Tipsheet

Divided We Fall

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln

As it has been made clear, time and time again, this has been the nastiest election America has ever endured. While many hoped that the tension would end, or at least scale down, after the election on November 8th, that could be further from our current reality. Anxiety and anger are the fever that just won’t break – and it's only getting worse each day.

Hillary supporters are blaming Trump voters, with harsh condemnation and Trump supporters lashing out in retaliation. But this goes beyond Facebook posts and protests. Individuals on both sides of this cleavage are attacking each other, leaving threats on walls, and creating chaos. Trump supporters are rallying against the demonization of conservatives, like this student who was bullied for being pro-Trump. Liberals are denouncing the racist messages and threats, like these.

With the surge of all these claims, it is getting harder and harder to tell what did or did not happen. One of these incidents, an attack on a Muslim student at the University of Lafayette, was a lie. This story went viral, and stirred up liberals' passions even more. Which would be understandable – if it were true. The student, who even went so far as to file a police report, recently admitted that she made up the entire incident.

Lying like this does nothing to solve the problem of the violence that has been breaking out. It makes it worse. Incidents like this one make it harder to tell what is true and what is false, which makes it more difficult to stop the violence.

There are some liberals and some Trump supporters that are committing these aggressive acts, and neither is justified. This needs to stop. All of it.