Washington Examiner / Magazine
November 3, 2020 Issue
November 3, 2020 Print Edition
Cover Story
Tribalism as survivalism
In the course of three years I just spent on the road speaking with voters about President Trump, what surprised me the most was how few people have actually changed their minds about him. With rare exceptions, those I spoke with who supported him on Election Day 2016 still support him today, and the same is true of those who opposed him. That’s not to say that people’s views of the president have not changed. But where they have changed, the change has all been in one direction — toward a more extreme and more deeply entrenched conception of the president. This is the product of the increasingly tribalistic nature of American politics. Tribalism is predicated on group loyalty, but in the political sense, I found it has two other prominent features. The first is negative partisanship, the concept that when people support a candidate, they are driven more by opposition to his or her opponent. Second, it is one factor in the country’s partisan sorting — some choose where to live based on politics. Political tribalism in America, then, can be less about affinity and belonging and more about fear or antagonism. When it comes to Trump and our current politics, tribalism manifests itself in an inability to acknowledge any nuance when assessing the president or his policies. On my trips, I found political tribalism was just as common among Trump’s critics. Some on...

Stories that matter—told with clarity and conviction.

Your Land

Word of the Week: ‘Literatures’
Magazine - Your Land
Word of the Week: ‘Literatures’
In 2016, a heroic snob in the European Commission got fed up, it seems. This person, Jeremy Gardner,...
Then and Now: Pseudonym
Magazine - Your Land
Then and Now: Pseudonym
Last week, Miles Taylor, the former deputy chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, outed himself...
Pandemic fatigue
Magazine - Your Land
Pandemic fatigue
As coronavirus cases begin to rise once again across the country, many officials are beginning to ask: How...
Inside the virtual classroom
Magazine - Your Land
Inside the virtual classroom
As most parents know by now, distance learning is not easy. There are technological challenges, time constraints, and...
Magazine - Your Land
Finishing the race
Believe it or not, marathons used to be an interactive and exciting experience for those competing — and for those cheering them on. But that was before the...

Business

Joe Biden’s potential war against the South
Business
Joe Biden’s potential war against the South
Joe Biden has said he wants to be president of all the states and doesn’t see...
Business owners fret new coronavirus lockdowns
Business
Business owners fret new coronavirus lockdowns
Business owners are worried that recent spikes in coronavirus infections across much of the country could...

Washington Briefing

Magazine - Washington Briefing
Presidential and congressional campaign spending will smash records
So much for less money in politics. The combined spending for the 2020 presidential and congressional...
Energy and Environment
Trump appointee becomes leading climate problem solver
Neil Chatterjee, a Kentucky Republican, used to be known as Mitch McConnell’s coal guy, eager to...
Magazine - Washington Briefing
Trump signs law that makes hacking election systems a federal crime
President Trump has signed into law a bill that makes hacking election systems a federal crime,...
Magazine - Washington Briefing
‘Judges are for life’: The Trump court transformation
Amy Coney Barrett makes three. That’s the number of Supreme Court justices President Trump has successfully...
Letter from editor
Democrats discover ‘rigged’ elections
Remember when it was bad to describe elections as “rigged?” Such terminology was Exhibit A, proving President Donald Trump’s anti-democratic...

Stories that matter—told with clarity and conviction.