The past few years have brought many events without clear parallels in living memory.
The1918-20 Great Influenza was not a national political issue. Wilson never said a word in public about it, though it did affect Congress. From the House historian:
October 07, 1918 On this date, the House public galleries were closed due to the severity of the Spanish influenza pandemic. According to some modern estimates, more than 50 million persons perished worldwide in the 1918–1919 outbreak; most sources attribute approximately 675,000 deaths in the U.S. alone to the Spanish flu. Washington, D.C., swollen by an influx of government workers during the First World War, was particularly hard hit.
And Trump:
- In 2016, he lost the popular vote by a larger raw-vote margin than any other president. In 2020, he became the first president since Benjamin Harrison to lose the popular vote twice in a row.
- In 2016, Trump invited foreign interference: "Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing." Within hours, the Russian military did as he asked.
- His campaign chair shared inside information with a Russian agent.
- Trump was the first president since 1976 not to release his taxes.
And Trump was the first president whom the House impeached twice.
- In 2019, for pressuring Ukraine to release dirt on Joe Biden.
- In 2021, for inciting the Capitol insurrection.
Aversive Partisanship
Just over 42 percent of the people in each party view the opposition as “downright evil.”
Each party views itself and the other:
Domestic Enemies:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
