Hoping the debate moves to a more realistic discussion

This week…alas, no mass shootings, no carnivalesque hearings, no outrageous scandals (at least that break into convenient red/blue categories) that the Polarizers can use to “prove” how right/wrong we/they are. So, it’s just more of the same old, same old broad accusations the “they” are dumb, insensitive, outrageous and uncaring. Is it too much to hope that as the Presidential election season gains steam, the variety of candidates and complexity of issues will actually begin to move the debate to realistic discussion?

When reading these examples, check the above list and ask yourself: regardless of whether you agree or disagree, is this really advancing an intelligent resolution through the persuasive, rational arguments of advocacy…or simply fueling the fire of conflict through the divisive, emotional manipulations of polarization?

Here are just a few of the blue and red polarizing headlines from the past week.

Blue Headlines

Republicans Are Provincials Who Don’t Understand Millions Of Their Fellow Citizens

How the GOP’s Tax Scam Is Now Backfiring Spectacularly

No, Trump doesn’t care about your pre-existing condition, or anything else about your health care

Meet the Republicans who have suddenly discovered that racism is bad

Trump uses baseless fear-mongering in his State of the Union speech to push for a border wall

Trump going to El Paso to lie to its residents’ faces about what a border wall did for El Paso

The Well-Regulated Militia in Trump’s Dangerous Hands

Red Headlines

Democrats Have Proven That Trump Is The Adult In The Room

Repeat with Me, Leftists: Trump Is Not a Racist

Democrats Just Can’t Stop Playing Their ‘Woman Card

The Left Defends Infanticide and Human/Animal Chimeras

Leftists Think America’s Founding Was Evil

Unhinged Leftist Amy Klobuchar Rants Against Global Warming — Then Immediately Eats Mouthfull of Snow

Democrats Don’t Want America To Succeed, They Want Trump To Fail

More to explore

‘Braver Angels really helped me to see the humanity in people from the other side’: One high schooler’s journey to better political conversations

06/18/2026 No Comments

A native of Boulder, Colorado, Mia didn’t know many Trump supporters—and she was nervous to engage with them. “I was like, ‘Don’t they hate women? Don’t they hate black people?’” she said. “That was my initial belief because that’s what I had heard about people who voted for Trump.” But she quickly realized she was wrong. During the first Braver Lens session, Mia was able to connect with conservatives in the group and recognize their points of commonality. “When we met, they showed their pictures, and explained their life stories, and I was able to see where our values overlap,” she said.

How a Christian conservative found his way to Braver Angels

06/09/2026 No Comments

As a young man, Daniel’s father emerged from a broken, dysfunctional home looking for direction and found it while attending a Billy Graham crusade in Chicago. There, he “walked forward”—committing himself to Jesus Christ and changing the trajectory of his family. Not long after, he married Daniel’s mom, a Christian convert whose grandparents sought refuge in America after escaping pogroms in Europe.

Announcing Braver Angels Advisory Council

06/05/2026 No Comments

Twenty-three leaders who disagree on many things said yes to the same thing this month. They agreed to stand together, publicly, behind the idea that Americans can hold fast to their convictions while staying genuinely curious about the convictions of people on the other side. That’s it. That’s the commitment. For more than nine years, Braver Angels has reached people in every state in the union. The ones who’ve engaged have experienced something that surprises them every time: the relief of disagreeing without contempt, and the discovery that the person across the table is not who the feed said they were.