How you respond to an attack defines you. Keep your cool, remain civil and others will respect the way you handle yourself, even if they disagree with you. Lower yourself to your assailant's level and — at best — spectators will dismiss your dispute as a he-said-she-said between two jerks.
So much has been written about U.S. President Donald Trump's debasement of rhetorical norms and his gleeful contempt for truth that there is no need to cite examples or quote studies that count the prolificacy of his lies. Trump's attacks on journalists — "fake news," mocking a disabled reporter's body movements — are contemptible. They undermine citizens' trust in news media — a serious menace to democracy and civil society.
Less noticed is how major news organizations, incensed by the president's trolling, have debased themselves to Trump's moral level.