Why Are There Such Significant Differences of Opinions & Perspectives About Donald Trump?

It’s a fact this nation is its most polarized in recent memory! Although President Trump claims this past election was a mandate, the facts are he won by the fifth smallest percentage since 1900, and while he received almost half the votes of those voting (49.8%), and VP Harris received about 48.3%, when one wins less than a clear majority, it isn’t a mandate. In fact, the largest percentage of Americans were those who, for some reason, decided not to exercise their right to vote, and there were more in that category, than voted for Trump. Clearly, this is an extremely divided and divisive political climate, and unlike in most of the past, in most instances, there is little-to-no willingness for differing officials to seek any middle-of-the-minds for the greater good. Why does it seem, even on issues some seem clear and black-and-white, do so many have such extremely differing perspectives and opinions? With that in mind, this article will attempt to briefly consider, examine, review and discuss a few areas where we see this often, and what this may mean in terms of the future of the USA as we know it.

1. Trump’s objectives, etc.: While Trump supporters believe he is needed because the country is in bad shape, and many resent what they perceive as others benefiting at their expense, his opponents view him as using a combination of vitriol, and prejudice, to appeal to his core supporters hatred, fears and xenophobia. It seems some believe, and I believe falsely, Trump’s appeal is primarily to the so-called MAGA group, but analysis of election results seem to indicate it is far-more widespread. Surveys seem to indicate about one-third of voters self-identify as MAGA, and since Trump won 49.8%, clearly others voted for him, too. The analysis becomes more challenging when one considers the eligible voters who didn’t vote, It seems more than 10 million who voted in 2020 did not do so in 2024. In fact, approximately 36% were non-participants. With less than 150 million of the more than 240 million eligible sitting it out, the election seemed to turn on the loyalty of Trump supporters, and the division among Democrats and independents. Certainly, there is a far-different perspective and opinion about Trump, which explains partly the polarization! Exit polls indicated Trump was favored by those who considered immigration, and their personal economic situation, as the most important considerations, and polls also show Trump’s messaging was far-more compelling to his supporters than Harris’ was for his opponents. Trump’s supporters believed he would fix the economy and get rid of the immigrant crisis, and young white men were his strongest voting bloc. Although fact-finders indicate Trump lies more than any public official, in recent memory, it depends on where one gets his information from, whether that mattered. For example, if you watch FOX, OAN, Breitbert, etc., the emphasis and spin is far-different from mainstream media. However, it is important to note, even the mainstream media willingly or unwillingly cooperated with Trump’s objective, which is to clearly dominate the airwaves, which is in line with the lesson Trump learned from his mentor Roy Cohen, who is said to tell Trump to deny, blame, complain, never apologize and lie if necessary, but never admit doing so. When one reads Trump’s book, Art of the Deal, we learn his strategy, which is to make grand demands, accept lesser results, and proclaim victory, regardless. We have seen this in Trump’s threats against Canada and Mexico, which at the last-minute, were postponed because Trump proclaimed they made concessions, even though a deeper-look shows the so-called concessions were already in place! Whether one likes or dislikes Trump, it should be agreed he powerful uses messaging, which appeals to his core. It is difficult to reach any nation consensus or agreement, when so much chaos is created intentionally by Trump, so many are distracted by it, and his core seems to consider his some sort of Messiah. Although many of Trump’s Executive Orders will probably be overturned by the Courts, and I believe Trump expects so, they accomplish his apparent desire to distract, while the wealthiest man in the world is his accomplice in altering this nation, perhaps forever.
2. Resentments skew perspectives: While we often discuss the MAGA influence, Trump won because so many who one might objectively have thought would oppose him, also voted for him, or didn’t vote at all! Deep resentments and fears, especially regarding influence have largely contributed to Trump’s support. Many feel the immigrants, especially those here illegally are responsible for crime spikes, despite the fact, less than 1% of immigrants commit any crimes. They’re eating the pets, resonated, despite others proclaiming it was a non-fact! Images of people of color were used to stoke fears, and create resentments, fears, hatred, prejudice and xenophobia, which proved to be effective! While Black men narrowly voted for Harris, her greatest support came from Black women. Harris narrowly won in certain age groups, but Trump dominated others. Clearly, when people don’t accept the same things as facts, and many perceive Conspiracy theories, partial out-of-context statements, and outright false facts as real facts, it is easy to understand the degree of polarization in this nation! In addition, Trump effectively pigeon-holed the Dems into unpopular positions, and the Democrats responses and rationale, didn’t resonate, perhaps largely because their messaging was awful!
3. January 6th and other Court cases: Previously, losing a sex abuse case dramatically, as well as being a convicted felon, would be disqualifying! However, Trump blamed everything on the so-called Deep State, the politicizing of the judicial system, lies, etc., while alternatively denying blame, and also saying, even if he did, a President was immune. He was a master, largely in delaying cases, and his appointments of three SCOTUS Justices, as well as loyalist Federal Judges, certainly worked in his favor! Even though, immediately after January 6th, many elected officials proclaimed how horrific those events were, as time went by, Trump’s effective use of revisionist history influenced many to take his word over what they witnessed. Even though documents, many which were secret, were discovered in his possession, Trump claimed he was the victim, and obviously did so effectively-enough to influence his supporters! When he pardoned 1500 of the January 6th Capitol invaders, including the most violent, he portrayed them as political prisoners who were actually heroes and freedom fighters, rather than convicted criminals.
4. Facts: Facts should matter, but we have disagreements about what the actual facts are! When you don’t have agreement about facts, it’s hard to come to any agreement!
5. Other factors: Some of Trump’s supporters are willing to overlook his flaws, because they seem to feel there is a need for this nation to change direction, there is too much Government waste, he is better regarding taxes (although it seems that’s mostly true for the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations), and have bought-into the woke factor! Some of his surprising supporters consider woke to be about unfairly favoring others solely because of their racial, ethnic or gender, sexual classification, while his core seem attracted to that issue more broadly, considering it an us versus them matter! Dems have lost this issue, largely, because they have not presented a message, which appeals to many! Dems believe issue such as equal rights, equal protections of the law (and from it), health being a right, free speech, and diversity matter, but Trump has benefited from using DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) as some sort of modern code for racism!

Will we ever be the United States of America, again? Will Trump’s messaging, vitriol, and blame-and-complain approach, remain powerful, or will many change their minds, because they are negatively influenced by some of his policies impacts and ramifications? With Trump and his Party now controlling all three branches of Government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), will democracy as we know it, suvive into the future? Will Climate Change denial, minimizing the need for environmental protections, an energy policy ignoring balancing with more renewable forms, alienating our traditional allies while cozying-up with strongmen like Putin, Kim, and Orban, attempting to eliminate many Government programs unilaterally, and apparently, a willingness to provide even-more tax breaks to the wealthiest (released tax proposals include higher tax for those with incomes under $360, 000 and lower for higher earners), and clearly attacking transgender, gay, binary, etc. individuals, and dimming the line where Separation of Church and State exists, etc., make this nation unidentifiable, in terms of the democratic principles we have relied on? Wake up America, but do so, with your eyes-wide-open, and avoid underestimating those with differing opinions. If we can make strides in terms of better understanding others fears and motivations, perhaps, we can reach a point, where we once again care about all, whether we agree or disagree! It seems, time may be running out!