In 1956, when I was 12 years old, our family relocated from our native New York City area to Birmingham, Alabama. It was a great experience, but let’s just say that moving there was a cultural shock. Among the adjustments I had to make was learning a new language. For a transplanted Northerner, those colorful expressions spoken in a deep Alabama drawl could be tough to follow.

One of those classic Alabama turns of phrase recently came to mind. The curious expression “a slap upside the head” is a stern warning from one’s teacher or coach of what might be ahead if you don’t get your act together. Although grammatically incorrect, the meaning was perfectly clear: Wake up! Get hot! Do better!

Last week’s nearly successful assassination of former President Donald Trump was a long-overdue rude awakening, a slap upside the head for our entire nation.

The attack on Trump is just the latest in a serious progression of festering partisanship, fierce vitriol, and intolerable violence on both sides. There was the planned assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, foiled by the FBI; the mass shooting by a politically motivated assailant targeting nine Republican congressmen and severely injuring Steve Scalise; an attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband in his own home; and the riotous assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The violence has flourished in a climate of polarized, angry politics and incendiary rhetoric — seemingly an “anything goes” green light for all those inclined to take matters into their own hands.

Wake up, folks; it’s not working. It’s time (way past time, actually) to change course.

President Joe Biden’s Oval Office plea for unity was a step in the right direction, but far too little and far too late. In his Inaugural Address nearly four years ago, Biden made a similar pitch, but since then — and until this past Sunday — he’s ignored unity entirely, instead relentlessly stirring the pot of divisiveness.

The centerpiece of the Biden presidential campaign has been convincing the electorate of the “existential” threat to the nation posed by his political opponent. Last Friday, in his widely televised campaign speech in Michigan, he painted the darkest possible picture of a second Trump presidency, using all the buzzwords — dictatorship, bloodbath, racism, end of democracy.

Meanwhile, the media piles on. Pundits routinely liken Trump to Hitler. The cover graphic on last month’s New Republic Magazine depicted Trump with a Hitler-like mustache, with the subtitle, “American Fascism.”

In his Oval Office speech, Biden cautioned against premature conjecture about the motives of the Trump shooter. But is it any wonder that such language, spoken by our government leaders and respected media figures, finds receptive minds?

It is helpful in our national healing process to acknowledge that both sides contribute to the problem. And it is certainly true that violence festers at the extremes of both Left and Right.

But make no mistake: Never in United States history has there been a political candidate — let alone a former duly elected U.S. president — subjected to the level of vilification, character assassination, active opposition (they called it “resistance” during Trump’s presidency), and outright prosecution as Donald J. Trump. Never.

And making matters worse, there are some on the Left (and particularly among media) who argue, even after Saturday’s tragedy, that Trump deserves it — he is that awful, they say, a true threat to the survival of our nation. That perception, baked in by years of political hyperbole, is unfounded and unnecessary. In last week’s column, I argued simply that if you don’t like Trump, just don’t vote for him — there’s no need to claim that he’s intrinsically evil.

What to do? While I’m skeptical of Biden’s sincerity, his Oval Office speech is on target — we must turn down the heat on both sides and find a way to find that common ground, to pull together, not apart. That’s unity.

Then again, Biden’s speech would have been more impactful had he taken on personal accountability — recognition that his own hateful rhetoric has been a problem and commitment to tone it down. And he could go further as well with overt action to reverse some of the damage his own administration has caused.

Here’s a thought: Our president surely knows that the Manhattan felony conviction of Donald Trump was a grossly unfair, politically motivated legal contrivance. The “34 felonies” are actually a single, outdated, unproven (and probably nonexistent) misdemeanor, very likely to be overturned on appeal. For that reason, he should stop referring to his competitor as a “convicted felon.” He should direct his campaign staff to do so as well, and he should urge the New York Appeals Court to set the conviction aside.

That action, along with the just-announced dismissal of charges against Trump for improper possession of classified documents — which had been yet another example of clearly unequal justice under the law (Trump’s purported violation was essentially the same as that for which Biden’s liability had been waived by the DOJ) — could surely lower the temperature.

It would be good politics as well, given that the Democrats’ lawfare campaign has backfired spectacularly. In short, it would be a win-win action benefiting both sides and a perfect response to our slap upside the head!