Is America already separated and just waiting for the divorce to be final?

I see two complete, diametrically opposed ideologies embodied by Democrats + friendly media and Republicans + friendly media. Individual Americans are increasingly forced into one camp or the other, with no room remaining to be moderate or centrist, or independent. We are all Democrats or Republicans now, and the thinking of each camp is now different on just about every issue imaginable.

Of course, this wedge has been driven deeper with the help of outside influence (Russia), but it is not due solely to that. MAGA has pulled Republicans into very extreme territory, and yet so many are perfectly willing to swallow his propaganda and believe everything he spouts. It was similar for the Democrats under Obama, though obviously Obama was not such a divisive figure and did not go to such extremes. The worst thing he ever did was try to reform healthcare, but did so in a partisan way also (because he could get no support whatsoever from Republicans). We can see in this that the deep division was already present, and that event helped make it worse. Now we have a nominal Republican president who 100x worse, dividing the country on every issue, not just a few things. The more either side tries to pull the country in its direction, the greater the separation and alienation become.

 

Teh Rushunz and Teh MAGA....teh end to us all!

 

" It was similar for the Democrats under Obama, though obviously Obama was not such a divisive figure and did not go to such extremes. The worst thing he ever did was try to reform healthcare, but did so in a partisan way also (because he could get no support whatsoever from Republicans). "

Not quite.

While Obama certainly has his fans, and he is still the most admired American in the world, his was not the cult of personality that surrounds Trump.

 

Nope, not even nearly enough for a divorce

 

I don't think America is separated -- yet. However, it will be if things keep going the same trajectory they have been in the last decade.

The problem is really social media, this forum included. Social media amplifies the divisiveness that videos, like the recent one from the Lincoln Monument, try to generate. They try to generate disgust and hate for the other side, for the sole purpose to make the own side feel like the righteous one for propaganda purposes to gain or maintain power.

Trump has tapped into this movement to advance his populist agenda.

It is up to us to let manipulators divide us, or to say no. I, for one, will start by saying that I will never post videos with the sole purpose to generate hate for the other side. If everyone on the forum could join me doing this, a baby step in the right direction would already be taken.

 

Most Trump supporters are very skeptical of the rest of the republicans in the house and senate -- who have sold conservatives out so many times it ain't funny.

Trump is the go to man.

 

I fear that we won't survive long enough for people to come around. Social media is intellectual junk food.

 

There is so much us-vs-them right now. That's what you are describing - the makings of a conflict to divide the GOP and the country in Trump's favor.

This bitter division makes the government dysfunctional. We can't even keep it open now thanks to one man and his opposition.

It's really a wonder to me that so many conservatives buy into the wall idea. It won't do what it is promised to do, and Trump wants it as a monument to himself. This much is blindingly obvious, yet political tribalism has a majority of Republicans supporting the dumb thing, no matter who is forced to pay for it. It's amazing, and alarming.

 

Without controllable borders there's no sense in having a government or a country.

 

As if the situation were anywhere near that bad. Get a grip and stop listening to the Liar in Chief.

 

No. Trump is right.

 

And that's all you've got - Trump-thumping. You sound like a creationist trying to debate.

 

I can never get a youtube link to show here. Hey, it worked!



But go to youtube "Barbara Jordan Ad MLK Day 2019"

Bush 41 was damn sure wrong. Barbara Jordan was 100% right on immigration. Trump is 100% right on immigration and the border wall.

 

Totally agree, I am 100% sure social media and consumption of political trash sites and blogs makes you dumber, not smarter -- although you may FEEL that you are more informed.

I think one thing the country needs is a presidential candidate who is a centrist and who can act as a uniter. I could see Jerrod Brown on the Dem side and John Kasich on the GOP side as candidates that many people could agree on. Of course, we know that they will be primaried out by the extremists, who are not interested in compromise and just want to divide and conquer.

 

Kasich would have to become a democrat to have any chance at all.

 

I think a more useful distinction is not between Democrats and Republicans, but between ideologues and pragmatists.

The main two Political Parties are not fundamentally different. It just seems that way because the GOP has been momentarily taken over by their ideologues. Many have turned to the Democratic Party because of ideology, but others simply because of their rejection of these ideologues.

The fact that one major political party has fallen to ideologues is the reason why our political system is currently "sick". But not irrecoverably so. Everything will return to normal once the Trump debacle is over. And the GOP will eventually be a reasonable alternative again.

 

Your Fruitloop Left would never tolerate a Centrist.

 

1000%

And gloriously incorrect on which side has fallen to ideology. But you do you ... it amounts to the same divide in the end.

 

The fruit loop ideology and denial, as we have seen above, is on the right and the GOP.

 

It depends. It depends on whether the American people who want border control, reduced legal and stopped illegal immigration, and time to assimilate the people who are already here, get a voice in Congress. Or whether the borderless left AND right continue to ignore and stymie the will of the people in this regard. If Congress continues to ignore the will of the people, we may come down to revolution and split. The same thing could be seen in the UK, with Scotland nearly declaring independence from the UK, not because they don't like being in the UK but because the Scots saw their national identity being drowned in a sea of immigrants. Brexit got the support of the majority of voters, but there was almost no one in Parliament who supported it or wanted it. Something like 85% of the American people want tighter border controls, but in Congress, there's maybe a handful of Republicans who support the idea and that's it. The Democrats want unrestricted immigration because brown people vote Democrat and the Republicans want unrestricted immigration because they are all in the pockets of big business. I'll respond to the nonsense about Trump v. Obama when I return.

 

It would be nice to see such centrists go on the offensive, preferably together.

 

Don't know about your GOP, but in my nation (and much of the west), it's the Left which has gone full ideologue. The Right remains relatively pragmatic, and its few outliers have little to no power. And zero influence in media, education, etc.

 

Is America already separated and just waiting for the divorce to be final?

Nope, but sleeping in separate bedrooms...

 

The deranged right wing (they often call themselves liberal or moderate, but that's meaningless) Democrats vs the deranged right wing Republicans in a race to the bottom of the rotten barrel...

The People have no voice, and the kleptocratic political class is running hog wild.