Thread by @DavidNeiwert

The worst aspect of this lede (and frankly, the rest of this piece) is how it utterly obliviates the asymmetrical nature of the dynamic that created this kind of 'sectarianism.'
nytimes.com/2021/04/19/us/…

Democrats have only recently--mostly since Jan. 6--come to understand that the Republican Party is hostile not just to their party but to democracy itself, and that their worldviews are so irreconcilable that rapprochement or compromise really is nowhere in view.

Barack Obama spent the better part of his tenure reaching out to the other side and receiving back a bloody stump, literally on every issue: economic recovery, health care, immigration, gun safety. You name it, he tried hard to compromise.

All we heard back from Republicans was "You lie!" and "Birth certificate!" and "Death panels!" and, most of all, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." Republicans had one plan: Obstruct everything at all costs.

Much of that is the product of having Rush Limbaugh carefully coaching his fellow conservatives, for three decades, on his chief dictum: Liberals are the enemy of America, and of everything good and right and decent. Fox News ran with this as their core message as well.

Yes, liberals are now fully aware that Republicans have ceased to be viable partners in a functioning democracy. But that is primarily a product of Republicans concluding that they do not care to share power with anyone, as democracy requires. So they have abandoned democracy.

This piece's primary failure is its refusal to acknowledge that these are the reasons we are where we are now.

"Both sides did it"? Bullshit. One side went off the rails, and the NYT wants everyone to share in the blame.

You can't solve the problem without a proper diagnosis.