Violent and abusive language is seeping into our political debate. We have Donald Trump to blame | Paul Daley

Liberal MP Angie Bell’s rhetoric and Warren Mundine’s joke about murder at CPAC are part of a dangerous trend Get our new political email , free app or daily news podcast At some point, though it’s hard to pinpoint precisely when, the language of supposedly civilised public discourse started to become imbued with a dark malevolence. Given the long history of American influence on pretty much all things culturally Australian, it seems inevitable that Maga’s violent and abusive rhetoric would make its way into our politics. And it’s pretty fair to say the current US president has led the western populist way when it comes to saying out loud the ugly and violent things that might once have remained internal.