This is a tough time for politics in America. But it's an extremely interesting time for those of us who wrestle with the nature of reality. As a psychiatrist who has treated people with psychosis for over 20 years, I have lived in the uncomfortable space between their experience of reality and mine and I have worked to change beliefs that are some of the most resistant to change: delusions.
Populism may well have been the defining word of the previous decade: a shorthand for the insurgent parties that came to prominence in the 2010s, challenging the dominance of the liberal centre. But no sooner had it become the main rubric for discussing both the far left and far right than commentators began to question its validity: worrying that it was too vague, or too pejorative, or fuelling the forces to which it referred.
Hungary is no stranger to extremely polarized election campaigns. For decades now, Victor Orban has whether in government or in the opposition followed the same playbook: Starting months ahead of the polls, he has run campaigns that suggest the very survival of the Hungarian nation is at stake. In these campaigns, he styles himself as the only one who can save Hungary and its people from evil and the threat of destruction at the hands of the country's enemies.
They are very exclusionary, Maher said on the Monday episode of his Club Random podcast. They really just don't want to breathe the same air if you're not exactly with the groupthink while they're not that bright! Carolla said he completely agreed and that he found that mindset to be counterproductive. The comic and podcast veteran said he is always amazed at how Democrats are incapable of seeing where they may agree with conservatives they speak with;
Rock band Shinedown is the latest act to pull out of Robert James Ritchie's MAGA-adjacent "Rock the Country" music festival. "We know this decision will create differences of opinion. But we do not want to participate in something we believe will create further division," the band wrote on Instagram February 6. "And to our fans, thank you for supporting and believing in us. We love and appreciate you always."
Researchers at the University of Cambridge's Political Psychology Lab tracked shifts in Americans' views across nearly four decades and found that divisions were broadly stable through the 1990s and early 2000s, before rising steadily from 2008 onward. Using more than 35,000 responses from the American National Election Studies between 1988 and 2024, they estimate that issue polarization has increased 64% since the late 1980s, with almost all of that change occurring after 2008.
Costa Rica heads to the polls on Sunday in an election dominated by increasing insecurity and warnings of an authoritarian turn in a country long seen as a model of liberal democracy in the region. Crime is a big concern for many voters as criminal groups battle to control lucrative cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the US, casting a shadow on the Central American country famous for its wildlife tourism.
The principle of intellectual charity is fundamental to constructive political conversations. This principle states that, in any discussion, we should accept the best version of an opponent's ideas, not a distorted version or a "straw man." Exaggeration and distortion of opposing opinions (always present, to some degree, in political debates) have become the standard form of political argument in contemporary America.
This grief feels similar to what they would experience if their family member died, but in some cases, it feels even worse. Family estrangement has reached epidemic proportions. A 2022 survey found 29 percent of Americans are currently cut off from a parent, child, sibling, or grandparent, and a 2025 survey found 38 percent have experienced estrangement from a close family member at some point. These aren't just statistics. They're the tragic consequences of families ripped apart.
Taylor Swift's latest album, "The Life of a Showgirl," generated a cultural whirlwind: chart-topping success, social media saturation and frenzied debate over her artistic evolution. Nonetheless, despite this warm reception, opinions on Swift are deeply polarized by party. Democrats are far more likely to view her positively; Republicans are more likely to hold negative views. This partisan divide remains in place even after accounting
When fear dominates, nuance and exceptions fade. Over time, this dynamic creates insular echo chambers that amplify threat narratives while filtering out contradictory evidence. What is particularly striking, and deeply concerning, is that this climate of dread is no longer confined to one group. It is now mirrored across political divides, leaving many people-regardless of affiliation-feeling powerless, overwhelmed, and chronically anxious.
A emotional fitness community that just got $26 million in venture capital thrown at them has installed a phone on Valencia Street that lets you Call a Republican in Texas, perhaps to foster unity, or perhaps just to record you. KTVU ran a Monday feature about a new Call a Republican phone that was just installed right outside the Black Serum Tattoo Shop at Valencia and 14th streets.
Most Americans now accept the basic physics of climate change-that manmade greenhouse-gas emissions are raising global temperatures. Yet the public discussion of climate change is still remarkably broken in the United States. Leaders of one political party frame climate change as an existential emergency that threatens human life and prosperity. Leaders of the other dismiss it as a distraction from economic growth and energy security. Economists like me, trained to think about trade-offs,
Many saw Renee Good, a mother of three, trying to flee U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when she was shot three times in the face as she drove past the agent who pulled the trigger. Others, including those inside the Trump administration, claim those very same videos show a woman trying to use her car to ram into an agent, who reacted in self-defense.
It's human nature to judge your personal economics and mood on how you feel, influenced heavily by conscious and subconscious comparisons to others. So it's possible President Trump is right: U.S. growth and stocks soar in 2026. But even then, because the AI-connected hyperwealthy do so much better than everyone else, fear and resentment still grow. It's also possible the AI bubble pops, and everyone suffers. But the Have-Lots will (mostly) still have lots.
The left branded the ICE agent a "rogue officer" who executed a U.S. citizen during a federal immigration crackdown that never should have happened in the first place. The right labeled the slain driver as a "domestic terrorist" and framed the shooting as a clear-cut case of self-defense amid an assault on law enforcement. The same video footage, watched by millions of Americans, fueled both narratives.
Goldberg quoted Leah Greenberg, a founder of the resistance group Indivisible, who said that while Donald Trump "has been able to do extraordinary damage that will have generational effects, he has not successfully consolidated power. That has been staved off, and it has been staved off not, frankly, due to the efforts of pretty much anyone in elite institutions or political leadership but due to the efforts of regular people declining to go along with fascism."
The great sports sociologist Dr. Harry Edwards has described athletes as "the canary in the coal mine," meaning that the politics and struggles in sports prefigure what will come elsewhere in society. Think of Jackie Robinson integrating baseball nearly a decade before the Montgomery bus boycotts or Billie Jean King signaling the coming of Title IX legislation by standing for women's liberation in a traditionally male and hostile space.
It seems possible that what will ultimately emerge is a clarified sense of principles and a deeper commitment to them (which is why part of the conflict is over American history itself). On one hand, there are the heads of the federal government and their spokespeople, whose lies are part of their disdain for the electorate and the rule of law.
Every year around this time, the noise starts to drop. The pace eases a bit. Families gather, neighbors reconnect, and people who disagree on just about everything still manage to pass plates across the same table. Something about late November into December nudges us toward reflection. Whatever you call it holiday spirit, cultural memory, or just a pause in the chaos it's real. And in a country this divided, it might be the reminder we need most.
