Analysis - First days of Trump era signal America's deepening political divide

[webfact]

Analysis - First days of Trump era signal America's deepening political divide

By Scott Malone

REUTERS

 

People gather for the Women's March in Washington. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In the blocks surrounding the White House, signs reading "Love Trumps Hate" and "Build Bridges Not Walls" littered the sidewalks on Sunday, the detritus of the Women's March protesting the policies of President Donald Trump.

 

Both Trump's supporters and women and men who took part in the massive march against him in Washington on Saturday contemplated the vestiges of protest and ruminated about the convulsive first 48 hours under the Republican president.

 

For Mary Forster, who joined her first political demonstration on Saturday, the weekend only reinforced her worries that the country was splitting further apart after a bitter election.

 

"I feel like we're getting driven farther apart," said Forster, a 42-year-old environmental regulation specialist from Ithaca, New York. "There really is no middle any more. We seem to be losing the middle ground."

 

She has voted both Democratic and Republican in the past but was motivated to march by concerns over the comments and policies of businessman-turned-politician Trump, many of which are seen by the left as harmful to women and minorities.

 

Like Forster, millions of women, buttressed by male family members and friends, joined marches throughout U.S. cities in a much larger-than-expected challenge to Trump.

 

"There used to be more things that unified us and now I feel like we are more divided than we used to be," Forster said.

 

It is a view widely held by Americans. A Pew Research Centre poll released on Thursday showed that 86 percent of Americans believed the country was more politically divided than it had been in the past, sharply higher than the 46 percent who held that view eight years ago, just before former President Barack Obama's inauguration.

 

Democrats and Republicans concurred in their view of the division, a marked change from 2009 when more than half of Republicans thought the country was becoming more divided, compared to about four in ten Democrats.

 

For many observers, the split is likely to be exacerbated by Trump, who stunned both parties with his Nov. 8 victory and has made his mark in world politics with blunt, often offensive speech.

 

"Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?" Trump said on Twitter on Sunday morning. He added a conciliatory note: "Even if I don't always agree, I recognise the rights of people to express their views."

 

Most of the dozens of march participants interviewed by Reuters said they had voted for his Democratic rival, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The largest marches were in states that had voted for Clinton, like California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

 

Trump's inaugural speech on Friday offered little in the way of unifying messages.

 

He appealed directly to his supporters, painting a bleak picture of "American carnage" - a country filled with rusted factories and plagued by crime and vowed, "from this day forward it's going to be only America First."

 

The grim vision of America the 70-year-old president often evokes is belied by statistics showing low levels of unemployment and crime nationally. But Trump won many votes in parts of the nation where manufacturing industry has been badly hit and people feel left behind in the recovery.

 

'CONGRESS MAKES IT WORSE'

 

Republican domination in Washington suggests partisan divisions will only grow deeper, at least over the next two years until the next congressional elections.

 

"There is no question that Trump has exacerbated the divisions that already existed in the United States, on important issues from national security to civil rights to climate change," said Wendy Schiller, a professor of political science at Brown University.

 

"Dividing the country is a recipe for winning elections but it is not a recipe for successful government."

 

With Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress they will have little to no need to reach across the aisle. Democrats also may prefer to simply rail against Republican proposals rather than compromise, to better rile up their base supporters for the mid-term elections, political observers said.

 

"The ideology of congressmen in the Democratic party is to the left of rank-and-file Democrats and the same is true on the Republican side, they are to the right," said Jeffrey Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University outside Boston.

 

"Congress makes it worse. It is not a moderating force."

 

Trump supporters questioned the rationale of launching such large protests on his first full day in office, before he had much time to take policy actions.

 

"They are not giving him any time. They are just presuming that he is going to do a bad job," said Kimberley Morgan, a 54-year-old laid-off teacher from Alabama.

 

Morgan had supported Ben Carson in the Republican primaries but voted for Trump after the retired neurosurgeon dropped out.

 

She resolved to wear her Trump baseball cap as she rode the subway into downtown Washington on Sunday morning with her family, a gesture she had decided against on Saturday due to the march.

 

"People presume all these things about you because you voted for Trump. People presume that you are racist. We are not racist," said Morgan. "It's hard to listen to people when they are screaming at you."

 

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Kieran Murray and Mary Milliken)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-01-23

[taichiplanet]

the Thai PM is only a phone call away to give advise on how he solved this problem!

[wwest5829]

2 hours ago, taichiplanet said:

the Thai PM is only a phone call away to give advise on how he solved this problem!

 

I did hear someone suggest that perhaps the Thai model would be best to keep protestors (rioters) in line. Noy surprising as this is a leaning of some in the US that see the country under attack and thus supportive of increasing military spending (already 57 % of discretionary spending), gathering of intelligence domestically (without need for independent court warrant), etc. I am more concerned with the call for a Big Brother government and the loss of civil liberties ... it does raise the question, in my mind, as to what we are defending.

[Dagnabbit]

The libs will get over it. They have short attention spans.

[Guest]

This is just the start. The following will happen.

[JXCutter]

What's really going to happen is the narcissistic left wing fascists are going to continue to lie and also claim that they are highly represented when they are not.  That was proved in the election.  It is not only real bad it has been real bad for a long time.  And it won't get any better until the liberals figure out that the world does not revolve around them and their self serving agenda.

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, JXCutter said:

What's really going to happen is the narcissistic left wing fascists are going to continue to lie and also claim that they are highly represented when they are not.  That was proved in the election.  It is not only real bad it has been real bad for a long time.  And it won't get any better until the liberals figure out that the world does not revolve around them and their self serving agenda.

Once again, another ;poster who seems oblivious to the fact that the candidate of the "narcissistic left wing fascists" got more votes than Donald Trump.

[pitrevie]

3 minutes ago, JXCutter said:

What's really going to happen is the narcissistic left wing fascists are going to continue to lie and also claim that they are highly represented when they are not.  That was proved in the election.  It is not only real bad it has been real bad for a long time.  And it won't get any better until the liberals figure out that the world does not revolve around them and their self serving agenda.

 

Would that be one of those "alternative facts?"

[avvocato]

4 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Once again, another ;poster who seems oblivious to the fact that the candidate of the "narcissistic left wing fascists" got more votes than Donald Trump.

Nearly 3 MILLION more votes.

[Thakkar]

5 minutes ago, pitrevie said:

 

Would that be one of those "alternative facts?"

 

Trumpsters are all quoting from this book now:

 

.

[Buckwheat Flour]

22 minutes ago, pitrevie said:

 

Would that be one of those "alternative facts?"

Sounds like you might also have a few alternative facts up your sleeve.......

[chilli42]

46 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Once again, another ;poster who seems oblivious to the fact that the candidate of the "narcissistic left wing fascists" got more votes than Donald Trump.

 

I am no fan of Trump but the margin of difference in popular vote was small and Dem wins were in a small number of populous states while Trump wins were convincing in widely distributed states.  My point is that there is a large social divide based on politicsl belief, geography, etc.  In my view, neither party can lay claim to representing what the majority of Americans want ... though Trumps win was a clear and convincing political win by the rules.  The GOP now rules the roost at the federal and state level.  Looking backward is useless.  Protesting against Trump is futile.  Antagonizing Trump voters is counter productive.  What is needed are new leaders who can mobilize voters from both parties against an agenda that channels the energy and anger to shape a better future. 

[Diplomatico]

56 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Once again, another ;poster who seems oblivious to the fact that the candidate of the "narcissistic left wing fascists" got more votes than Donald Trump.

 

  Once again another poster who is disingenuously quoting statistics that do not determine how the United States electoral system selects a President. 

 

  Will you next argue that the Cleveland Indians should  have been delcared the winner of the World Series because they scored more runs in the World Series than did the Chicago Cubs (27-25)?  Or did the Cubs win the World Series, 4 games to 3 games? 

 

  It isn't the total number of votes that determines the outcome - as you well know.

[pitrevie]

12 minutes ago, Diplomatico said:

 

  Once again another poster who is disingenuously quoting statistics that do not determine how the United States electoral system selects a President. 

 

  Will you next argue that the Cleveland Indians should  have been delcared the winner of the World Series because they scored more runs in the World Series than did the Chicago Cubs (27-25)?  Or did the Cubs win the World Series, 4 games to 3 games? 

 

  It isn't the total number of votes that determines the outcome - as you well know.

 

I don't think anyone could argue with that, well that is unless your name was Trump who in 2012 when it looked as if Romney had won the popular vote but would lose the electoral college unleashed a barrage of tweets doing just that. 

[DoctorB]

It's interesting that the picture shows someone waving a banner referencing a fictional magical character from a rather silly childrens' book (Dumbledore). It sums these people up rather well. Perhaps the power of fictional magic is all they have left.

[ilostmypassword]

9 minutes ago, DoctorB said:

It's interesting that the picture shows someone waving a banner referencing a fictional magical character from a rather silly childrens' book (Dumbledore). It sums these people up rather well. Perhaps the power of fictional magic is all they have left.

Of course, on the other hand, Trump supporters have their fictional literature as well. I believe it's called Breitbart.com

[uptheos]

The only divide is coming from sour grape eating left wing progressives, who know their games are over. The rest of the country just want to go to work.

[ilostmypassword]

2 minutes ago, uptheos said:

The only divide is coming from sour grape eating left wing progressives, who know their games are over. The rest of the country just want to go to work.

You mean by the rest of the country the minority who voted for Trump?

[elgordo38]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

"Dividing the country is a recipe for winning elections but it is not a recipe for successful government."

And there you have it. 

[uptheos]

3 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

You mean by the rest of the country the minority who voted for Trump?

 

Don't those who didn't vote for him also want to go to work.

Or isn't it welfare cheque day?

[ilostmypassword]

5 minutes ago, uptheos said:

 

Don't those who didn't vote for him also want to go to work.

Or isn't it welfare cheque day?

It's truly bizarre. On the one hand Trump supporters accuse his opponents of being wealthy limousine liberals and the like. But when they turn out in huge numbers, they become welfare clients.

[uptheos]

Chill out man, you're wound up tighter than a cuckoo clock.

Things are going to happen, some people will like, some

people will not. Its out of our hands right now, so chill ou,

grab a nice cold beer and relax for a while, I'm sure you're

a very nice guy just difference of opinions. Take it easy TIT

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, uptheos said:

Chill out man, you're wound up tighter than a cuckoo clock.

Things are going to happen, some people will like, some

people will not. Its out of our hands right now, so chill ou,

grab a nice cold beer and relax for a while, I'm sure you're

a very nice guy just difference of opinions. Take it easy TIT

Why is it that the people who are wound up the most tightly, accuse others of this fault. That's an issue for psychologists, I guess. But anyway, I just looked up your comments and here is the latest one apart from the one here:

"Who outside Germany actually gives a toss what happens. Let them go to the little fat lady, I'm sure he has a plan and if it's as good as the last one, Lord have mercy on 'real' Germans. "

I guess you don't have much use for your own advice.

[uptheos]

Just now, ilostmypassword said:

Why is it that the people who are wound up the most tightly, accuse others of this fault. That's an issue for psychologists, I guess. But anyway, I just looked up your comments and here is the latest one apart from the one here:

"Who outside Germany actually gives a toss what happens. Let them go to the little fat lady, I'm sure he has a plan and if it's as good as the last one, Lord have mercy on 'real' Germans. "

I guess you don't have much use for your own advice.

 

Are you stalking me?

[uptheos]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

Why is it that the people who are wound up the most tightly, accuse others of this fault. That's an issue for psychologists, I guess. But anyway, I just looked up your comments and here is the latest one apart from the one here:

"Who outside Germany actually gives a toss what happens. Let them go to the little fat lady, I'm sure he has a plan and if it's as good as the last one, Lord have mercy on 'real' Germans. "

I guess you don't have much use for your own advice.

 

I don't have much use for Angela Merkel's policies.

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, uptheos said:

 

I don't have much use for Angela Merkel's policies.

So that justifies calling her a little fat lady.  Trump gets the supporters he deserves.

[uptheos]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

So that justifies calling her a little fat lady.  Trump gets the supporters he deserves.

 

She IS a little fat lady lol, with no sense of dress.

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, uptheos said:

 

She IS a little fat lady lol, with no sense of dress.

I guess i will have to use small words for you. What does how she looks or dresses have to do with the issues? If she looked like Trump's wife, would that make what she does better?  Glad to see you judge women on their merits and not on how they look.

[uptheos]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

I guess i will have to use small words for you. What does how she looks or dresses have to do with the issues? If she looked like Trump's wife, would that make what she does better?  Glad to see you judge women on their merits and not on how they look.

 

What are Merkel's merits?

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, uptheos said:

 

What are Merkel's merits?

You don't seem able to get it. Whatever her merits or demerits may  be, her physical appearance is irrelevant. Except, of course, to someone who has problems with women.