What's happening?

Donald TrumpAn American television personality who became US president from 2016 to 2020, and will become president again in January 2025. is facing lots of legal problems. To his critics, this is well-deserved. But his supporters say they are made up by people who want to stop him from being US presidentIn some countries, the leader is called the president. again.

There are few people in the middle. 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, this shows why America has such big problems.

The US, he says, is becoming "like two different countries claiming the same territoryLand that belongs to a state. , 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".

It is not just the political parties - DemocratsMembers of the Democratic party, the left-leaning US political party. Joe Biden and Barack Obama are both Democrats. and RepublicansPeople who believe a country should not have a king or queen, or in the US, members of the Republican party. - that do not agree. Families are split down the middle. So are companies, universities and even museums.

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Haidt blames social media. In its early days, Facebook seemed like it could help democracyA system of government based on the idea of rule by the people.. People could speak to each other more easily and share ideas.

Next, Facebook developed computer programmes to show users posts they would probably like or share.

Research¹ has now shown that posts which make people angry are the ones most likely to be shared. This means that extremeVery great, or beyond what is expected. views have been shared lots of times online.

Yes! The US is so divided that people have stopped listening to anyone who disagrees with them. People have lost trust in the politicians who run the USA.

No! Most Americans are fed up with all the fighting. They are willing to listen to each other. Americans will not put up with democracy being under threat.