The Resistance runs on rage, and understandably so. President Donald Trump is a fearsome threat to everything the left stands for: inclusion and diversity, compassion and progress. But to defeat him, many believe, liberals must act more like him: name enemies, fight dirty, and never back down.

Yet several prominent liberals spent the first year of Trump’s presidency calling for exactly the opposite as an antidote to Trumpism: more love and empathy, more civility and collaboration. New Jersey Senator Cory Booker talked about a “conspiracy of love,” which Politico dubbed “a combination of a guiding-light mantra and a permanent political slogan.” CNN host Van Jones toured the country to enlist young people in his #LoveArmy, and wrote a book, Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together. Fellow CNN commentator Sally Kohn will soon publish a book, too: The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity.

These two pundits want liberals to help heal a bitterly divided nation by softening their rhetoric about Republicans, even die-hard Trump supporters. But they also believe it’s sound politics.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to out-hate neo-Nazis or out-ugly Donald Trump,” Jones told me. “Where we disagree, we should fight. But we should fight in a way that leaves open the possibility that, where we do agree, we might be able to get something done across party lines. It’s not about either surrendering or being an asshole. You can fight with dignity and with class and with grace and continue to grow our coalition and shrink his.”

“Do you mix big solutions with small-minded, nasty rhetoric? That’s what I oppose.”

They also argue that civility is no impediment to selling ambitious progressive ideas like Medicare for All. “The question is: Do you mix big solutions with small-minded, nasty rhetoric?” Jones said. “That’s what I oppose.” Kohn agrees. “To say that you can have a politics of respect and civility is not the same thing as savoring a politics of mushy centrism,” she said. “Whatever your issue, whatever your perspective, I think you can have firmly held beliefs and advocate your beliefs in a way that respects and recognizes the fundamental humanity of those who disagree with you. I don’t see the contradiction at all.”