Last week’s elections brought to a brutal head how politically polarized the United States is. U.S. President Donald Trump’s relatively strong showing dashed the hope held by many of his critics that the election would constitute a repudiation of Trump, and in so doing, open the door to some kind of deescalation of the country’s profound ideological divide. Instead, as George Packer wrote immediately after the election in an article in the Atlantic entitled “Face the Bitter Truth,” “we are two countries, and neither of them is going to be conquered or disappear anytime soon.”

Soberingly, more polarization appears probable, in three overlapping phases. First, as Trump keeps

railing against the election, feeding the flames of conspiratorial thinking about imagined electoral fraud, he

will further inflame partisan anger. His relentless attacks over the past four years on truth, institutions, and

the legitimacy of his opponents have prepared the ground for this final, desperate campaign. With no

substantial factual ground to stand on in his objections to the elections, he appears to hope that by

bringing America’s partisan cauldron to a peak boil, some kind of crisis can be provoked that will break in

his favor. He will undoubtedly cling to this approach long after he leaves office, defining his postpresidential

political life as a sustained tirade against the election.

Second, when Joe Biden’s administration comes to power and begins governing, what will likely be a

Republican-led Senate (barring a major surprise in the Georgia Senate runoff elections on January 5) will

almost certainly dedicate itself to blocking as many of its programs and initiatives as possible. This will

start with slowrolling Senate confirmation of Biden nominees, then extend to stymying any major

legislation the administration will attempt. And it will take on special fervor when the administration begins

to nominate federal judges and seek Senate confirmation for them.