . . . knows nothing about the issues he faces, and does not try to learn more."
"We are diminished when our political leaders excuse or ignore behavior they know is wrong."
"We are diminished when the people who need America's mercy and protection most are harmed in service of lies and bigotry. . . . The men, women, and children who will lose health insurance under the legislation the president has endorsed are the same people he promised to help."
"We are diminished when the rest of the world comes to doubt our leadership and reliability. . . . when our president has little respect for the institutions and norms that have protected our country. Trump has done his best to sow doubt about the legitimacy of America's electoral system, of its civil servants, or its courts, and of its media."
"A list like this can go on. It is a measure of our diminishment how much is left off it -- how many outrages and disappointments have already faded from memory. Six months into his term, Trump's policy achievements are few and thin, but he has coarsened our politics, shown the power of shamelessness, undermined our faith in each other and ourselves, modeled behavior we would punish children for exhibiting, and implicated all of us in the running fiasco of his presidency."
"He has diminished the country
he promised to make great."
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