Nobody should be harassing government officials in their private lives, obviously.
If you’re a restaurant owner I guess you have the right to refuse service to anyone - at least that’s what the little sign in the window always says - but it doesn’t mean you should ask a family to leave after you’ve seated them because you consider the mother a horrible person. I’m sure you end up feeding a lot of horrible people when you own a restaurant.
If you’re a celebrity and you don’t want to take a picture with Paul Ryan, that’s totally understandable. Those kinds of photos are meant to imply a brief camaraderie, and if you’re not feeling it, it seems reasonable to decline. But I don’t know if you accomplish anything by turning your uncomfortable encounter into an anecdote for late-night television.
Trump is a corrosive, and we see his effect in the collapse of norms and boundaries that are essential to republican government, enlightened political discourse, and everyday decency. Standing against Trump means standing up for the norms, values, and institutions that he holds in contempt.
Most fundamentally, I sometimes think, Trump threatens our traditional distinction between adult behavior and childish behavior, and perhaps there is nothing more important than maintaining our adult composure as we struggle to deal with his infantile foolishness.
We should leave the petty vindictiveness to Trump and his people. If we’re not an alternative to that, then what’s the point?