We spent a weekend in the Cities in December. Pam’s family was celebrating Christmas at her niece’s house.

We found a VRBO in Bloomington where we stayed. It was an apartment we rented in a larger building with mostly permanent residents.

We had two evenings and mornings to lounge about. There was a large central area where people came and went. There were cookies and coffee available.

We were in and out often, so I had a lot of those little experiences crossing paths with other people. I enjoy those small connections. I smile and engage in short conversations. I hold a door or help with a bag when I can.

Maybe I’m weird, but I’ve always thought these moments are important in sharing our humanity. If I can briefly lift another or be lifted, it’s got to count for something.

During my Bloomington weekend, many of these were with Somali Americans. Some of them were residents. Others were on the staff. I am a German American as long as we’re categorizing people.

There was a young woman who was walking softly in the hall each day, getting her steps in. We talked about walking and winter. One morning, another fellow and I tried to get the coffee machine to work. A young employee showed up to help us. A fellow asked where I was from. He took great delight in hearing of a place called Sleepy Eye.

Each of these experiences with Somalis was pleasant with smiles exchanged. You probably know where this is going. Around that same time, the president called the people I was with “garbage.”

They dress a little differently than me and have slight accents. Their skin is darker. They are as friendly and helpful as someone I would meet in the checkout line at Schutz Foods.

Unless you live under a rock, you know that there are Somalians who have committed fraud. Some have been convicted and others will.

Every year, there are multiple instances of farmers defrauding the government using crop insurance and subsidy programs. Some are caught, not all.

Are farmers garbage?

Many Somalis are hard-working, family-loving Americans. They come from a country that is troubled. So did your ancestors. Whether it’s nineteenth century Germany or twenty-first century Somalia, people don’t leave places where everything is fine.

The “garbage” line from the lips of Mr. Trump was condemned by many and met with tepid disapproval by his supporters. If this were a “one-off,” I’d have no problem ignoring it. We all have bad days and say stupid things.

We all know this is not a one-off for this man. Mr. Trump doesn’t go a day without mocking or insulting someone or some group. There are scum and fat pigs and slobs and low IQ. Anyone who doesn’t agree with him is a loser. Women are special objects of scorn.

Calling this sophomoric does an injustice to sophomores, most of whom don’t go around mocking everyone.

The president said Tim Walz is “retarded.” I have a friend with a disabled son who was angry about the use of that word. As a society we have spent decades teaching people not to use that demeaning word. It was a favorite of mean kids when I was young.

Tim Walz also has a son with a disability, making that name-calling especially heartless.

Does anyone think Trump isn’t capable of such calculation?

It’s common to see Trump voters mentally contort themselves to say they don’t approve of his words but support his policies. We should ignore what comes out of his mouth or his voluminous social media.

It has been exactly 101/2 years since Donald Trump descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for the White House. Within months, he had vanquished a whole set of Republican challengers.

I remember thinking highly of many of them. I have voted for Republicans and might have again if one had been the nominee. Trump came up with belittling nicknames for all of them. He made sure to say that his women opponents were ugly.

We had not seen anything like that on the national stage. Here was a candidate for our highest office sounding like a seventh-grade bully. Any of us would have reprimanded our child for using similar insults. Concurrently, Donald Trump was rising in the polls and locking up his party’s nomination.

That was over a decade ago. Three times since, he has won that nomination. You may be excused from ignoring the crude language in those early years. Now there is no possibility you don’t know about the derisive words he uses ceaselessly.

You can say you don’t approve of his words but support his policies. But there have been three long nomination processes for the Republican Party to find a decent person with a modicum of dignity to support those same policies.

At this point, it’s clear that the meanness and cruelty are the point of Donald Trump. There is no more well-known person on the planet. You can no longer separate the man from his words than you can separate a tree from its bark.

If any of Trump’s supporters have read this far, they might be Googling “mean thing said by Democrats.” You’ll find some. But the scale isn’t close. I don’t know who would be second in American history as far as mocking and insulting, but it’s a distant second.

Some say that Trump’s honesty and bombast are refreshing. You can say that about a drunk guy in a bar, but he’ll sober up.

Thinking back to the young woman in the robe and head scarf I visited with, I suppose if I thought she was garbage, I would have walked past her. I could have felt smugly superior to her. I would have missed out on a pleasant conversation and smiles. That would be my loss.

We recently marked Christmas. Unto us a savior was born. He would grow up and tell us to love our neighbors. That’s easy. But he said we are to love our enemies. He didn’t say to call them low IQ, fat pigs.

— Randy Krzmarzick farms on the home place west of Sleepy Eye, where he lives with his wife, Pam.