Civil War

by Neal Gabler:  That Jan. 20 and Jan. 21 dramatized is a tale of two countries: Trump’s and the anti-Trump’s. There is a wide and, I think, unbridgeable division between the two, but they are not divided along the lines of authenticity, salt of the earth versus the sea salt of the earth. There is a vigorous and vehement minority, full of grievance and self-righteous rage, most of them clustered in the South and rural America, most of them loving Trump not because he promises to roll back globalization and automation and immigration to give the petulant better jobs, but because he promises to roll back every social and cultural advance this nation has made.

Then there is a less vigorous, less vehement majority, mainly on the coasts and in cities and suburbs, most of them detesting Trump because he is a moral vacuum and a threat to the slow progress this country has made in so many areas, but who really couldn’t begin to countenance that something like this could happen to their country. Trump was the victor of complacency.

These two Americas are now engaged in a civil war. Jan. 20 and Jan. 21 were each side’s declaration. If there is any good news as we head to battle it is that the majority may be complacent no longer.