President Trump is back in the White House and everyone’s reverting to bad old habits

Inauguration Day was a tough one for some people.

And trust me, I heard all about it.

I had actually forgotten Monday, Jan. 20 was the swearing in because I had a vacation day and daycare for my kids and was enjoying the silence. But I was reminded by a family member who greeted me with: “It’s a dark day for America.”

Needless to say, this person was not a supporter of President Donald Trump and had a list of reasons ready to go.

Trump pulled out of a global climate change pact. Trump was advised by his youngest son. Republicans never gave President Joe Biden a chance. Trump wants to make America great again (yes, this one got rescued from the recycling bin).

As this person who I love shared their frustration with me, ticking off grievances, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was this person talking or some MSNBC host she’d heard earlier in the day.

It reminded me of two things:

First, this is why I rarely talk about politics in my personal life. It’s aggravating and people too often are either misinterpreting something or reciting a very biased point of view.

I’m always happy to hear people discuss their values and why they believe what they believe, but arguing about policy and politics is rarely a conversation. Instead, it’s a rant masquerading as a conversation.

These rants are not about debating ideas and finding consensus and they end in alienation.

Can’t we just talk about basketball or look at pictures of our kids?

The second thing I was reminded of was that people nowadays have very strict standards about right and wrong, but standards they only apply to people they don’t like. We’re all hypocrites, which is why abstract discussions about values are enriching and rants about politics are boring.

Here’s what I mean. For years now, we’ve heard the liberal condemnation of the slogan Make America Great Again. When was America great, they ask. And for whom? Some have even gone so far as saying the slogan is a rallying cry for white America – a modern rebel yell. But has the same scrutiny been applied to Democratic slogans?

Make America Great Again means the same thing as “Hope” and “Change.” It means the same thing as “Save Democracy.” It means everything and it means nothing. These slogans are meant to capture the feeling of a moment in time. Supporters get it, detractors don’t.

If you don’t like campaign slogans that don’t mean anything, then stop putting the bumper stickers on your car. Stop choosing empty rhetoric to represent either your values and what you stand for and against.

You don’t like that Trump is pulling out of the Paris Agreement, a global climate change pact. But do you know if it’s worth the paper it’s printed on? Maybe you should find out.

Do you like spiking gas prices and bans on all things gas powered? If not, then maybe the Paris Agreement isn’t what you think it is.

Don’t like that Trump was advised politically by his youngest son, Barron? Do you like that the Biden Administration was a real-life Weekend at Bernie’s situation? If former President Joe Biden was suffering extreme mental decline, who do you think was running the country? Maybe it was staff, or the First Lady, or Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick. It could have been anyone, except, of course, the person who was elected.

Republicans didn’t give Biden a chance. That’s true. Democrats didn’t previously give Trump a chance and won’t going forward.

Things are broken and if we want to fix them and we want high standards, then we have to start holding everyone to the standard, not just the people with whom we disagree.

Until that happens, nothing will improve.

Matt Fleming is a columnist for the Southern California News Group.