America is its own undoing. Trump represents the inevitable culmination...
Trump represents the inevitable culmination of that quality which so uniquely represents the American experience, the love of simplicity, and the deep distrust even hatred of needless complexity. Strip it all bare, get to the nub of the truth, the simpler the better. Now of course this quality is ironically what has actually truly "made America great" in the past. The American Narrative is in some ways astonishingly simple, America is a place where one can be anything. It's a place to remake yourself, to live your dream, reinvent your past, create your own narrative. A place where one can be free from the dead weight and bonds of class struggles, the dead weight of history which seems to predetermine ones possibilities in the "old world". As an outsider this to me seems to define what it means to be an American, strip away all the heavy useless ornate trappings of the old, get down to the kernel, free yourself, invent yourself. And indeed this IS an aspect of America that IS great! I believe this narrative is what has driven America to become the engine of the world that it is now. In it there is this palpable sense that anything is possible, reach for the stars. I am of course aware that I'm partaking in the very same process of oversimplification in my description, I'm stereotyping America. But I think there is an important aspect of truth to what I'm saying.
But in this narrative there also lies a dangerous seed that sprouted long ago. A sprout that grew into a vine that now threatens to strangle the host. This love of simplicity and distaste for complexity is a double edged sword. It can lead to walking on the moon and it has, but it can also lead to never leaving your home. As a healthy force it's an abstract concept, a muse, any scientist, mathematician, or artist will attest to the fact that simplicity is beauty. But taken literally it's a dangerous force. Because the simple answers, while often true are not ALWAYS true. Complexity, and indeed even seemingly needless and ugly complexity has an extremely important role to play.
In its abstract it drives people to better themselves. Taken literally it drives people to feel they ARE better BECAUSE they are simple. This second narrative is the vine. It's a cancer, and it grows in the hearts of the right wing, the left wing, the democrat, and the republican. It takes the form of the love of ignorance, home spun truths are the only real truths. The salt of the earth are by this definition almost holy.
I don't need to listen to YOUR truth because in this great nation of ours the only truth is MY truth. And MY truth is simple, it's uncluttered, it's easy to understand, it explains everything, so it must be THE truth. The spirit of my nation tells me this must be so.
But of course there usually IS an objective truth and it isn't always pretty, neat, or clean. The professors in their ivory towers aren't always to be mistrusted. But those living in trailer parks aren't always ignorant either. Both are complex PEOPLE. We seem to have lost sight of the fact that we are dealing with people. And people are complex. This love of simplicity has become a love of stereotypes. And so America has a blue west and east cost and a deep red heartland and never do the twain meet. Indeed democrats on the coasts think of the red states as "flyover" country. Hicksville. Trailer Park Land. And those in the heartland no doubt picture those on the coasts sitting down to sip afternoon tea from expensive china as they chat about the new rules at the local tennis club. Or hippies getting stoned in tie dyed shirts. Don't get me wrong I count MYSELF as a member of the former group, but perhaps because I have some geographic perspective on the matter it seems clearer to me that there has to be more to it than this. I am not saying that I don't DEEPLY detest a LOT of what republicans have come to stand for, indeed most of what they have. But perhaps some of what they have come to stand for has been driven by this same process. The racism, xenophobia, sexism, hyper religiosity. And on the other side of the coin we liberals need to take a hard look at what we have come to stand for, perhaps the picture isn't as pretty as we think?
At any rate we are where we are because of this narrative. And Donald Trump is in some ways the inevitable outcome of the kind of tribalism we have descended into. A sociopath who gamed the system. A rabblerouser who rose to power by stoking the flames of our hatred for each other. Divide and conquer. And we could not be more divided.
I guess the question is now what? I don't know. We clearly need dialogue between the 2 sides. The country needs healing. But this isn't JUST a uniquely american problem although it seems to have reached a zenith there. The world over we are seeing the rise of Trump like figures. This is a dark dark path we find ourselves on. In the past roads like this have led to world wars, the fall of civilizations. Has it ever been possible to walk it back from this point?
= new reply since forum marked as read
I hope you are not because if you are I really don't have ANY hope left to cling to 
And FWY I myself am a strong atheist 
*high five*