With so many people crying for unity of the nation, why does it seem so many are disingenuous about it?

Because so many ARE disingenuous about it and many of the others know it.

Who are these “so many people crying for unity”?? All I see are races and parties screaming and hand waving for their own interests. Never before in my lifetime have I seen such polarized selfish self-serving behaviours.

@Cruiser Where have you been??

Because the liars love to spin tales and don’t know what reality is anymore.

It is just some of the Democrats that are asking for unity, but in the current scheme of government they don’t count.

Maybe @Cruiser is hoping for a tweet from Trump about next week, “We will win the war with North Korea.”

I think those calling for unity are genuinely wanting it.

There are many roads to unity. Some choose different paths to advocate.

I am dead serious! Who are “all these people” calling for unity? The Dems? LOL! The Republicans are as ununified as ever and I consider that a good thing.

You believe that you can get over 300 million to agree on one thing? Good luck with that idea. Especially, since its hard for anyone to believe he wants unity and healing while keeping Bannon (the most racist and divisive person on his team) on and putting all his wall street buddies into prime positions and not separating himself from his business interests.

He complained how Wall Street runs Washington and then gave them front row seats.
He won’t see until it stops looking like he only wanted this position to enrich himself and his buddies.
I for one would love to see unity. But that would mean he would have to stop the attacks, role with the punches and just actually do what he promised without stepping on amendments rights, simply for the reason that he wants to punish those who didn’t vote for him. It’s hard to break bread with a vindictive bully.
Also wanting unity doesn’t mean that one wants to follow like some drone. Both sides (actually more than two sides) are never going to agree on stuff, but we should all agree on the constitution. This is not and should not be a divisive issue. It is the foundation of our country. And it feels like everyday there seems to be a challenge to it in one way or another. If we do not speak up now, then when? After the damage is done?

My friends asking for unity aren’t disengenious in my opinion. They are tired of the fighting, name calling, lying, and want people to show some respect for each other.

It seems like “people crying for unity” are not talking about comprise or meeting in the middle.

They’re talking about unity but only if you capitulate to their point of view. They would achieve this unity by forcing everyone to go their way.

That isn’t unity. That’s closed-mindedness and a stifling society.

What @Cruiser and @elbanditoroso said. Let’s unify as long as you agree with me.

My best friends and I don’t agree politically, but we’re able to unify. Sadly no one else will follow our lead.

I have to say that Trump doesn’t help by holding campaign rallies for the faithful after being elected president.

There is just no way under the shinning sun that I would unify with those radical far right ultra Republican tea baggers. I can shoot myself in the foot (or anywhere else) without their help, if I so wish.

@flutherother What do you suggest Trump do instead?

Personally, I would still like to see Trump line up all of his administration from Pence to Devos, and have them come into a room with him and some TV cameras, tell them each how awful they are and say “You’re fired!” and send them packing. Then I’d like him to say how his administration has shown how awful things are in US politics and how easily they can get worse, and then get a new much better VP and new much better appointees, and then veto any crap bills that come through Congress, and deconflict all of his conflicts of interest. He should acknowledge that many of the policies that have been promoted recently were mistakes, such as doing away with environmental protections, and offending most of the rest of the planet in atrocious ways.

I suggest Trump admit he’s in over his head and resign.

It is indeed difficult to fall in line with Trump. If ever there existed an individual whose perception of “normal” was at variance with my own, it would have to be Donald J. Objectively, I do believe that every President we have experienced actually believed his policies and actions to be in the overall best interests of the country. All of them believe themselves “doing the right thing”, and Trump is no exception. But the problem with Trump is that once you get past the fact that both he and I wish the best for our country, there is scant little left to agree upon.

@stanleybmanly . Speaking truth. Situation normal….

We should be able to unify though.

Unification isn’t about agreement on every detail, of every situation, in every instance.

It’s about respecting each other.

It’s about understanding.

It’s about humility sometimes.

It’s about introspective thought.

I’m proud to say that I work,and hang out with a pretty diverse mix of people. I wouldn’tlike it any other way.

Honestly, when at a big/diverse event, I like/prefer it.

I love talking to foreigners. They have much for us (westerners) to learn about…

@Cruiser Trump should act responsibly and realise he leads an America made up of his opponents as well as his supporters. He doesn’t show that by flying off to a rally in Florida made up of an audience of die hard supporters. It was a retreat to his comfort zone that only emphasised the divisions in the country.

The biggest problem is not just that more than ⅔ of what Trump says is a lie It is that his supporters either don’t care or actually believe him. Trump may be soulless, but like any other charlatan, he only does what he can get away with. That so many people don’t care is very worrying. Under such circumstances, we can’t unify because we can’t agree on what unity would entail.

As I read the answers it occurs to me that people define unity in many different ways regarding politics and the country.

@flutherother You seem to me to be reasonably informed about Trump and his politics. Without Googling, tell me just two of his accomplishments since he took the oath of office…

By accomplishment, do you mean something that is helpful? Tough question

We are the “United States” of A… our very name is a call to diverse unity—each state a little different from the next. But Trump has made it very clear that he does not want to lead a diverse nation. He does not want people who believe things differently than he does—religiously, politically, morally. He does not want people to voice disagreement with him, and when they do he gets angry and throws a public tantrum.

However, my disagreeing with his behavior doesn’t mean I lack unity. It just means I retain my voice.

I am tired of hearing people keep saying “give Trump a chance,” as if the entire nation isn’t giving him a chance, as if having the democratic processes of this nation find his actions (i.e. travel ban) unconstitutional isn’t giving him a chance equal to that of the previous presidents of the country.

The people who disagree with the current administration’s antics have been very clear: they are ready to make compromises. But that doesn’t mean they’re willing to compromise their integrity, or what they fear is the integrity of the nation.

I think Trump’s biggest accomplishments are incidental. His victory (which, remember, even he did not see coming—the way he was crying “rigged election” long before the election took place) made more apparent that there is a faction of people in certain areas of the country that are deeply unhappy with the current state of things, who feel deeply ignored. But they’re a diverse group, too, from what I can gather… some voted for the person they thought could keep them their job; some voted for the person they thought could get and keep the perceived “others” out; some voted for the person they thought was finally speaking “honestly”... whether because his unpolished manner seems to indicate genuine thoughts amid practiced politicians, or as John Oliver coherently argued, that he’s finally saying on the national stage the things that they’ve been hearing and reading (of course, many of those things are incorrect or misleading, which is yet another problem).

I’m not sure the issue is “unity” as much as it is… I’m not sure. Trust? Poor communication? Maybe those are the same as unity. But they aren’t issues that are solved easily or by only one side.

@Cruiser We try to keep informed about Trump here in the UK and there is a demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament right now protesting the decision to afford him a state visit. There was also an online petition opposing the visit that has gathered almost two million signatures. He is not a popular figure here. His attempts to prevent refugees from coming to America was thought disgraceful by many and his inaccurate and contradictory tweets lead to concerns for his emotional balance and his grip on the job.

Trump has succeeded in filling most of his cabinet positions though as I believe many of the posts have gone to billionaires and nearly all to extreme right wingers I don’t consider that an accomplishment. You’ve got me, I can’t think of any accomplishments.

@flutherother I don’t know if the news regarding Trump is as skewed there as it is here. I used to enjoy watching CNN and MSNBC to get informed reporting on stuff that is or was happening. Day in and day out all they report is this nonsense about Russian hacking and Russian favors with Trump and no one has yet to give proof. It is all conjecture and as Trump calls it now really fake news. In the meantime he had a 77 minute press conference complete with Q&A. Did they report any of the good questions and comments made there?? Nope. Did they talk about the good things Trump made mention of? Nope. All I saw for the next 4 days and still going on is the clip of Trump and the Jewish reporter going at it. Stupid waste of valuable network time. Then Trump meets with Trudeau….did they report about what they talked about? Nope. All we got for the next 4 days and still going on is Trumps handshake. YUGE waste of network time and I refuse to waste my time on those networks any longer. It is sad when I have to resort to Twitter to get unfiltered REAL news.

Yeah…Trump has done a LOT of things since he took office even before he took office and will we ever hear about them on CCN or MSNBC?? Bigly nope there.

TWITTER: real news?

So the position is that Trump is just fine. It’s CNN & the New York Times that are all fkd up?

I ask you honestly, whether you believe Obama could behave and talk like Trump and get a pass from the “liberal” media or Republican Congress? It doesn’t matter if you are correct and the media ignores Trump’s alleged positives. The negatives pile up with such profusion, that whatever good there is becomes lost in the muck:

@Cruiser The news regarding Trump is not skewed over here and I don’t think it is skewed in the US either. The media traditionally hold politicians to account and. I don’t know why Trump has such a problem with that. Trump’s Russian connection was reported on because the US intelligence community accused Russia of hacking the Democrat National Committee.

Surely this is a story the American public should be made aware of even if Trump rejects it and the media did also report that he had rejected the findings. The intelligence services here in the UK believe the Russians are carrying out a sustained campaign of cyber attacks targeting democracy and critical infrastructure in the West and this was reported here in the UK. Why not report it in the US?

There is a free media here in the west and if you choose to ignore it and get your information from Trump’s twitter feed then that is up to you and it is sad. But others, in these dangerous times, want to be kept informed.

@Cruiser , Which is more likely, that all the news media in the world except for the fascist hangout at Breitbart is wrong, or that Trump is unqualified? Are you not annoyed that Trump keeps telling lies, even about obvious things like how he did in electoral votes compared to other presidents? Does an alarm not go off when someone describes the collective news media as the enemy? If Trump made good on his claim that he could shoot someone in the middle of NYC and get away with it, would that at least arouse your attention?

@stanleybmanly and @flutherother You missed my point. For over a month now all I have heard on Main Stream Media is Trump and the Russians. IMHO it is not real news until we have facts to substantiate any of the conjecture dreamed up by the media. This where there is smoke there MUST be fire approach is mind numbing especially when it goes on and on and on with zero proof. What happened to the good ol days of reporting when reporters dug deep and got the proof. If it has been leaked that Flynn broke the Logan law….where is the transcript? The FBI supposedly has it. Where is the proof? If Russia hacked the DNC and manipulated the election….where is the proof? If Trump made some wink and a nod gestures at Putin…so what? We need better deals in the world starting with Iran and Russia can be a big help there. Also the sanctions on Russia is crippling to their international trade. Big US and UK corporations have tremendous future growth if Russia is ready and willing to back out of the Ukraine. I have a sneaking suspicion that prospect is why Trump has his cabinet full of Fortune 500 CEO power brokers. The upside is YUGE for all 3 countries.

Do you think that NATO is outdated? That is what Trump said. Pence had to assure our allies that the U.S. is not going to pull out. Trump also said that the U.S. should gain control of Iraqi oil. Secretary of State Mattis had to tell the Iraqis that we are not after their oil. What kind of credibility does Trump have when his own chosen people have to override what he says?

If you read my post above or paid more attention to the news streams you would realise that the Trump Russia story isn’t ‘dreamed up by the media’ but is based on intelligence assessments by analysts in the US and other countries.

@flutherother We will have to disagree then as I read that whole report hoping to find something anything resembling evidence, a smoking gun…all I read was conjecture.

“We assess with high confidence”.....”

My personal favorite part is… “Putin most likely wanted to discredit Secy Clinton…”

How the hell do they know what Putin most likely wanted? Seriously…“most likely” is the best our intelligence community could do?

This Report makes us look like bumbling idiots and even my 17 yr old sees through the charade put forth in that report.

My assessment is the DNC bungled the election for Hillary and I have a high level of confidence they probably even planted the hacks themselves. This is nothing more than a con job by our intelligence community no less! I refuse to buy into conjecture and Democratic sour grapes.

^Uugh…

@Cruiser Oh proof! You mean like Republicans and Hillary?

@stanleybmanly 50,000 some odd emails many with secret and classified information was plenty of proof for me. What would have been real fun is to find the 33,000 bleached emails. We had a real server, real phones, real Anthony Wiener lap top with classified emails on it. That is the kind of proof I am talking about. No double speak was needed to present this proof either….simply here it is folks see for yourself. Doesn’t seem that hard to do either…unless there is no proof. ;)

^You cry like Trump about the media, but you only hear what you want…

Just go talk turn on some Limbaugh, or Beck, so you can feel “right.” They will blab on for hours about ridiculous things you will agree with them on,but have no basis in reality.

Again. Trump is the one pulling the threads that will lead to his own unraveling. Nobody is making him sound like a lunatic. Why you would even bring up his 77 minute tantrum is beyond my understanding, unless you are trying to point out how terrible Trump is.

If you support Trump ,you should pray for him to fly low,and shut up. Then some of the horrible things he plans will at least have a chance…

I just can’t understand why Trump’s own words and actions don’t count as much as here say and conjecture about Hillary. The media isn’t showing fake,CGI Trumps, it’s actually Trump. Speaking from his own stupid mouth.

You mention people making a big deal out of his handshake. You said it’s being overemphasized by the media. But in my thread a few weeks ago about handshakes, you*opined that it was extremely important to *you. Now it isn’t because it’s your boy Trump?

Come on @Cruiser . You’re cherry picking, just like Trump’s pathetic PR crew.

I’ve got a new idea. Accountability….

@MrGrimm888 You don’t know me and I am the last person to cherry pick anything. I am looking for facts and you and everyone else is coming up empty handed. I do value a good handshake but that is secondary to the task at hand in whatever event it is I am shaking hands. The media once again totally took a pass on Trumps press meeting and Trumps meeting with Trudeau and instead felt Trumps aggressive hand shake was more news worthy. Good for you if that is all that matters to you. I have a multi million dollar company and 12 employees lives to worry about and the media shining a light on the good things Trump is doing would be helpful for all involved you included.

When I encounter people like you who backhandedly call anyone pathetic especially people they do not know I rapidly lose interest.

GA. But I agree to disagree.