By Brendan Flynn

Although Nevada has largely been immune to the worst of the partisan fighting in Washington, D.C. and around the country, it seems those days are numbered. Saying that we’ve been safe from political squabbling is bold for a state participating in unprecedented attempts to recall lawmakers, but it’s a testament to how politically charged and largely negative the national conversation has become. Michael Roberson, a state senator running for lieutenant governor, is looking to bring the same divisive rhetoric — rhetoric that has become the president’s calling card — to the Silver State.

Roberson just posted his first campaign ad, which is typically the culmination of careful consideration about what tone to set for a campaign. It features him sitting side by side with gubernatorial hopeful Adam Laxalt as they they tout his legislative accomplishments. The ad is posted with the caption “My record shows I’ve got the guts to take on the Democrats in Carson City.” The last time I checked (and I did check before writing this), the job of a lieutenant governor is not to fight legislators, but, in fact, to serve the people of the state. Setting himself up as an official primarily concerned with partisan fighting only promotes the idea that his job has everything to do with defeating an enemy, and little to do with governing, or actually serving the people of the state. “Democrats want to hurt you, select me as your champion.”

The conflict here has now been reduced to the the same as in an ancient Roman Colosseum: When a gladiator stands in combat against man or beast, someone winds up dead. A zero-sum game. When politicians are elected only to fight others, we the people lose. But maybe that’s not being fair to Sen. Roberson. After all, that’s just the title they included with the ad on Facebook. He wouldn’t use that same unproductive rhetoric in his actual ads would he?

Not only is the above photo caption completely false (misinforming the people you hope to represent is always a great way to build public trust), but it continues the pattern of setting up government as exclusively a battle between opposing forces, rather than different ideologies coming together in order to solve the problems of those being governed. Notice, I’m not even going so far as to suggest that he compromise when in office. Perish the thought. I’m suggesting that he use rhetoric that doesn’t completely shut the door on political progress. Telling the truth and choosing your words carefully doesn’t seem like the highest bar for those who are asking for power over their fellow citizens, and yet here we are.

If that’s where his Trumpian instinct stopped, the comparison might seem jarring. But if you take Roberson’s advice and visit his campaign website, the equivalence seems apt. His most recent blog post follows Trump’s playbook of attempting to brand his political opponents with childish nicknames. In an attempt to definitively tie Kate Marshall to a retweet from her campaign manager about Australian gun policy, he has taken to calling her ‘Confiscation Kate.’ For the record, her campaign manager’s Twitter feed is almost entirely about Virginia Tech Football and explicitly says “Opinions are my own.” This bears repeating just to emphasize how nonsensical it is. Roberson is using a retweet from a Twitter account that is only being used for personal use, and is claiming that it’s a declared policy position of the candidate.

Rather than engaging with an opposing candidate directly, Roberson grasps at straws to score political points. By allowing a secondhand tweet to stand in for a stated policy position, Roberson abdicates his duty of actual engagement. And now he asks that people actually refer to her by that moniker? At best it’s a disingenuous interpretation of social media. At worst, it’s another attempt to willfully mislead the voters of Nevada.

I’m not saying Michael Roberson is a bad person. I’m not saying he’s unqualified to serve as lieutenant governor. I’m not even saying these tactics aren’t being used around the country, as we know they are. What I am saying is that words matter. I am saying that if he wants to take the mantle of public service seriously, he needs to do better. The people of Nevada deserve better. 

Brendan Flynn is a native Nevadan and current expat studying law in the Midwest.