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So much for unity not that it was ever a probability after the election of Donald Trump.

Trump did his share to undermine it. Before he took office, he managed to get into a pointless battle with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the civil rights icon; alarm European allies and irritate adversaries like China.

It was enough to give dozens of Democrats an excuse to refuse to attend the inaugural. But Trump is not the only reason for the toxic divisions.

Why Hillary Clinton lost the presidential election is still being hotly debated. But to those of us who arent in the Washington bubble or members of the media or government elite, it continues to become clearer with every week that passes.

Let us count the ways.

Start with the absurd claim that liberals are big supporters of diversity and thats why they have to attack conservative Trump voters. No. Liberals are enemies of diversity.

Sure, they practically demand quotas on things like gender, gender identity, race, sexual preference and ethnic background. But that kind of surface diversity is the only kind they will tolerate. Alleged liberals are contemptuous and hostile to a diversity of thought or belief.

Before the election, Clinton famously called half of Trump supporters a basket of deplorables. Not the best line for somebody who said she was going to campaign for every vote.

But she was only reflecting how her supporters feel that those who dont pledge allegiance to their agenda are knuckle-draggers.

The litany of insults became so common that it became a badge of honor. Clinton opponents turned it into an acronym: SIXHIRB sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist and bigoted.

As Clinton and President Obama said a number of times, those who disagree with them are not who we are as Americans.

Got that? You dont belong in America. No wonder the heartland was willing to vote for anybody but Hillary.

Then there is arrogance. Obama campaigned and got media coverage for Hillary on the theme that I will not be on the ballot, but everything weve done is going to be on the ballot.

After Trump won, he said, I believe that we have better ideas. But I also believe that good ideas dont matter if people dont hear them.

Didnt hear them? When they were on the news every night? In his view, its impossible for anyone with a brain to disagree with him if they listen to him.

I witnessed that mindset multiple times at the local government level. People would come before a city council seeking something and if they didnt get their way they would insist that the council members didnt listen to us.

In Obamaworld and Clintonworld, the thinking is the same. They dont believe it is possible to hear what they are saying, consider it, then reject it.

Perhaps it is Obama, Clinton and their supporters who are not listening.

Progressives view cultural conservatives not as people with valid opinions but as an unenlightened alien species that needs to be told how to vote or not allowed to vote.

That arrogance trickles down to social media. Liberals talk about how divisive conservatives are, but more of them unfriend Facebook friends who defend Trump than the other way around.

There is incivility. They complain that Trump is not civil, and most of the time theyre right. But they are as ugly or worse than he is.

Slate columnist and CBS analyst Jamelle Boule wrote: There is no such thing as a good Trump voter. People voted for a racist who promised racist outcomes. They dont deserve your empathy.

Check out the video of the woman who threw a toddler-level tantrum when members of Wisconsins Electoral College delegation met to certify the results for Trump.

You sold out our country, the woman screamed. Every one of you, youre pathetic. You dont deserve to be in America. This is my America! This is MY America!

I hope those two, and thousands of others, remembered to pick up their Love Trumps Hate signs after expressing themselves with the kind of dignity and compassion they claim to be all about.

And then there is hypocrisy: Recall how Clinton supporters, confident that she would win, worried aloud that the loser would contest the results and undermine not just confidence in the system but democracy itself? They were right. It just wasnt Trump.

Film propagandist Michael Moore, cinemas most successful purveyor of fake news, offered to pay the $1,000 fine for any faithless Republican elector who would vote against the will of the majority in his or her state. Moore is worth an estimated $50 million.

Imagine the reverse that Clinton lost the popular vote but won on electoral votes, and a conservative multimillionaire offered to cover the fines of any electors who voted against her.

Remember how ferocious they were about how the Supreme Court needed a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia? Now they say they are prepared to block any high court nominees for perhaps all of the Trump presidency.

There is more, but you get the idea. America is divided deeply divided. But it is not all the fault of Trump or his supporters.

Read more from the original source:
Taylor Armerding: Liberals also to blame for political divide - Joplin Globe