The topic is complex and has much to do with the changing face of America. Trump knew that and played on hatred for immigrants from the very beginning of his political reign. He could not even face the fact Pres Obama was born here. That refrain woke the conservative right to its basic racism even shown today with their hatred of particular congressional woman who aren't white. The book 'Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents' covers the topic well. Trump is still president in many rural areas of America, demonstrating both their ignorance and lack of American values of inclusion and acceptance. Democracy does appeal to the uneducated, it is too complex. Busy now gotta change the oil in one of our vehicles.
"The United States is exceptionally
polarized compared to other Western nations due to unique aspects of its history, culture, politics, legal institutions, religious attitudes, race relations and foreign policy. Even though divisions exist in all countries, there are far more sources and forces of polarization in America. Its polarization is also frequently over very basic issues, such as whether people should have a right to medical treatment, whether to allow unlimited spending by special interests in political campaigns, whether global warming is a hoax, whether to torture terrorists and whether people should have an unbridled right to bear arms.
Moreover, the U.S. has many other unique features within the West, including mass incarceration, the death penalty, a tendency to exempt itself from international human rights treaties, and a substantial minority of Biblical literalists who reject the theory of evolution and believe in apocalyptic prophecies."
https://news.stanford.edu/2017/04/03...ericas-divide/
"Americans are more divided than ever, gridlocked over social issues, race, gender and the economy. In this series, The Associated Press explores what divides us and how deep those divisions run."
https://www.ap.org/explore/divided-america/
I agree only in part with piece below.
'The Source of America’s Division: Not What We’ve Thought?'
https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/...-weve-thought/