The contrasting reactions of conservatives and liberals to the news that libertarian philanthropist David Koch died and that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is suffering from a serious health problem highlight a fundamental difference between them.

Liberal Reaction to Death of Koch

Prominent liberals exploded in vicious joy at the news that Koch had died.  Perhaps the worst reaction was Bill Maher, who said, "F‑‑‑ him...I'm glad he's dead, and I hope the end was painful."  An outlier?  Hardly.  His audience roared its approval.

Bette Midler got in on the act, wishing his brother were also dead.  She echoed Maher's profanity-bomb language and directed it at Kay Cole James, the black American leader of the Heritage Foundation, showing once again that no insult directed toward a minority is too vile when it comes from a liberal.

Social media are on fire with these types of screeds from these tolerant Americans who regularly lecture and project at Republican lack of civility. 

Whatever you think of his policy positions, David Koch should not have been a particularly controversial figure.  He was a successful business leader who gave billions to charity.  He was neither hateful nor petty.

He once said, "I really want to put my money to work making the world a better place." 

His primary crime?  He supported Republicans, the one offense that still infuriates the Left.

Conservative Reaction to Ruth Bader Ginsburg News

Saturday also broke the news that Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suffered from a malignant tumor on her pancreas.  President Donald Trump's reaction to this terrible news about someone who has been a fierce critic?  He said, "I hope she does really well.  I'm hoping she's going to be fine.  She's pulled through a lot. She's strong, very tough."

He wasn't an outlier.  Conservatives who would love to see Ginsburg enjoy her golden years in retirement were quick to wish her well.  Not a single prominent conservative said anything half as toxic as what a host of liberals rushed to say about a man they didn't even know.

Conservatives almost universally would like to see the very liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg step down from the Court.  She is no friend to the Constitution and is a rubber-stamp vote in favor of all liberal issues, regardless of how detestable.  But conservatives don't hate her, nor should they.

There was not a single Julianne Malveaux reaction to Saturday's news.  Malveaux, formerly a PBS regular, once commented about Clarence Thomas, "You know, I hope his wife feeds him lots of eggs and butter and he dies early, like many black men do, of heart disease." 

What this once again demonstrates is that conservatives are far more tolerant and civil than liberals.  I realize that is akin to saying, "The sky is blue," but it is near gospel among liberals who universally have a Ph.D. in projection that the reverse is true. 

This is why I regularly see my irony-challenged liberal neighbors put up deeply offensive "Hate Has No Home Here" signs in their yards as an expression of hatred toward their more conservative neighbors. 

Civility and decency are completely breaking down on the Left, to where even the inclusion of Sean Spicer on Dancing with the Stars is viewed as an outrage.  It is also why every tragedy, such as the recent mass shootings, is viewed as a platform for all liberals to viciously attack Republicans, even no-name small-city Democrat mayors like Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.

Media Bias Is the Prime Enabler

This is the natural outcome of the runaway media bias that has persisted for years. 

For decades, the media have enforced two sets of rules on civility.  They insist that Republicans treat all Democrats with the utmost respect.  Any deviation, and the media bring down Thor's hammer. 

At the same time, the leftist media and their allies praise and raise the profile of any Democrat who treats a Republican badly.  That's how the game is played and how it has been played for years.

There is never accountability for liberals who say outrageous things.  Sure, conservative sites point out their outrages, but that will largely reach only a conservative audience.  The good news is that audience is growing, at least partially thanks to President Trump ripping the veneer off of media bias and baiting them into showing their true colors.

The leftstream media (New York Times, Washington Post, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, etc.) won't bat an eye at liberal hate.

When there is zero accountability on one side, civility dies.  It's in this environment that a small-minded restaurant-owner felt free to bully the imminently gracious Sarah Huckabee Sanders and chase her and her family out of a restaurant.  It's also why I had to warn an out-own-town visitor to not wear his "Make America Great Again" hat in Washington, D.C.

It's also why Rep. Joaquin Castro felt empowered to release Trump donors' information for the express purpose that they, their families, and their workers would be bullied and perhaps even attacked.

"Resistance" is a euphemism for anything goes when it comes to intimidating and punishing republicans and proof that liberals are among the least tolerant people in America's history.

It's also within this environment that the ironically named and increasingly violent Anti-Fascist (Antifa) movement sprang into existence.  Most Americans have no idea how evil and dangerous this organization has become because its media collaborators offer it a blanket of protection.

Natural Outgrowth of Left's Mainstreaming of Hatred

Liberals use their dominance of the cultural heights (academia, media, entertainment, music industry, publishing, government bureaucracy, etc.) to constantly communicate and propagandize that all Republicans are repugnant, racist, misogynist, and cartoonish supervillains.  As actress Julia Roberts once intoned about George W. Bush, the gracious former Republican president, "Republican comes in the dictionary just after reptile and just above repugnant."

This deliberate dehumanization has succeeded in convincing much of America that conservatives, and indeed all Republicans, are worthy of only their contempt and hatred.

If anything, liberals are amping up this effort.  The shocking admission of the New York Times editor, Dean Baquet, that he is pivoting his newsroom from focusing on the mythic Trump-Russian collusion story to weaponizing it around calling President Trump and his supporters racist shows that there is no limit to their depravity.

It also demonstrates that this situation is going to get far worse before it gets better. 

Way Ahead

In the short term, conservatives need to continue to use every tool in their arsenal to call out examples of liberal hatred and educate America on the growing threat of liberal hatred and violence. 

In the longer term, conservatives need to break the Left's complete ownership of the cultural heights.  We need to encourage more conservatives to go into these fields. 

As they did with conservative and alternate media, they need to develop alternative institutions in places like the entertainment and publishing industries.  They need to invest in colleges that teach the actual liberal arts (like Hillsdale College) and not Marxism, post-colonialism, and the full stew of intersectionality grievance-mongering.  This is not something that can happen overnight, but it is well worth the effort as a longer-term strategy.

Author's credit:  Fletch Daniels blogs at deplorabletouchdown.com and can be found on Twitter at @fletchdaniels.