When President Trump attended the fifth game of the World Series at Nationals Park in Washington, many fans booed loudly, taunted him with chants of “lock him up” and hung a banner in the outfield that read “Impeach Trump.” Some on Twitter quickly celebrated.

Some pundits had a different view. MSNBC’S Joe Scarborough argued, “We are Americans and … we do not want the world hearing us chant ‘Lock him up’ to this president or any president.” CNN’S Chris Cillizza wrote that the booing and chants proved “just how much [Trump] has changed not just politics but public discourse more broadly — moving the goal posts (or maybe knocking them down entirely) on what is acceptable behavior.”

If norms are indeed shifting toward incivility, how does this affect citizens’ ability to participate in politics? Evidence from my new book, “Disrespectful Democracy,” suggests that the answer depends more on how each individual responds to conflict than on identification as Democrats or Republicans.

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