Tuesday's court ruling was the last thing Donald Trump needed. He was told that he could be charged with slandering E Jean Carroll, a woman who accused him of rape. He was hoping that because he made the remarks in 2019, when he was president, he would be immune from prosecutionTo officially accuse someone in court of having taken part in a crime. . But government lawyers decided otherwise.

Trump is facing numerous legal problems. To his critics, this is a well-deserved come-uppance for his appalling behaviour. But many Republican PartyAlso known as the Grand Old Party or GOP, it is one of the USA's two major political parties. Its first president was Abraham Lincoln. It sits on the right of the political spectrum. members see it as a conspiracy by his political opponents.

There are few people in the middle. And this, according to an article by Jonathan HaidtAn American social psychologist and author. Haidt has previously worked personally with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's role in society.  in The Atlantic, is a symptom of America's problems.

The US, he says, is becoming "like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the ConstitutionA document that sets out the fundamental rules according to which a country is governed, which are usually difficult to change., economics and American history". The division is not just between DemocratsMembers of the Democratic party, the left-leaning US political party. Joe Biden and Barack Obama are both Democrats. and Republicans, "but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums and even families."

Haidt blames social media. In its early days, Facebook seemed a boonA helpful thing. to democracy. Connecting individuals made it harder for an authoritarianEnforcing strict obedience to authority. government to impose its will.

But that changed in 2009, when Facebook made liking and sharing possible, and Twitter introduced its "Retweet" button. Next, Facebook developed algorithmsAny set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, "the algorithm" refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them. to show users posts they would probably like or share.

Research¹ has now shown that posts arousing emotions - particularly anger - are the ones most likely to be shared. This, Haidt says, "encouraged dishonesty and mob dynamics".

A consequence has been "the continual chipping-away of trust" in the media and the people who run the country. Haidt sees Donald Trump as the first politician to exploit this. At the same time, "call-out culture" emerged at the other end of the political spectrum.

Social media gave a voice to a small number of aggressive people who frightened the moderate majority into silence. The West, Haidt argues, became great because it believed in letting people disagree with each other in order to arrive at the best solutions. Now that many people - particularly in universities - are afraid to say what they think for fear of being cancelled, that is no longer happening.

Yes: The divisions in the US are so deep that people have stopped listening to anyone who disagrees with them. People in authoritarian countries like China have more faith in their governments.

No: A survey by the pro-democracy group More in Common found that America has an "exhausted majority" of people who are fed up with all the fighting and willing to make compromises.

Or... Political divisions exist in most countries, no matter what kind of regime is in charge. Authoritarian countries like Iran and Russia have far bigger problems than the US does.