Hutchinson is a never-Trump Republican who entered the GOP primary to stop Trump. His ego told him he could be the one to derail Trump, though that was Chris Christie’s lane in the race. Hutchinson’s campaign struggled from the jump. He participated in only one RNC-sponsored debate.

He never rose above 1% support in polls. It is understandable for voters to have forgotten about his candidacy. I said as much. The attitude by most Republican voters was one of surprise that he was still in the race when he suspended his campaign. However, when the DNC released a snarky statement about Hutchinson, is raised eyebrows and insulted Hutchinson. Republican voters may have had that thought but it was not ok for Democrats to release the jab at Hutchinson.

The DNC’s national press secretary, Sarafina Chitika, released a short statement at the time. “This news comes as a shock to those of us who could’ve sworn he had already dropped out.”

That may have amused the interns at the DNC but it put the White House and Biden’s re-election campaign in an awkward position. The White House issued a rare apology to Hutchinson after the comment went public.

Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, called Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, in the morning to offer an apology over the Democratic National Committee’s one-sentence statement following his announcement Tuesday that he was ending his 2024 campaign after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses Monday night.

No one will be fired at the DNC for the snarky behavior and Chitika has not commented. The DNC is letting the White House clean up the mess. The statement is considered a mistake that can happen in a hot contest.

As a traditional, old-school kind of Republican, Hutchinson expected a little more civility than he received. What it did was expose the phoniness of Joe Biden’s promise to unite the country. Hutchinson and Biden are from a time in politics when Republicans regularly appeased Democrats to get things done. The days of go-along-to-get-along are over now. Hutchinson shows he is out-of-step with the current political environment by expecting civility.

For example, the DNC is the political arm of the Democrat Party. It answers to Joe Biden, the head of the Democrat Party. Biden chose Jaime Harrison to be DNC chairman after Biden was elected in 2020. That was a clear indication that the unity and healing promised by Biden was just a campaign pitch to gullible voters. Harrison is a former chair of the South Carolina Democrat Party. He unsuccessfully ran against Senator Lindsey Graham. He is an aggressively partisan Democrat who often trashes Republicans in interviews.

Biden himself slams Republicans at every opportunity. He prided himself on coining the phrase mega MAGA Republicans to trash Trump supporters in the party. Leaders lead by example. Biden has shown time and time again that he was never a unifier. He doesn’t have it in him.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre took a stab at smoothing things over, too.

The DNC statement about Hutchinson “does not reflect [Biden’s] views,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news briefing Wednesday.

“President Biden has deep respect for Gov. Hutchinson and admires the race that he ran,” she added. “The president knows him to be a man of principle who cares about our country and has a strong record of public service.”

Hutchinson said in an interview that he appreciated the apology from the White House but he has questions about the culture at the DNC. Is there training for interns and staff members to steer them away from issuing snarky opinions as official statements to the press? His message to the DNC was ‘do better.’

“I don’t know who it was” who wrote the statement, Hutchinson said. “Everyone refers to the person as a young staffer. That means we are training our future leaders to practice demeaning comments — ridicule — and to really focus on things that are not important.

“So here’s the point,” he added. “Let’s mentor that young staffer. Who is training them to do this? That’s [happening on] both sides of the aisle. That’s not what America expects. It hurts politics. And I hope there will be a lot of re-training based on this.”

Here’s the thing – the person who released the statement isn’t a young intern without experience who just made a mistake. The statement came from the DNC’s national press secretary. Sarafina Chitika is a former communications director for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). And, there is a history of such behavior from her. She did the same thing to North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum when he suspended his campaign. “Today, millions of Americans are reacting to Doug Burgum’s drop out with a resounding, ‘Who is that?’”

Maybe Chitika doesn’t respect Republicans governors, past or present. That’s not the point. The point is that the DNC didn’t have to respond at all about two Republican candidates who were never going to be the party’s nominee when they suspended their campaigns. Let it go. If a top candidate suspends his or her campaign, let the DNC mouth off with a hot take. That’s politics.

Hutchinson’s desire to have political parties responsibly train and mentor staff is admirable but it’s just not reality right now. We are living in a garbage culture. In politics it comes from the top. The two front-runners in the 2024 presidential race are both old men who have no filter when they speak. In a family environment, their unsavory comments would be brushed off as a ‘there goes grandpa’ moment. But, this is national politics and the statements immediately go viral, with the world watching. An abundance of snarky hot takes may be entertaining but it doesn’t raise the level of engagement.

In the end, the DNC remark is just a blip in the grand scheme of things. Hutchinson’s hope of more civility in politics probably won’t happen anytime. Will the pendulum swing back? There is no indication right now. Snark sells on social media.