Partisan Rancor Has Never Been So Dangerous
Even during a pandemic, the right kind of disagreement can be productive. This is the wrong kind.
This is not the way.
Photographer: Alex Scott/BloombergEven in the era of Donald Trump, Americans might have hoped that a national emergency as grave as the coronavirus pandemic would bring the country together. It hasn’t happened. Partisan rancor is as bad as ever. As people debate how quickly to lift the current restrictions, it shows signs of getting worse.
Across the country, an unnerving political divide has opened among public officials about how to revive shuttered economies. Congress has passed much-needed relief measures, but partisanship slowed the process needlessly. One study found that no variable better predicted how Americans would respond to the virus than political affiliation; even an incipient protest movement is being propelled by ideology.