Donald Trump and the fault line that divides our country

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President Donald Trump. | AP Photo-Jacquelyn Martin

Dangerous tremors have been rattling our country for nearly two years, and the epicenter of the trouble can be found at the Trump Fault, which stretches for more than 2,000 miles across the country.

Like the shifting of tectonic plates, the population of the United States is constantly moving, creating a friction that can result in occasional volcanic eruptions, releasing pressure that has been building beneath the surface for decades.

There are racial divides, religious animosities, lesions between rich and poor, geographic anomalies and ethnic differences that have created fissures in this country’s foundation, cracks that over time develop into chasms.

OPINION

We can hardly see the folks on the other side, and we certainly can’t hear them, no matter how loud they shout.

So it is with the Trumpsters and the Resistance Movement, the groups that blindly support President Donald Trump and those who have vowed to oppose him.

The supporters of Trump, who may not even share many of his political views, refuse to listen to any negative news about the man. They cannot be moved by revelations resulting from investigations into his business dealings or involvement with foreign officials. The corruption that surrounds the president does not dampen their spirit.

It will not matter what evidence special prosecutor Robert Mueller turns up. The Trumpsters know it will be the work product of the FBI, CIA, Justice Department and Congress, who are all part of a conspiracy by the Washington establishment that hates Trump and everything he stands for, which is everything that Washington is not.

That’s why people voted for Trump. He was an outsider. He was different. He defeated 16 Republican stalwarts to win the presidential nomination precisely because he had not been a career politician.

The Resistance Movement is the disorganized opposition resulting from the rise of Trump. These people not only detest Trump’s demeaning comments about women, blacks, Hispanics, liberals and the courts, but believe he is actually evil.

The Trumpsters believe liberals at the core of the Resistance will destroy the country.

They believe terrorists and rapists are crossing the border and will take our jobs and force us to take narcotics. That’s why we need a wall to protect us, even if it means shutting down the government.

The Resistance believes America should be a safe haven for people fleeing political and religious persecution. They feel that is part of what makes this nation great. It is the land of opportunity, particularly for the wretched refuse (even if they come from sh–thole countries). These liberals believe it is wrong to take children from their parents to make a statement about illegal immigration.

There are a few people in the middle, those who believe that each side is equally flawed and equally justified in holding some of their views. They are finding the ground shifting beneath their feet.

Worse, they are being shoved into the political abyss by both sides, who have no use for moderate liberals or RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).

Anyone who talks about compromise is a traitor, or worse, politically correct. We’re done worrying about offending those out to destroy this country, say the Trumpsters. They are socialists!

Those who talk about appeasement (of working out a deal with Trump) are stupid, ignorant racists, who don’t understand the dangers of an unhinged fascist in the White House.

So here we are in a modern Paradise Lost, in a place the poet Milton might have called Chaos, located between heaven and hell, where anarchy is eternal.

Darkness is our constant companion.

If only we can get rid of the president in 2019, the optimists believe, all troubles will disappear.

But the fault lies not with Trump, dear readers, but in ourselves.

Send letters to letters@suntimes.com

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