Letter-writer Jim Hillebrecht (“We can’t take 4 more years of divisiveness”) is correct that every four years half of the country will be understandably upset by the results of a presidential election. And the election of Donald Trump was different because of the division and hatred. He’s wrong, however, to blame Trump.

When Barack Obama was elected, imagine half of the country turned on him and decided to delegitimize his presidency. Imagine his cabinet members were shouted out of restaurants or targeted by the previous administration’s FBI. What if a bogus charge was leveled against him that started a years-long investigation that included top officials from the previous administration appearing nightly on cable news denouncing him as a traitor?

Imagine over 90% of newspapers, network TV, universities, entertainment, the bulk of cable news networks, websites and search engines targeted him and called him a racist. Every statement twisted, every fault magnified, and every accomplishment lied about or buried.

How would Obama have fared under such all- encompassing opposition? Would you have blamed him for the anger in the country? When he argued his case, would you have called him divisive? Probably not.

Responsibility for the divisiveness and sheer hatred this country has been subjected to for the last few years belongs to Democrats.

Thomas Wagner

Murrysville

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