This post was inspired by the personal history And Your Little Dog, Too by humorist David Sedaris, in which he recounts an unfortunate experience earlier this year in Portland Oregon, when he was out walking and came upon three men and a woman pushing a baby carriage.  Here’s his account of what happened next: 

“The four were gathered around a baby carriage, and as I neared the woman lowered her head into it and took a powerful hit off a pipe. Just as I registered that the carriage was empty, two small dogs, both unleashed, rushed toward me, snarling, and one of them bit me on my left leg, just below the knee. It all happened within a second.”

That night Sedaris talked about his experience while signing books before a show. This is what he got from the people he spoke to: 

“You have to understand that these addicts, especially those with an opioid-use disorder, lead incredibly difficult lives”

“You’re still better off than she and her friends are”

“What kind of dog was it?...Oh, a cairn terrier. That poor thing.”

“People like that aren’t in any condition to take care of their animals. That’s the really sad part.”

 “Did you get their names?... The names of the dogs. It might have helped the authorities rescue them.”

Sedaris quit talking about it. As he explains:  

“I mean, how hard should it be to get a little sympathy when an unleashed dog bites you? What if I were a baby? I wondered. Would people side with me then? What if I were ninety or blind or Nelson Mandela? Why is everyone so afraid of saying that drug addicts shouldn’t let their dogs bite people? Actually, I know why. We’re afraid we’ll be mistaken for Republicans, when, really, isn’t this something we should all be able to agree on? How did allowing dogs to bite people become a Democratic point of principle? Or is it just certain people’s dogs? If a German shepherd jumped, growling, out of one of those Tesla trucks that look like an origami project and its owner, wearing a MAGA hat, yelled, “Trumper, no!!!,” then would the people in my audience be aghast?”

Now, why would people be afraid of being thought a Republican? Because an awful lot of Democrats and others on the left see Republicans as morons, hysterics, racists, benighted fools, ignorant jerks, self-justifying assholes, callous, immigrant-hating, morally bankrupt, thick, rigid, unthinking, uncaring, narrow-minded, fearful,  gullible, clueless, and fascist. In other words, Republicans are simply irredeemable and beyond the pale. Not friend material and for many, not even family material.

At least that’s my impression from countless conversations, online exchanges, academic writings, opinions pieces, news articles, TV shows, and movies*.

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* For example, the easily mockable MAGA dimwits in Fargo (5th season), Knives Out 3 (Wake Up Dead Man), One Battle After Another (2025 film), and Saturday Night Live.

Reference: And Your Little Dog, Too. By David Sedaris / The New Yorker  December 8, 2025