From Politico, how everything became the culture war: America’s petty tribal arguments are now driving the bus on serious policy — here’s why we should worry; and America’s political tribes, 2018: A field guide to the new culture-war players of the Trump era. Political tribalism: Michelle Baddeley on the art of divide and rule. Ezra Klein on the political tribalism of Andrew Sullivan. Lambeth Hochwald interviews Steve Kornacki, author of The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism (and more). When it comes to divisive tribalism, both sides don’t do it. America’s problem isn’t tribalism — it’s racism. “Tribalism” doesn’t explain our political conflicts — the term is trendy but vacuous.
American politics could use more conflict: Decrying “tribalism” is a favorite pastime of American elites, but the real problem is the unity among them.
