No, Donald Trump Did Not Infect America with 'Tribalism'

Tribalism is now the operative word to describe the political landscape since Donald Trump's electoral victory in 2016.

Carl Cannon, writing for Real Clear Politics on October 18, 2018, notes a new study that identifies "five American 'tribes' of voters across the country. John Della Volpe led a survey that observed two tribes of Trump voters, a group he identifies as the resistance; a group of independent "blues" and a detached group. MSNBC's Steve Kornacki wrote a book this year called The Red and the Blue: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism. In an October 2018 review, The Guardian notes of Konicki, "he lays out his thesis: the last decade of the 20th century gave rise to the tribalism and polarization that dominates [sic] American politics today."

The media experts and pundits seem to agree that American politics are now rooted in well defined tribes. As widespread as this view seems to be, I think it misses the mark.

Rush Limbaugh, in an interview with Sean Hannity, described it well. "The Washington establishment, to this day, does not understand Donald Trump. They don't understand his voters, and they are not curious to find out why. They just resent it." He continues to describe the real divide in American politics, and it has nothing to do with tribes. "It's elite versus real people. It's somebody that is fearless and willing to fight against the things that no Republican has been willing to fight against or defend."

The divide in American politics is not tribalism. It is still a binary choice. Instead of the traditional Republican versus Democrat version, we now live in a nation divided by elites and regular people.

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