At 250 years, America’s (fault) lines are showing. Partisan and regional divisions now rival the most intense internal conflicts apart from the Civil War.
The escalating tension between the red and blue political coalitions is permeating almost every aspect of American life, particularly under the pile-driver pressure of Donald Trump’s polarizing and norm-breaking presidency. Even the commemoration of this momentous anniversary has split the country into the familiar antagonistic camps.
Conflict within a nation is a difficult concept to quantify, but many measures — the widening policy differences among the states; Trump’s relentless confrontations with Democratic political leaders; the virtual disappearance of bipartisan cooperation in Congress; an uptick in political violence — suggest the US is operating at the high end of the scale.
The US has faced periods of heightened friction before and — except for the Civil War — has always found ways to manage, if not necessarily resolve, its differences. But several unique aspects now point toward intensifying and unpredictable division.
Key among those is the role of Trump, who, perhaps more than any of his predecessors, has considered it in his interest to inflame the nation’s underlying disagreements. “What’s different this time is that not only are there fundamental divisions, but divisions that are being driven deliberately by the nation’s leader,” said Donald Kettl, former dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.
