That's how that comes across in that context honestly. I fully agree we cannot let blatant insults and racism and sexism and all that just lie, but we have to use the best tool for the job when repudiating it and shouting people down has been proven time and again that it doesn't work. That's actually what he's getting at. That the left makes these smug comments knowing they have the moral high ground and not thinking about what it ACTUALLY takes to get people to at least try to see a different point of view. And in his mind that means that the rise of someone like Trump was inevitable because we've been building far more walls than bridges. And your comment and the way it came across was eerily exemplary of exactly the bricks used to build those walls he was getting at.
If my kid does things I don't like i don't beat them, I don't denigrate them. I don't humiliate them. I try to explain that it's wrong, help them see why, and help them see a better way to approach it next time. I show compassion and empathy and acknowledge their feelings are valid. Fear, anger, even hatred, but that there are better ways to have better feelings about the situation. But that kind of approach is too hard and emotionally-intensive to engage in with strangers but frankly it's the only way to get anyone to look at their behavior differently. Study behavior modification theory, even those aimed at business, like Aubrey Daniels, and they get at exactly that. But once the left had the moral high ground they used it to rain bricks on the right. I'm not saying they didn't deserve it, many did, but it's the absolute worst way to win hearts and minds, and it set up the atmosphere we see that lead to Trump and the steep decline we're in now.
Of course I'm not saying it was the only factor, there are many, but to deny it has an impact is either naive or willfull ignorance. Or just letting anger and outrage get the best of us, which is frankly what 90% of the populace are running on right now.
