It is a big mistake to think this is about Trump. Trump is a symptom of the dissatisfaction with the status quo not the source. Just go back and look at the reporting about how his message resonated and lead to his election.
Your comment is a great example of how to make things worse. You are asserting that "half the country" are mindless Trump cultists. This is just another version of Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" attitude.
Resolving the divisions in the American electorate needs to be a tad bit more sophisticated than asserting that 70 million people have lost their minds and aren't worth listening to. In fact if that is the type of approach taken by the Biden administration I think things will get much, much worse.
>Resolving the divisions in the American electorate needs to be a tad bit more sophisticated than asserting that 70 million people have lost their minds and aren't worth listening to
Yes. But we need to understand why so many people believe flat-out lies. SO MANY PEOPLE. What do you think is behind that? HOw do so many believe such literal NON-sense?
I say step 1: bring back the fairness doctrine. I'm baffled that Tulsi Gabbard, of all people, has been the only person to re-introduce a bill in favor of it in ~30 years since it was abandoned.
80% of Republicans believe that Biden won through fraud. Why? It's literally because Trump just started saying so. I don't think this is about Trump -- I think that there is a large group voters who are only comfortable if they are in thrall to someone (despite their constant harping about "freedom"), and Trump is the man of their moment. This is not about "dissatisfaction with the status quo" -- I'm not talking about the people who said "damn, our guy lost and we still haven't gotten rid of the Mexicans, we gotta run a better campaign next time." Those are logically sound individuals who are just ideological opponents, nothing that a society can't handle.
Let's separate the ideas of "what is the situation" and "how do we resolve the situation." When my son was a toddler he once broke down into a complete meltdown because I told him he couldn't ever be an iguana, which he had seen in a book and decided he wanted to be. Obviously, I didn't find a way to turn him into an iguana. There are ways of calming down people throes of a mental episode without creating the reality that exists only in their minds. Sure, pop a proverbial pacifier in their mouths.
I also do think that the left in particular has gotten a little too soft in terms of "every life has value." The most prominent place is in death penalty cases, where they try to avert the executions of the most heinous murderers you can imagine. The fact is, not every life has positive value to society. If someone is severely damaging society, whether it's by stabbing women in an alley or by other mechanisms, the utilitarian optimum is often for them to die. When a horde of terrorists assaults the seat of the federal government to overturn the lawfully elected government, it's not just one Ashli Babbitt that should be shot -- 75% of them should be, with the other 25% left to go spread the news that this behavior is not tolerated and you will suffer extreme consequences for attempting it.
Your comment is a great example of how to make things worse. You are asserting that "half the country" are mindless Trump cultists. This is just another version of Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" attitude.
Resolving the divisions in the American electorate needs to be a tad bit more sophisticated than asserting that 70 million people have lost their minds and aren't worth listening to. In fact if that is the type of approach taken by the Biden administration I think things will get much, much worse.