Judy Woodruff wants to know why America is so divided.

So she is going on a tour. To find out why.

I can save PBS and Woodruff the gas money. Americans are not 50/50 divided, for starters. The problem is one party (Republican) has ideas that are increasingly unpopular because they are ideas that are based on oppression, authoritarianism, and downright cruelty. The other party (Democratic) is fighting this and is basically trying to save our democracy from them.

This past week, we saw a Wisconsin Supreme Court judge race decided by a landslide, an 11-point win in a +0.6 Biden state. In addition, Chicago voters reject reactionary politics in favor of progressive ones.

However, at the same time, we also saw threats by Republicans to impeach the duly elected judge, Janet Protasiewicz, for no apparent reason other than she won. Her opponent gave an unhinged “concession” speech.

Then we saw the horrors unfold in Tennessee, where old-school Confederate racism reared its butt-ass ugly head. Both Cassandra and Adrastos did super work covering this fiasco, where right-wing white nationalists attempted to expel three elected Tennessee State House members. They succeeded with the two Black men, Tennessee Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, but not the white woman, Rep. Gloria Johnson. An honest assessment of the current Republican members of the Tennessee State House gives you the reason why the Black members were ousted. All three are the smart, strong leaders we need right now, which means they scare the hell out of the far right.

Then a Donald Trump appointee to the federal bench, Matthew Kascmaryk, who looks exactly like central casting for the role of Asshole, dropped a bombshell decision late Good Friday afternoon. The decision was a ban on a popular and commonly used abortion pill mifepristone. A medication that has been long approved by the Federal Drug Administration. Banning it is a clear attack on women.

This is likely going to the Supreme Court and what happens there is anyone’s guess. If this is upheld, it is a massive disaster politically for the GOP, which is already taking it on the chin due to their unpopular stance on abortion. However, they do not seem to care, and to me, that is rather frightening. If you stop caring how your ideas and actions affect your chances of winning elections, that is a glaring sign that you no longer care about such things because your main focus is fixing it so you always win. Needless to say, that is not democracy.

Back to Woodruff, all of this should be enough for poor Judy to figure out why there is “polarization.” I have not even touched on the massive amount of anti-LGBTQ bills that are being passed in states across the U.S. Attacking one’s very right to exist tends to be polarizing, and I am not sure if Woodruff can give the people being threatened a “compromise” solution – maybe only be allowed to go out in public at certain hours, Judy? Would that work?

Oh, and I will add that the Republican Party is becoming more and more violent. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is lobbying for a pardon of a man who murdered a Black Lives Matter protestor, who posted on Facebook that he was going to kill someone before he went to the protest. This is after states passing laws making it okay to run over protestors.

I can’t cover everything in this post because it would go on and on and on. But it is clear what the GOP is up to and it is not good. It is very dangerous. So enough of things like defending a major GOP donor who is a benefactor of a Supreme Court justice and his Nazi memorabilia collection.

We really need to see what is happening right in front of us, and not write it off as hysterics or ponder “what do they really mean?” because it is pretty obvious what they mean. As an exasperated Elie Mystal begged any white viewer of Chris Hayes’ show last week who still is skittish about calling racism for what it is, we have to take things coming from the GOP at face value.

I am also not saying that we go to war with Republicans or anything like that. We need to fight this via voting and hold those we vote into office accountable to take this fight to them via legislation. The door will always be open for our fellow Americans in the Republican Party to come back and join us in the American democratic experiment. But it is on THEM to make the change, not anyone on the left. We as Democrats cannot turn our back on the targets of the GOP, nor can we let them continue attempts to dismantle our democracy.

We see them for what they are, and we must fight that through peaceful, democratic means, and hope that at some point, they see the danger of their actions.

The last word goes to Luscious Jackson in memory of member Vivian Trimble, who passed away last week from cancer at age 59. A fairly iconic 1990s alternative band, I was always a sucker for their trippy hip-hop-ish sound.