America Divided

When Pelosi Ripped Trump’s Speech In Half, Was It A Harbinger Of What Is About To Happen To America During This Election?

It is a rare thing to witness a truly iconic moment happen on live television, but that is precisely what tens of millions of Americans had the opportunity to do on Tuesday night.  At the conclusion of President Trump’s State of the Union address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped her copy of Trump’s speech in half in front of a nationwide audience.  We have never seen anything like that before in the entire history of this country, but of course so many unprecedented things have taken place during Trump’s presidency.  Pelosi is claiming that she did not plan in advance to rip the speech in half, and at that moment she probably wasn’t doing much thinking at all, but it is a moment that will live in all of our memories for the rest of our lives.  Pelosi shocked the entire nation by tearing the speech in two, but more importantly I believe that her action was a perfect metaphor for what is about to happen to America.  We are more deeply divided than we have ever been, and during this election season I believe that we will see very frightening eruptions of anger and frustration all across the United States.

Nobody expected Trump and Pelosi to be friendly with one another on Tuesday night, and Trump immediately made national headlines when he refused to shake Pelosi’s hand…

Pelosi omitted the customary language about it being a high privilege and a distinct honor to introduce the president. Trump then handed the traditional copies of his speech to Vice President Mike Pence and to Pelosi, but when she reached out to shake his hand, he turned his back on her.

If you have not seen video of that moment yet, you can watch it happen right here.

Considering the fact that Pelosi has been leading the charge to impeach Trump for the last several months, it really wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t want to shake her hand.

But when Pelosi ripped up Trump’s speech in front of the entire nation right after Trump concluded his remarks, it surprised everyone.  The following comes from USA Today…

In a remarkable display, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up the text of Trump’s speech and tossed it aside before Trump had left. Pelosi later waved the ripped pieces in the air, and audience members left in the chamber and public-viewing gallery could see Trump’s prominent signature.

I think that Pelosi will later deeply regret doing that, but I also believe that it will go down as one of the most iconic moments of 2020.

Following the speech a reporter asked her why she ripped Trump’s speech in half, and this was her reply…

“Because it was the courteous thing to do… It was the courteous thing to do considering the alternative.”

So precisely what would “the alternative” have been?

I wish that somebody would have asked Pelosi that question.

Subsequently, the official White House Twitter account harshly criticized Pelosi for her unprecedented gesture…

Speaker Pelosi just ripped up:

One of our last surviving Tuskegee Airmen.

The survival of a child born at 21 weeks.

The mourning families of Rocky Jones and Kayla Mueller.

A service member’s reunion with his family.

That’s her legacy.

Of course the left was absolutely thrilled by what Pelosi did, and they can’t say enough good things about her right now.

Sadly, this is yet another example of how deeply divided we are as a nation.

When Pelosi tore those pieces of paper in half, I believe that it was symbolic of what will happen to our entire country.

In other words, I believe that it is possible that we may have just witnessed what is known as a “harbinger”.  The following is how that word is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary…

: something that foreshadows a future event : something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come

During the 2020 election season, America is literally going to be torn in half.  Right now, many Democrats absolutely hate President Trump, his family and his supporters, and that hatred is only going to intensify as we get closer to next November.

On the other side, many Republicans absolutely hate Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and all of their supporters, and that hatred will also intensify as we get closer to next November.

No matter who wins the election, the coming months are not going to be pretty.  In fact, I believe that we are about to witness the most chaotic election season in American history.

And once the election is over, a large portion of the country will not be willing to accept the result.  So I actually expect the aftermath of the election to be even worse than the election season itself.  We are on a very dangerous path, and I cringe when I think about what is coming.

To get an idea of where we stand at this moment, just consider the results of a recent Gallup survey…

According to Gallup, the 82-point partisan gap between Republican approval of the job Trump is doing (89%) and Democratic approval (7%) is the largest in the 74-year history of the poll. That gap breaks the previous record of 79 points that Trump set in his second year in office, in 2018. (Trump’s first year in office, 2017, was the sixth most partisan in history.)

But of course this trend did not begin when Trump entered the White House.

In fact, Gallup says that the “10 most partisan years in history” have all been within the past 16 years…

The 10 most partisan years in history have all occurred in the last 16 years, as measured by Gallup. Those 10 years include years from the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama as well as Trump.

“There have always been partisan gaps in ratings of president, just not to the degree seen over the past two decades,” wrote Gallup’s Jeffrey M. Jones in an analysis of the data.

No matter who wins next November, it isn’t going to heal this very deep divide.

Instead, we are about to see America ripped apart like never before.

So even though Nancy Pelosi didn’t even realize what she was doing, I think that she perfectly foreshadowed what is about to happen.

Very dark days are approaching, and the United States of America will never be the same again.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

America The Divided: Everyone Knows We Have Problems But There Is Very Little Agreement On Solutions

Argument - Public DomainA house divided against itself will surely fall.  America is more divided today than it has been in decades, and the deep divisions that are tearing us apart continue to get even worse.  In fact, a newly released Rasmussen Reports national survey discovered that 67 percent of voters believe that America is even more divided now than it was four years ago.  We are angry, we are frustrated and we love to fight with one another, but none of this strife and discord is getting us anywhere.  What most Americans can agree on is that we are facing tremendous problems as a nation.  One average of recent polls found that only 26 percent of Americans believe that this country is heading in the right direction and 63.8 percent of Americans believe that this country is heading in the wrong direction.  Unfortunately, there is very little agreement on what the solutions to our problems are.  That is where the division is.  As a nation, we no longer have a shared set of values or principles that provides a foundation for our decisions.  Everyone just kind of does whatever is right in their own eyes, and the result is chaos.  At a minimum, the U.S. Constitution was supposed to bond all of us together, but it has become clear that very few of our lawless politicians have any respect for that document at this point.  And the American people must not have too much respect left for the Constitution either, because they keep sending the very same politicians back to Washington over and over again.  Unless a miracle happens, everyone is going to keep pulling in different directions, and that is going to continue ripping our country to shreds.

The issues that divide us are countless.  The following are just a few examples…

-Illegal Immigration

-Taxes

-Obamacare

-Government Debt

-U.S. Military Intervention In Foreign Countries

-Gay Marriage

-Abortion

-Racial Relations

-Unemployment

-Shipping Our Jobs Overseas

-Cost Of Living/Inflation

-The Gap Between The Wealthy And The Poor

-Social Security/Medicare/Entitlements

-The Size And Role Of Government

-Welfare

-Political Correctness

-Sexual Morality

-Global Warming/Climate Change

-Guns/Gun Control

-Common Core

-Corporate Corruption

-Government Surveillance

-The Emerging Big Brother Police State

-The War On Drugs

-The War On Terror

-U.S. Relationship With Israel

-The Role Of Faith In Society

I could go on and on with this list, but I think that you get the point.

If you pick just about any issue on that list, there are large numbers of Americans that want to take us one way and large numbers of Americans that want to take us exactly in the opposite direction.  In many instances, both sides consider their opponents to be the epitome of evil.

Sadly, the fights that take place among those that are supposed to be on the same side are often even more disturbing.  Some of the most bitter fighting that I have ever witnessed has been between people that should be working together.  In fact, it often seems like a lot of people would rather fight others in their own “movement” than do something constructive.

And actually the establishment loves when we fight with one another.  The more divided that we are, the easier we are to control.

I am often asked if I think that there is any hope for a political solution in this country.

I wish that I could be more optimistic when I answer, but as divided as this country is right now I see absolutely no hope for a political solution on the national level any time soon.

Even though Darth Vader has a higher favorability rating than any 2016 White House contenders, it is inevitable that one of them (with the full backing of the elite) will be our next president.  And even though a few incumbents will be knocked out of Congress in 2014 and 2016, history has shown us that incumbents typically have a victory rate of more than 80 percent in election after election.

We keep sending the same jokers back to D.C. again and again and yet we continue to keep expecting different results.

Are we insane or what?

In a previous article, I noted a whole bunch of other polls and surveys that show how dissatisfied the American people have become with our government…

#1 65 percent of Americans are dissatisfied “with the U.S. system of government and its effectiveness”.  That is the highest level of dissatisfaction that Gallup has ever recorded.

#2 66 percent of Americans are dissatisfied “with the size and power of federal government”.

#3 70 percent of Americans do not have confidence that the government will “make progress on the important problems and issues facing the country in 2014.”

#4 Only 8 percent of Americans believe that Congress is doing a “good” or “excellent” job.

#5 Only 4 percent of Americans believe that it would “change Congress for the worse” if every member was voted out during the next election.

#6 60 percent of Americans report feeling “angry or irritable”.  Two years ago that number was at 50 percent.

#7 53 percent of Americans believe that the Obama administration is “not competent in running the government”.

#8 An all-time low 31 percent of Americans identify themselves as Democrats.

#9 An all-time low 25 percent of Americans identify themselves as Republicans.

#10 An all-time high 42 percent of Americans identify themselves as Independents.

Clearly the American people are sick and tired of politics as usual.

But even if we voted out every single member of Congress, who would we replace them with?

That is where not having a shared set of values and principles comes into play.

Even if we could start from scratch, the new politicians that the American people would send to Congress would not suddenly look like the founding fathers.

That is because we no longer believe in the same values and principles that they did.

Instead, an entirely new Congress would probably end up looking very much like the old Congress did.

I wish that national unity was just as easy as saying something like this: “Come on guys – let’s all just get together and agree to do what is right for the country.”

That sounds really good, but what is right for the country?

In America today, there is very little agreement about what is right and wrong anymore.

And politically, it is hard enough to get a handful of people to agree on much of anything these days, much less the millions upon millions of people that would be required to form a viable political movement.

So no, I don’t believe that there will be a political solution on the national level any time soon.  The government that we have already reflects what is in the hearts of the American people.

Until we start seeing hearts change on a widespread basis, we are not going to see any significant change in Washington.