We seriously need to start pushing back on this Divided America Trope. It is absolute propaganda.
America is more divided than ever.
Wrong. there are a lot of antisocial criminal elements in a America. Though the problems do get more aggravated, there are far fewer violent crimes, political or otherwise per capita than ever before
The American Congress is frozen by Partisanship.
At least mostly true. But it doesn't really represent as new state of affairs, it least not in the last decade or so.
We're headed for a civil war
Maybe; there certainly seems to be an element that wants one, and a revolution in government. But they have proven to be a relatively tiny, if startling, sliver of of the population, the military, and the police. At least, when the chips came down.
I think that this is a media narrative that feeds on itself in two ways. The first being that it is an insidious 'both sides' framing of the state of affairs. The Democratic party is not just another flavor of political party; the GOP Republicans are not just another flavor of political party. The fact is, the Republican party can be shown to be composed of two basic types of people: those being charged with felonies, and those trying to protect or defend them from those charges, often becoming tainted with their crimes.
The democratic party is the other half of a previously functional government (I'm being generous here) that has been left holding the bag while the other party turns to crime, conspiracy, and the craft of procedural sabotage.
This has all been predicated on the moral tenets of a religion that they neither understand nor practice, and that has opened the door to nationalist authoritarianism and outright fascism as they have been emboldened and supported by the most most crass and self serving of the evangelical 'personality' churches out there.
There's no denying that some are really far gone, nor that that element hasn't been here all along, hiding in the back. The litmus test for many of them will end up being whether or not they surrender.
@sparseMatrix
Yeah, we can't legislate (nor prosecute) thoughts & opinions. Only actions.
Well, the GOP surely had members of a fascist bent all along. But those elected to national office had not acted in a fascist way often. But once Obama was POTUS, McConnell couldn't abide acting non-fascist anymore. And it all went nuts.
So yeah. We're absolutely very divided, more than any time since the Civil War. Fascist *actions* of *elected* dudes is why.