Our Bitter Elections
After “the most contentious election in U.S. history,” journalists wrote, “the art of fiction is dead.” We chose “the most unqualified president in history,” but voters were reacting to years of “social experimentation and economic extravagance,” motivated “not by ideology but a desire to vote against” the loser—or perhaps “a desire for change.” Democrats, meanwhile, were “turning their guns on each other” in despair.
The first two quotes are from 2000, the last from 1980, the “social experimentation” line from 1942, the “turning their guns” quote from 1880.