The magic poison of negative partisanship

Why vicious partisan hatred prevails above all

Toxic partisanship.
(Image credit: Illustration by Lauren Hansen | Images courtesy iStock)

The Republican Party has proved itself utterly incapable of offering a compelling positive vision of the country's future. And so, in what may be the least surprising political story of the week, McClatchy tells us that GOP strategists plan to make the 2018 midterm elections into a "referendum on the media."

Republicans aren't alone in their ideological disarray and embrace of negative partisanship. Democrats are guaranteed to highlight the stunningly unpopular President Trump in their own 2018 campaigns, hoping that the focus on the awfulness of the Republican in the White House will distract Democratic voters from the absence of a positive message that's proven impossible for the party as a whole to affirm.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.