Maybe you and I watched different Trump rally speeches. The loudest cheers of approval were when Trump screamed "We're gonna build a wall and who's gonna pay for it?" and the crowd screamed back "Mexico".
Why did they all want a wall with Mexico? The answer to that can be seen from the people Trump trotted out as supporters: Families that had lost loved ones to Illegal Mexican immigrants.
We can also go by Trump's characterization of the Mexicans: Rapists & Gang members.
Trump sold FEAR and the Sheeples bought it.
This isn't really about Trump or his supporters. The OP's question was about dissension and anger in today's political climate - that goes across the board. Trump and his supporters are only a symptom of a deeper problem.
The key states which put Trump over the top in the 2016 election were Rust Belt states, where Trump's attacks on free trade chimed with a lot of blue collar workers, many of whom have been struggling.
What, in your view, do the people fear, and why do they fear it? If you say they fear Mexicans and Muslims, then you're only looking at it on a surface level and not delving deeper. Of course, Trump is going to take advantage of the fear and angst in society and try to manipulate the masses for his own gain; that's what politicians do in general.
You and many others may not like it, but the fact remains, if you're unsympathetic to the needs of the people and don't know/don't care what they want or what they feel, then that's on you for not caring enough or not paying enough attention to what's going on.
Earlier you blamed the mainstream media, which you distrust, of promoting "Consumerism, globalism, capitalism, hedonism, greed, apathy, complacency". Now we see it's "just about every advertisement on every media outlet"
I don't see any contradiction here. What's your point?
It's obvious that you don't know the difference between reporting the news, voicing editorials, and advertising.
Since I do know the difference between reporting the news, voicing editorials, and advertising, then whatever you perceive as "obvious" clearly has no value at all in this discussion.
I, and most people I know don't blindly buy in to "Don't worry, be happy.". However, we also don't build underground bunkers, stocked with a year's supply of flash-dried foods. We also realize that Americans shoot and kill far more Americans than Muslim terrorists. In other words, we don't live in fear of manufactured fear.
As FDR eloquently put it, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." There's a lot of fear on both sides. A lot of people fear Trump; many compare him to Hitler and imagine all kinds of bizarre stuff. A lot of fear of the Russians, too. Some people go through life so fearful that they need to have "safe spaces" and want anything unpleasant, offensive, or hateful removed from public forums - because it's just so upsetting. Wouldn't you say that these people live in fear of manufactured fear? What's the difference?
