America Divided

Ryan Haylett

Ever scroll your feed and think, “When the hell did it get this bad?” I’m talking screaming matches on the Capitol steps, families cutting each other off over votes, Thanksgiving dinners turning into Cold Wars. Feels like the country’s split in two and we’re just picking teams.

Ryan Haylett

And sure, America’s always argued—that’s basically our national sport. But this level of polarization? It’s newer than people think. The late 20th century is where the fuse really got lit. Newt Gingrich in the ‘90s telling Republicans to treat Democrats like enemies, the rise of cable news turning politics into pro wrestling, Rush Limbaugh yelling in your car every afternoon. That stuff was gasoline on the fire.

Ryan Haylett

Then the 2016 election came along and smashed whatever guardrails were left. Trump blew up the old rules, weaponized division, and turned neighbors into enemies. 2020? Pandemic, mail-in ballots, “stop the steal”—that just poured concrete over the cracks. And no, it’s not just a Trump thing. If you caught our “forgotten presidents” episode, you know division’s been an American disease before. The lead-up to the Civil War proves we’ve been here, in different ways, long before Twitter. But right now it feels existential. Like we’re not just fighting about policy—we’re fighting about what America even is.

Ryan Haylett

It’s not just elections and party lines anymore, either. The divide’s spread into a full-blown culture war. Suddenly every part of life—what beer you drink, what movies you watch, what books are in your kid’s school library—is treated like a battlefield. It’s exhausting. Culture used to be something that united people, even across politics. Now it’s weaponized. It’s another front line in the war of “us” versus “them.”

Ryan Haylett

Here’s the ugly truth: social media’s made it worse. Algorithms don’t want you thoughtful, they want you pissed off and scrolling. They feed you your own opinions on repeat until you think anyone who disagrees must be insane. That’s the “echo chamber.” Post a couple cat videos, your whole feed’s cats. Post a couple conspiracy rants? Boom—welcome to a universe where the earth’s flat and ballots are fake.

Ryan Haylett

And misinformation spreads like wildfire. Used to be if you missed the nightly news, you were out of the loop. Now? One meme, one sketchy video, one troll farm thread—and it’s everywhere. Truth can’t keep up. And when everything’s partisan spin, trust in media collapses. Who’s telling the truth—CNN? Fox? TikTok? Everyone’s got an angle, so no one’s believed.

Ryan Haylett

We talked before about how the left/right binary hardened into two permanent camps, and social platforms are like jet fuel for it. They don’t just split us—they make us question what facts even are. And when you can’t agree on what’s real, how do you argue about what’s right? You can’t. So we shout into the void, and the void monetizes the shouting.

Ryan Haylett

Social media doesn’t just push politics, it pushes the culture war, too. Algorithms love outrage, and nothing gets clicks like a drag show protest or a viral clip about banned books. The same mechanics that turn politics into a brawl turn culture into a purity test. Before long, your feed’s not just political—it’s telling you what kind of person you have to be to prove you’re on the “right side.”

Ryan Haylett

Culture war energy bleeds into relationships, too. It’s not just “who’d you vote for?”—it’s “what TV shows do you let your kids watch?” “What flag is on your lawn?” “What company are you boycotting this week?” People aren’t just disagreeing about government policy, they’re disagreeing about identity, about what it even means to be American. And when culture becomes a battlefield, every interaction can feel like a loyalty test.

Ryan Haylett

Polarization doesn’t just live in Congress or online—it’s in our living rooms. People are ending friendships, ghosting family, ducking invites just to avoid political arguments. Surveys say more Americans see the “other side” not as wrong, but as an actual threat. That’s fucking insane!

Ryan Haylett

It’s creeping into every part of life. Workplaces where you can’t say what you think without worrying about HR. Hiring managers scrolling your Facebook before they even glance at your résumé. Community spaces—Little League, church picnics, block parties—that used to be neutral ground are now quiet battlefields. You can feel it in the air: mistrust.

Ryan Haylett

And mistrust eats everything. We said in that MLM episode how scams prey on broken trust networks. Well, polarization’s the same disease on a bigger scale. It erodes the social glue that holds us together. Disagreeing used to mean arguing over policy. Now it feels dangerous just to talk. That’s not debate anymore—that’s fracture.

Ryan Haylett

And here’s the part that doesn’t get enough airtime—how division screws with the economy. When politicians are locked in “own the libs” vs. “drain the swamp” mode, nothing moves. Bipartisan deals? Dead. Real reform? Forget it. Markets hate that chaos. Businesses freeze up, investors sit on their hands. And we all feel it in slower growth, stalled projects, paychecks that don’t stretch.

Ryan Haylett

Then you’ve got this wave of “economic populism”—both left and right railing against Wall Street, billionaires, Big Tech. Sounds different, but underneath, it’s all a scream at the system that people feel isn’t working. Votes become more about protest than policy. It’s not “who can govern,” it’s “who can blow it up.”

Ryan Haylett

And when trust in the system’s toast, that instinct makes sense. People want change, but the machine only knows stalemate. Maybe bipartisan coalitions can chip away—stuff like infrastructure,—but honestly? It feels like trying to patch a dam with duct tape. Hope’s not gone, but it’s thin.

Ryan Haylett

Division’s ugly. But it’s not the whole story. America’s pulled back from the brink before. The question is—do we still want to be one country, or just two rival tribes under the same flag? That answer’s on us.