Member-only story
The Country Is Divided. So What?
As you may have noticed, we’re living in a particularly partisan time right now. It’s cliche to talk about how divided the country is, but it’s true: everything is polarizing and everything is a culture war. This has been developing for a while, and the 2016 election pushed us deeper into the abyss of division.
Donald Trump is inherently a divisive politician. He centers his political strategy around appealing to an immovable base, often making little effort to appeal even to swing voters. The Republicans know that they have a guaranteed base of support in a way that few modern candidates have had in America. That approach breeds fervent opposition.
Democrats aren’t creating that sort of base any time soon, especially if they keep nominating Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. They are taking the safer approach of moderation, attempting to lure the swing voters who might be disenchanted with Trump’s messy, often ineffective governing.
It might work well enough this November, with the failed pandemic response syphoning votes from Trump. But political division isn’t going away any time soon. As much as Biden says he wants to unite the country, it’s very unlikely he’ll be able to do that, even if he turns into FDR the day he walks into the Oval Office.