A piece from the summer @ The Guardian (which popped up for me on google via algorithm after viewing the above):

Why identity politics benefits the right more than the left

The left needs to help citizens see what unites them, instead of focusing on their differences

By Sheri Berman

Over a year into Donald Trump’s presidency, commentators are still trying to understand the election and the explosion of intolerance following it. One common view is that Trump’s victory was a consequence of pervasive racism in American society.

Studies make clear, however, that racism has been decreasing over time, among Republicans and Democrats. (Views of immigration have also grown more favorable.) Moreover, since racism is deep-seated and longstanding, reference to it alone makes it difficult to understand the election of Barack Obama and Trump, the differences between Trump and the two previous Republican nominees on race and immigration, and the dramatic breakdown of social norms and civility following the elections. (Social scientists call this the “constant can’t explain a variable” problem.)

This does not mean racism is irrelevant; it matters, but social science suggests it does in more complicated ways than much commentary suggests.

Perhaps because straightforward bigotry has declined precipitously while more subtle, complex resentments remain, understanding how intolerance shapes politics requires examining not just beliefs, but also the relationship between beliefs and the environments people find themselves in. This distinction has important implications for how we interpret and address contemporary social and political problems.

Rather than being directly translated into behavior, psychologists tell us beliefs can remain latent until “triggered”. In a fascinating study, Karen Stenner shows in The Authoritarian Dynamic that while some individuals have “predispositions” towards intolerance, these predispositions require an external stimulus to be transformed into actions. Or, as another scholar puts it: [....]

And the right (and their Russian buddies) will use and abuse this every little chance they can find until Nov. 2020. Including through any process against Trump. They will find a way to spin the latter to divide by enraging lefties to enrage righties. And people in various places in the middle will stop listening because they can't stand or don't have the time for the angry noise. Including from rightie Uncle Joe and leftie Aunt Alexandra.

As is the case (even with Trump, who did not get a majority vote and has lost some of his base), optimistic and positive sells. I.E., we can all get along and things are going to be better. Not We've gotten to where we've nearly "them"ed ourselves to death. Them and them and them. rather But this is America. There is no them; there's only us. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.

His most important point here, mho:: "As if we care". Goes for those who take the troll's bait as well as the troll.