Losing (Middle) Ground

Photo credit: Aaron Kittredge

I spend a lot of time worrying about political polarization. My latest novel, Burner, is about political polarization. My next novel is also about political polarization. Though I did not intend it to be the focus of this blog, here too I find myself compelled to write about political polarization often—particularly leading up to an election with politically polarizing messages dominating our airwaves, mailboxes, inboxes, news feeds, and SMS apps.

One of the paradoxical aspects of writing about political polarization is it can often feel like doing so exacerbates the problem. Partisans on both sides naturally feel it is the other side causing the polarization. The problem that creates is that polarizing behavior isn’t challenged. To even point out misleading, abusive, or outright reckless rhetoric by a candidate is immediately dismissed as biased. Rationalizations like “both sides are just as bad” or “all politicians lie” or “the media are biased” are wielded to justify the most outrageous and polarizing claims (see Springfield, Ohio), but ultimately have the effect of diminishing our faith in democracy and truth itself.

That said, at the risk of sounding biased, the blunt reality is Donald Trump is the most polarizing political figure, perhaps in American history.

In fact, nobody else is really close. Presidential scholars regard Trump as more polarizing than Nixon or Clinton—even more than Lincoln, who presided over a civil war. Trump is polarizing not only between parties, but within his own party. Within his own administration. Within prior GOP administrations. Within his own family. Trump’s very existence is defined by polarization. He pathologically vilifies his enemies, real or perceived. His divisive rhetoric knows no restraint. To vote for him is to advance the fractures in our country.

I understand the temptation to simply vote by party allegiance. If Biden had not dropped out of the race, I probably still would have voted for him because I largely agree with his agenda, policies, and people running his administration. In a normal election with a normal candidate, I would have no problem with a Republican voter who toes the party line. I can even understand single-issue voters, most commonly anti-abortionists or proponents of high-income tax cuts, who may disagree with much of what Trump represents, but vote for him to achieve that single issue. In 2016 or even in 2020, I wouldn’t have begrudged these voters for voting based on their principles, even if those are principles to which I am deeply opposed.

We are well past that point with Donald Trump.

With just over a month until the election, this is my final plea for anyone still inclined to vote for Trump to reconsider your choice. Not out of partisanship, but a desperate hope for the opposite: a return to centrism and civility in our politics. Of course, I encourage you to vote. Vote for every single Republican up and down the ballot. Just abstain from voting for Trump.

You may think Kamala Harris is too liberal. You may find her position on certain issues objectionable. But she is the only candidate even trying to reach across the aisle, trying to be a president for all Americans, trying to govern the whole country. If you evaluate her positions with intellectual honesty, she is a moderate—far more so than a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren on the left. But even if you can’t cast your ballot for her, just don’t cast it for Trump.

Although cloaked in patriotic bunting, spoken up by exuberant cable news hosts, and propelled by internet memes, Donald Trump, we all know deep down is simply unfit for office. A vote for Trump is a vote for chaos, for dysfunction, for division, for polarization. Maybe that’s what you think you want—a take-no-prisoners, scorched-earth battle against the deep-state liberal elites. But that’s the rhetoric of polarization. That’s the narrative exploited to rile up the base. That’s not what our country needs. We need to come together. We need to govern from the middle, recognize all that we have in common. We need to believe in truth, justice, and our institutions.

Politics in this country cannot degrade into a WWE-style blood sport, waged by extremists with “Fuck Biden” flags on their pickup trucks (or, on the other side, shouting down and canceling conservative speakers). If you vote for Trump, you are part of that mob. You are willfully ignoring reality. Turning a blind eye on a defeated president who would incite an insurrection at our Capitol rather than give up power. Pretending his conviction on 34 felony counts and indictments for election interference and document handling are somehow meaningless. Disregarding the people closest to him who decry from first-hand experience his incompetence, corruption, and autocratic tendencies.

If you believe in our Constitution, if you are a true conservative, I urge you to regain your moral compass and purge this man from the Republican party. Stop being against everything and be for something. Stop doubling down on what is dividing our country, and start helping to regain a common ground. Doing so requires compromise from both sides, but it is also the definition of democracy.