I read a USA Today article about recent poll results and what each party says it values.

Divided nation: Republicans prize patriotism, Democrats equality – poll

The article carefully tiptoes through the results of recent polls that show a growing divide in the United States. Republicans value ‘patriotism’.

I’m not surprised. Republicans like to bark things like, “These colors don’t run.” Funny that they support noted draft dodger Donald Trump, isn’t it? Donald Trump, also known as TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out.

Just as interesting, Republicans in this poll valued ‘responsibility’ and ‘honesty’ as the second and third highest prized values.

And they select Trump as their leader.

It’s headshaking to me, but that’s probably why I’m not a Republican. How could I prize patriotism, responsibility, and honesty, and then support someone who doesn’t exhibit any of those traits? It’s like those traits are virtually meaningless to the GOP.

In a way, it is. What the GOP — especially the MAGA component — has done is change the way those words are perceived. To them, Trump’s lying is ‘unvarnished honesty’ because he says others will not and ‘shakes things up’.

This is because of the ‘framework’ through which they view things.

Yes, I call bullshit. They’re okay with Donald Trump making billions but they were in a tizzy over the idea that Hunter Biden — who is not an elected official — made money through Daddy. Yet they’re fine with Jared Kushner and the Trump children getting richer and richer off of Trump.

That’s why there’s a divide in this country.

This fascinating paragraph is in the article’s middle:

“But the inclination to see the other side as lacking basic principles − even as being a danger to democracy − has grown over the past decade, studies have found. The assumption that the other side is acting in good faith has been eroded by the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, attacks on the legitimacy of elections, allegations of the weaponization of governmental powers and more.”

Hmm. Interesting. Riddle me this, AI.

• How many times has Donald Trump claimed that elections were stolen or manipulated? How does that compare with other politicians and leaders?

• Who was POTUS during the Jan. 6 assault on the capitol?

• What White House occupant uses the DOJ to persecute political opponents? Which one has purged Federal employees and asked for loyalty oaths to him?

Donald Trump calls himself a unifying president but uses incentives specifically designed to divide the country via his support me and vote for Republicans technique. But that’s okay, I guess, because that’s the GOP framework: all for them, nothing for Democrats.

Trump likes to vilify Democrats, reporters, other nations, the news media in general, and anyone who doesn’t agree with him. Donald Trump, who wants to be remembered as a ‘peace president’, gleefully cheered when a protestor was punched at one of his rallies.

Trump also said multiple times, “I would never condone violence.”

Under the GOP framework — supported by their values of patriotism, responsibility, and honesty — these competing views of approving and encouraging violence and claiming he would never condone violence is acceptable.

Of course, we have seen MAGA and the GOP break with the framework several times. They broke when they voted for immigrants to be deported only to find themselves or their family to be one of the deported. They broke when Trump’s war increased gas prices. They broke when Trump said that he doesn’t care about Americans’ finances. They broke when they found how much more things are costing them as the affordability crisis grows under Trump’s economy.

That’s how their framework works. It’s ironclad until it personally affects them.

Republicans say that Trump is demonstrating peace through strength. Sure, and he’s showing unity through division, honesty through stealing, and responsibility through lying.

Republicans in the poll then expressed the view that Democrats were more immoral. That’s funny in a darkly bitter way, given that the person who leads them is a convicted felon who has been documented lying tens of thousands of times, and who promises the world and delivers little.

That person is Donald J. Trump.

Hey Republicans. Get Trump to release the Epstein files, end the Iran war, and give back the billions of dollars he’s made since taking office in 2025. Get him to stop lying and breaking his promises.

Then we can start a conversation about good faith, morals, and values, and the divide in this nation.