Losing Friends Over Politics

SEVERAL MONTHS AGO i was sitting at home, minding my own business, with either one of my cats or a laptop on my lap, I forget which. Suddenly, in rings an email. Its from a high school classmate ('73 rules!) I had not heard from in awhile, and the email began with outraged expressions of anger towards Bill Clinton. Clinton had recently walked across the tarmac at a major metro airport, and chatted with Attorney general Loretta Lynch. It made the news. What unspeakable temerity! How outrageous!, barked my friend. Clinton's wife under investigation by the FBI, again, and here's big bold Bill Clinton, and what else could he be doing besides trying to influence or bribe the A.G.? Hilarious, continued my friend's email, that Clinton is so brazen, arrogant, thoughtless and stupid to do this in broad daylight in a busy public place. That was the entire email. No hi, howdy, good bye, or kiss my ass. Just anger at and contempt for Bill Clinton's bad judgment, low morality, brazen attitude, and low I.Q.. Obviously, I should have just chuckled, and deleted the email. But no. Hell no, not me. I responded by suggesting that maybe Bill Clinton is indeed not stupid enough to engage in criminal conspiracy in front of hundreds of folks carrying smart phone cameras, and that therefore maybe he wasn't doing that, but instead was just saying hello to someone he knows and saw at a busy airport. Before I typed all that I at least said hello to my friend, which was more than he did for me. I further suggested to my buddy that maybe he himself was angry at his political opposition, and looking to impugn it, any way possible. He replied, as I expected, but made no mention of my proposed theory explaining Bill Clinton's behavior, based on my brazen assumption that bill Clinton isn't an idiot. Instead, my buddy sharply excoriated me for my "faux anger" as he put it, showing off his French, and retaliated that if he is angry, I am a maniac. I thought that was a bit extreme, and I suggested that he take a pain killer. I haven't heard from him since, and I do not expect to. That exchange happened in the final frenzied weeks leading up to the election, a period of time when millions of Americans lost friends and strained relationships. This divided country may well heal, eventually, but you somehow sense that its gonna take a whole lot more than a dismissive command from a new commander in chief.