Balz on Polarization

Dan Balz writes politics for The Washington Post and is very likely liberal, but tries to maintain the even-handed approach we once expected from real journalists. Today he writes of political polarization which the Pew Report finds is at a recent-decades high - no surprise - but Balz makes an interesting point.

The polarization highlighted in the report did not start with Trump. It has been a long time in the making.

Trump is the most polarizing president in the country's history, measured by his approval rating among Republicans vs. Democrats. But the second most polarizing was Barack Obama and the third most was George W. Bush.

This looks like a secular trend that is headed for some bad place ... insurrection, secession, civil war, Hobbes’ state of nature? The latter defined as bellum omnium contra omnes (i.e., war of all upon all).