While most leaders would spend the final hours of a contentious campaign season trying to bring the country together around his agenda, Donald Trump did just not the opposite on Monday night.
At a MAGA mob rally in Indiana, the president admitted that he prefers to divide the country instead of unite it.
“I do eventually want to unite,” Trump said. “But we’re driving them crazy! We’re driving them loco!”
TRUMP: “I shouldn’t say this because eventually I want to unite….but we’re driving them crazy! We’re driving them loco!”
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— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) November 6, 2018
CNN’s Jim Acosta was quick to step in with a reality check. He reminded the president that he’s been in office for nearly two years – plenty of the time to unite the country is that’s truly what he wanted to do.
Trump in Indiana: “I do eventually want to unite.†(Fact check. He’s been president for almost two years)
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 6, 2018
Fear and division fuel Trump
What Donald Trump realized quickly when he announced his candidacy for president is that the politics of fear and bigotry is a recipe for success, particularly when it comes to mobilizing Republican voters.
The GOP base is simply not receptive to the argument that we – no matter your race, religion, sexual orientation or economic status – are all in this together. What they want is an angry man who tells them who to blame for the world’s problems.
In Trump, they found that and more.
Luckily, on Tuesday, a majority of voters have a chance to show Donald Trump that they don’t subscribe to his dark and cynical version of politics – even if a minority GOP base does.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
