It has only been two weeks since a deranged man in Florida was apprehended after sending explosive devices to prominent Democrats and media outlets perceived to be unfair to President Trump. That same week, roughly 14 days ago, an anti-Semitic madman stormed into a Pittsburgh synagogue with a gun killing 11 people, making the incident the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in our nation’s history.
Just one of these stories should be enough to shake our society to its core. Or, at least that’s the way it used to be. It seems like these hate-fueled, politically charged attacks are a distant memory, eclipsed by the 24-second Twitterverse news cycle. The targeting of former presidents, high-ranking elected officials, and a major cable news network, plus a deadly attack on a place of worship, were overshadowed by the threat of a “migrant caravan” coming for our Southern border and of course, how everything would impact the outcome of the midterm elections.
For anyone who thought there may have been a chance at uniting the country after the election was over, think again. It is clear we are not only a nation divided; we are a nation on the brink. It’s scary.
The midterm results revealed a growing polarization of the electorate. Yes, Democrats won the House majority, but by and large because they picked up seats in areas where Hillary Clinton won in 2016 and where the population is becoming more diverse, younger, and in some cases, more well-educated. The GOP held their majority in the Senate due to Democrat incumbents losing seats in the Midwest and Republicans losing seats in the same states where the demographics seem to be favoring Democrats. No matter what party won a race, many of the contests were incredibly close and a number of them are heading to recounts. So, we have a divided Congress, a divided federal government, and a divided electorate that produced a number of extremely tight races.
No one party, no one ideology has a mandate to lead. Trust in our institutions continues to erode and the public seem to be solidified within their respective camps. Less than 10 hours after the last polls closed, President Trump held a wide-ranging press conference filled with acrimony, incendiary remarks and a continued tense relationship with the press that he describes as “the enemy of the people.”
Just as people were catching their breath from the heated press conference, Trump forced Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign, setting off a chain of events driven by both panic and politics. Now, the Democrats are on the hunt, gunning to use their newly minted House majority to protect the current Mueller investigation and set the stage for hearings in the new Congress on everything from obstruction to Trump’s finances.
The move to remove Sessions sparked nationwide protests by those who see his removal as a way for the Trump to use executive power to interfere with the delivery of justice. Protesting is fine, until it becomes assault, trespassing, or domestic terror, as it did when an antifa group showed up in front of Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s home, threatening his family – just like a disturbed man sent explosive materials to CNN because he saw their media coverage as unfair and biased. More and more Americans seem to be taking their political disagreements and escalating them into not just a war of words, but also a war of action.
We have had challenges and changes throughout our nation’s history, dark times and times of great progress. But, I feel like what we are going through right now is different. As a society, we are becoming desensitized to violence and accepting verbal attacks on social media as commonplace. Who are we becoming? Are we really headed for a future held hostage by political tribalism that stokes violence, division, and relentless antagonization? I sure hope not, but it sure is looking that way.
Our nation may be divided, but it does seem united around one commonality: most seem to be exhausted by the negativity and want our nation to come together. But oftentimes it seems like a herculean task in an environment where we have already forgotten about mail bombs and mass murders.
We should stop looking to Washington for signs of leadership and healing. We must each look to ourselves and our individual communities to lead by example. If each of us commit ourselves to have rational conversations with people we disagree with, if we stop ourselves short before hitting send on a negative social media post, if we take the time to help others and accept differences of opinion and background, maybe we can turn things around. But, without our individual actions becoming collective change, I fear we are headed towards an even darker place, and things will get way worse before they get better.
Capri Cafaro (@thehonorablecsc) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a former member of the Ohio State Senate, where she was the Senate minority leader. She is now an Executive in Residence at American University’s School of Public Affairs.
