There is a growing concern regarding the tone of contemporary political debate, with critics suggesting that civil discourse is being replaced by increasingly hostile language. The Guardian argues that this shift toward 'dark malevolence' in public speech is not an isolated incident but a trend that has been exacerbated by the influence of American political styles on other nations, specifically Australia.

The Guardian explicitly identifies Donald Trump as a primary catalyst for this change, asserting that he has normalized the expression of violent rhetoric that was previously considered unacceptable in public life. According to this perspective, the 'frog of public expectation' has reached a breaking point, where the boundaries of what is considered permissible in political communication have eroded. While the article focuses on the impact of populist rhetoric, it frames the issue as a systemic decline in civility driven by specific leadership styles. There are no counter-arguments presented in this source regarding whether this shift is a broader cultural phenomenon or if it is limited to specific political movements, leaving the analysis focused solely on the influence of the American political model.