Following Donald Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio earlier this week, the Washington Post published an analysis that explained, in no uncertain terms, that the president “has chosen to be a divider, not a uniter, no matter how many words to the contrary he reads off a teleprompter or from a prepared script.”
There’s fresh evidence that a majority of Americans agree. A Fox News poll released last night included this interesting finding:
Do you think Donald Trump is drawing the country together or tearing the country apart?
Drawing the country together: 33%Tearing the country apart: 56%
Looking at the crosstabs, the president’s core supporters — Republicans, conservatives, white evangelical Christians, and whites without college degrees — still see Trump as a uniting force, but across every other constituency, Americans consider the president a source of division.
The same poll included this gem:
Who do you think Donald Trump dislikes more: white supremacists or the news media?
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White supremacists: 13%News media: 70%
The fact that this question was even asked in a major poll is emblematic of the bizarre circumstances we find ourselves in, though I don’t imagine anyone will find the results especially surprising. After all, the president has described American journalists as “the enemy” of the people who “don’t like our country.” Trump’s rhetoric about white supremacists, especially in the wake of violence in Charlottesville, has been far more forgiving.
On a related note, the Fox poll also included this question:
Who do you think poses a greater threat to the United States: white supremacists or the news media?
White supremacists: 47%News media: 40%
It wouldn’t have been quite this close were it not for Trump voters, 75% of whom said they see journalists as a greater threat.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
