JOSEPH EPSTEIN: There’s Too Much Virtue In Politics.

Each party sees in the other the devil. Mr. Trump is the savior of the country, confronting an utterly corrupt establishment. His critics view themselves as brave defenders of democracy, facing down a neofascist. The two sides are not altogether unhappy with what they see, for their separate views fortify each in their own righteousness.

American politics have never before felt so divisive, and the chances of this soon changing appear slim. The tone of political discourse slips lower and lower. Donald Trump seems unable to refer to an adversary, current or former, without adding an epithet: Crooked Hillary, Crazy Joe Biden, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, et alia. What these people and his other opponents must call Mr. Trump in private cannot be printed in a family newspaper.

If there are any peacemakers among either the Democrats or the Republicans, they have yet to appear.

Well, as we saw just yesterday, even admitting that you have a Republican friend can get you mobbed in academia.

But I think the real problem started with the Civil Rights era, where thinking yourself morally superior to your opponents was easy. The elites have been chasing that high ever since, even when they have to invent entirely new kinds of prejudice to crusade against.