‘Hatred’ between Democrats, Republicans worse than Alabama-Auburn fans, ‘Meet the Press’

Just how divided is America? One “Meet the Press” panelist reached for a sports analogy this morning to describe it.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd asked David French, a conservative senior editor at The Dispatch and opinion writer with The Atlantic, what the way forward is between Democrats and Republicans. The question came during a dialogue on the response to the first public hearing of the Jan. 6 House committee.

“We’re going to have a controversial abortion ruling,” Todd said. “We have a heavy debate on guns. We’re not happy with the state of the world economy, as it is right now. And we may have a former President of the United States put on trial. Are we gonna hold?”

French said he believes America “will hold,” but he pointed to partisan divisions as being a determining factor.

“This is the reality that we’re facing now,” he said. “We’re facing a degree of division, and it’s not just division, Chuck, it’s animosity. There’s a difference between, say, Auburn and Alabama fans, and what Republicans and Democrats are doing today. There is an active degree of hatred here, and it’s very hard to respect liberty or democracy in an atmosphere of pure hate.”