Americans Are at War

With Ourselves

In the 1972 presidential race, Richard Nixon ran against Sen. George McGovern and won 49 states. McGovern couldn’t even carry his home state of South Dakota. Only Massachusetts voted for the Democrat.

In 1984, Ronald Reagan won 49 states against Walter Mondale. Mondale, at least won Minnesota, his home state.

Which leads me to this question: Can you name anybody in the entire United States who could run for president and win 49 states? I don’t mean in 2024; we know that’s not going to happen. But what about beyond the next election — even way beyond the next election? If there is anybody, I can’t think of who he or she is.

So here’s another question: What the heck happened to us since Nixon and Reagan?

Well, for openers, there was no internet, no Twitter, no Instagram, no TikTok, no Facebook — and there was no MSNBC or Fox News in Nixon or Reagan’s time. CNN was just getting off the ground in 1980. Whatever good cable news and social media may have done, there’s little doubt that they’ve helped polarize America. There’s a better chance that those House hearings on what we used to call UFOs will produce irrefutable evidence that aliens are right now living among us than there is the likelihood that a presidential candidate could win 49 states anytime soon, or even not-so-soon.

And nothing these days is too small to divide us. Democrats and Republicans, for the most part, don’t like the same TV shows. Liberals and conservatives can’t even come together over “Barbie,” the movie. Everything is political. Everything is “us” versus “them.”