Trump's deadly polarization of America

[Nevilledog]

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MSNBC
@MSNBC
Opinion | @speechboy71: The vaccine fight, rather than an outgrowth of Trump’s divisive presidency, is just another example of how polarization is not just transforming American society — it’s literally killing people. - @MSNBCDaily

Opinion | Trump’s deadly polarization of America
In post-Trump America, political affiliation is now directly tied to life expectancy.
msnbc.com
10:12 AM · Jul 4, 2021

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/happy-4th-july-america-stop-letting-polarization-kill-you-n1273068?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

As the nation celebrate its 245th birthday, it is increasingly and depressingly clear that America is becoming two very different countries: a blue one and a red one, with little in shared identity and vastly different health and economic outcomes.

Polarization is not just transforming American society — it’s literally killing people.

The cleavages in American society have become so extreme that where one lives and how one votes increasingly has life and death consequences. And no recent issue better exemplifies this phenomenon than the growing red state/blue state divide over Covod-19 vaccinations. The vaccine fight, rather than an outgrowth of Trump’s divisive presidency, is just another example of how polarization is not just transforming American society — it’s literally killing people.

In June, the White House announced that the U.S. will not hit President Joe Biden’s goal of getting 70 percent of American adults to receive at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine before July 4th.

So far, only 18 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have surpassed the 70 percent marker for vaccinations. They all have one thing in common: Every one of them supported Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

*snip*

[WarGamer]

1. I disagree with the premise of the article.

Trump is the SYMPTOM of what's wrong with this country.

He's not the cause or the catalyst.

He's the "poster boy" for the problem but the problem existed long before him.

[GoodRaisin]

2. Fox News is dividing the country.

And, other leading RW social media.

The propagandists are the dividers.

[WarGamer]

3. certainly...

But they're preaching to the choir, not creating the division.

There's just a cultural split in this country that will never be fixed.

We'd be better off going the way of Yugoslavia at this point.

[GoodRaisin]

4. The cultural divide has always been there.

Fox is stoking the flames, and in the process taking in new ignorants every day, spreading fear.

[misanthrope]

8. Ever read Colin Woodard's "American Nations"?

It's an excellent book that coalesces half a millennium of American history characterized by extant cultural fractures into a relatable and readable form. He has a 10th anniversary edition due out this year with an updated epilogue.

[sheilahi]

9. agree

Totally agree. Have you tried even talking to one of these Fox watchers? After about 2 minutes they immediately turn into a Tucker Carlson. I avoid Fox like the Black Plague and apparently I'm going to have to avoid their sheep too. I always go away mad and my blood pressure can't handle stupidity.

[Moon_Dog]

10. May be semantics but

I would respectfully argue that he is a catalyst (a person or thing that precipitates an event) if we agree what happened on 1/6. Ask yourself; Would they have done same without his rhetoric?

[WarGamer]

11. I think they've been capable all along...

These militant nationalists have been doing their thing since the 90's at least...

Trump was the first to 1) hear them 2) give them a voice

But without Trump, there were still McVeighs, etc...

I think it's too complimentary to call Trump the "leader of a movement"

The movement has been there for decades. Trump is just the figurine they worship. He's the statue, the golden calf.

When Trump goes away, they'll find someone else. The REAL danger is a "leader" who can simultaneously pull off the sane person/Trumpist thing at the same time.

I'll go out on a limb and say Trump has probably been a SETBACK for their movement because he's made them look like FOOLS.

Maybe that's why Kristol and Schmidt, etc... are so upset. They wanted Neocon Empire and got Clown Show.

[Moon_Dog]

13. Agreed

The real question may be who or which was the true catalyst? Was there none? Was it a self serving, perpetual closed loop? Probably moot. By most people's definition TFG was no leader, of anything. If they do find a more intelligent, persuasive leader we will have serious problems.
Neo-cons certainly set the stage if not more sedately. Their groundwork became the platform for what we see now. One thing leads to another. One could go back to the German American Bund or even the John Birch Society as well. Some of which were certainly militant. That much has always been there in our society.
I would say those more militant factions, with those extreme ideologies, presently have become more concentrated and consolidated since the TFG was elected. Maybe more on a unified single task or message. TFG may have just been using the rise as a political thermostat. They may have ridden his wave as well.
Some are Fools, some not so much. Maybe a setback. I see them a lot, here in Montana the militants. It has always been a thing. Them playing at Army being who they are. Never took them too serious. The difference now, they look like they are training for a war. They walk and talk it. These guys are not the fat, dorky guys in camo that show up in news reports. Little more serious. I see them out there, in the backwoods, drilling like special forces.

[totodeinhere]

14. Yes Trump is responsible for the 1-6 mayhem.

But that was just one consequence of the polarization that existed even before Trump came along. I think the roots of the polarization go all the back to Nixon's southern strategy.

[uponit7771]

5. Moscow Major McCarthy are enabling Trump's division get rid of him get rid of the division focus

... then start some type of consortium to make the right wing media extremist

[totodeinhere]

6. Trump is a symptom of our polarization, not the cause of it.

This country was polarized long before Trump came along and it will remain polarized long after his is gone.

[roamer65]

12. That is exactly right.

Started under Raygun. Dump was and is still driving a wedge into the divide and exploiting it.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. At this point

we're at the flip side of Jared's original prognosis for the path of the fallout. No, I don't like it, or like thinking like it, but it may yet give the mainstream an edge.