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The storming of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 by a violent mob of thousands, incited by President Donald Trump, signals the end of already tenuous hopes for benign reconciliation of America鈥檚 warring divisions.

Liberals have assumed that time, evolving decency, and economic initiatives to address some imagined commonality of suffering between Trump鈥檚 White supporters and diverse, Democratic constituencies would diminish White supremacy. Former President Barack Obama tried lifting all the boats, but ended up mostly lifting the White ones. During his presidency, White Americans gained about 4 million jobs and more than $5,000 in real (inflation-adjusted) 鈥攎uch more than Black, Latinx, and Native Americans gained. Economic improvement was especially strong in the upper Midwest, which is 80% White.

Yet, White voters (especially older, rural, Midwestern White people) rejected Obama and flocked to Republicans. Liberals鈥� assumptions that White supremacy was fading got another rude shock in 2016 when 63 million Americans voted for Trump. That shock multiplied in 2020 when, after four years of Trump鈥檚 corrupt, brutal presidency and a spreading pandemic, a tidal wave of rural support rocketed his vote total to 74 million.

Trump鈥檚 large, increasingly violent base epitomizes America鈥檚 post-election moonscape, where hard positions have only hardened more. 鈥淚 will not accept Joe Biden as president,鈥� , saying Republicans and Democrats 鈥渓ive in alternative worlds.鈥� Both federal and state government buildings and officials have been besieged shouting his baseless claim that Democrats 鈥渟tole鈥� the election. One-third of both Republicans and Democrats believe .

Moderate Democrats who once counseled unity shifted to demand Trump鈥檚 immediate removal. Progressives are petitioning to have Republican lawmakers who egged on violent mobs expelled from Congress. Top Democrats previously shielded from the violence routinely inflicted on immigrants and Black Lives Matter protesters have now felt the visceral fear of being assaulted by Trump-supporting 鈥渋nsurrectionists,鈥� who smashed windows and doors to break into House and Senate chambers. 聽

Biden takes office on Jan. 20, and bipartisan cooperation on his agenda seems remote. Democrats, which would paralyze a nation desperately needing strong solutions. At the opposite pole, the promises forceful action on climate change, voting rights, and larger economic stimulus payments to Americans hit by coronavirus losses.

Resolving Today鈥檚 Divisions Means Facing Stark Contradictions

A major impediment to effective action is misunderstanding America鈥檚 disunity. What are Democrats now supposed to address? One might better ask what makes increasingly well-off Whites鈥攅specially those like Gingrich ()鈥攆eel so angry, alienated, and mistreated by America?

The standard liberal/left rationale blames destructive personal behaviors on social disadvantages. Good evidence from Western Europe, Oceania, Canada, and Japan shows that collectively redressing poverty, unemployment, and health and education disparities produces than in the individualistic, .

Again and again, liberals have misperceived how visceral, widespread, and extreme White anger is, and what its real roots are. Critically needed policies of inclusion and the more egalitarian, . The rightward tilt in White voting and attitudes tracks increasing minority visibility in formerly all-White suburban and rural communities.

However misperceived, White distress is real. Upending traditional sociological theory, America鈥檚 most privileged class, older White people, now shows a rapidly increasing prevalence of self-destructive behaviors. Meanwhile, the most disadvantaged classes, young people of color, show the most favorable trends. In a jarring shock to traditional thinking, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now show rural, middle-aged Whites in California now are more often murdered and arrested for homicide than supposedly gun-menaced big-city teenagers.

The uniquely serious trends among aging White people (which accompany a constellation of troubles that includes skyrocketing rates of drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, suicide, gun fatalities, criminal arrests, imprisonment, and violence) are belatedly winning attention. For example, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn鈥檚 , profiling rising 鈥渄eaths of despair鈥� among Kristof鈥檚 now-middle-aged childhood classmates from Yamhill, Oregon, affirms 鈥渉ow many commonalities there are between a White farm town in Oregon and a Black neighborhood in Baltimore: what they share is deep pain.鈥�

Yet, the causes of those two racial groups鈥� pain are not just different; they are diametrically opposite. Exurban/rural Yamhill, which twice voted for Trump, enjoys high and rising among White families ($83,000 in 2019, up $11,000 in real dollars over the previous decade), and (down from 9.3% to 3.9%). Meanwhile, Black families in heavily Democratic Baltimore endure low, stagnant median family incomes of around $39,000 and three times higher.

What, then, is driving the epidemic of self-destructive ills among White people concentrated in rural and small-town America that overlays widespread injury and community and family disruption? The best evidence indicates that White middle-aged suffering鈥攗nlike that of Black, other non-White, poorer, and younger groups鈥攊s fueled by their internal attitudes and prejudices, not by external oppression.

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression,鈥� an observation attributed to , comes closer but still doesn鈥檛 fully explain the rage among Trump supporters and 鈥渄eaths of despair鈥� in Trump Country. America鈥檚 Whites and people of color, its Yamhills and inner Baltimores, are nowhere near equal in status or resources. Yet, Trump and his supporters seem ready to 鈥渂urn down鈥� America at the mere perception of future equality, even at the cost of destroying themselves.

Unifiers face a devastating contradiction. Redressing the pain of disadvantaged classes inflames the pain of aging Whites. Surveys find White and successive Trump supporters are angered by 鈥溾�� and imagined 鈥溾�� fueled by beliefs that 鈥渦ndeserving鈥� minorities are stealing resources Whites deserve. While younger and poorer groups favor liberal policies that benefit all disadvantaged classes, older Whites subscribe to a zero-sum, 鈥渟tatus鈥� hierarchy in which gains by minorities and young people diminish Whites.

As appealing as declarations of imagined commonality, symmetry of grievance, and hoped-for unity are, they sabotage the tough choices we face. Modern social and political scholars need to step up.

Remedies Require New Thinking

The biggest danger of misunderstanding current divisions comes when liberals endorse rightward moves to 鈥渨in back White voters鈥� to foster 鈥渦nity.鈥� Democrat Bill Clinton tried being tough on crime and promoting moral values. Obama tried being tough on immigration and conciliatory toward Bush-era corporate and political crimes. Both embraced bipartisanship, to a fault. Yet, Democratic appeasements met with Republican intransigence, the decimation of the Democratic Party, and massive national shifts to the Right. Now, some, such as , suggest restricting immigration to assuage White anxieties鈥攚hich is both unfair and unworkable.

Recent, violent attacks by pro-Trump militants appear to have silenced, at least temporarily, liberals who counsel capitulation to unfounded White fear. Resolve to act on Democrats鈥� election victories is growing. This resolve should recognize that according to , Democratic counties supply nearly two-thirds of federal tax revenues, regressive economic and social policies in the diverging .

Despite present political chasms, the future holds hope. Progressives have many favorable facts and trends on their side. For example, diversity actually is associated with greater safety. CDC tabulations show that both older and younger Whites are much safer from violent deaths of all kinds in racially diverse big cities and urbanized suburbs than in White-dominated small towns and rural areas. Unfortunately, calming facts do not reassure Trump adherents who disdain information that challenges their narrative of victimization. One-third to 40% of America鈥檚 population, overwhelmingly White, simply may be unable to live with diversity.

Our urgent task in this time lies in marshaling our imaginations to manage division so that more integrative future generations can reassemble a global society without suffering a ruined landscape of battling tribes. By every measure, progressive ideas chart the future. For the salvation of America and the planet, it鈥檚 time to act on that strength.