In 1858, after winning the Republican nomination for the Senate against incumbent Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech that has stood the test of time because of the truth it laid plain before a country ripping itself in two.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” the future president said.

Lincoln was talking about slavery, but the gospel sincerity cannot be confined to just one issue.

Our house has been fractured into smaller and smaller rooms ever since. Urban and rural, North and South. Conservatives break into Reagan Republicans, moral majority, Tea Party and MAGA. Liberals are no longer just Democrats but centrists or progressives. There are the shards broken off of other parties — independent, Green, Libertarian, etc.

The battle lines seem more deeply chiseled than at any time since the secession of 1860. Like then, they are not just one deep chasm between Union and Confederate, or running along the borders of states.

The divisions are rupturing houses and families.

In August 2022, Chad Kultgen started a podcast with his parents, Bob and Mary Lou Kultgen, and his sister, Haley Popp. The kids are liberal — progressive, they have said in the posts. The parents are not. They are deeply committed to President Donald Trump.

Chad Kultgen started the podcast, “The Necessary Conversation,” when he realized his family was no longer talking. In May, he wrote an op-ed for TribLive, explaining why he started the project and what it has accomplished for them.

“No one’s opinions have changed, and I don’t think they will,” he wrote. “The point is to have a scheduled weekly hour where we all talk to each other. We talk about politics because it’s hard for my parents to talk about anything else, but at least we are talking.”

That’s a good thing. We need to talk. Kultgen said the lack of communication is one of the country’s biggest problems, and he’s right.

But the other problem is on full display in the podcast every week, and in my opinion, it’s getting worse. The heels are dug in and the animosity is growing, at least on the parents’ side.

After Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed and state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife shot in June, Bob Kultgen claimed it was “just the start.”

“They got it coming,” he said.

“Who has it coming?” his son asked.

“Those Democrats,” Bob Kultgen said.

Increasingly, the divide is growing. While Dad embraces violence, Mom denies there are problems. While Bob Kultgen agrees wholeheartedly with the rounding up of immigrants, regardless of status, Mary Lou simply says it isn’t happening.

So what is the resolution? How does this ever come to a middle ground when even the parents who are on Trump’s side don’t agree on what’s happening?

Viewers on social media are becoming frustrated and videos pushing for Chad Kultgen to end the podcast are popping up. He noted in his op-ed that he regularly gets death threats and requests to pass threats along to his parents.

That’s not helpful or safe for anyone. If you don’t like the Kultgens’ conversation, simply turn it off.

But this divided house is showing Lincoln was right. This can only go on so long before it collapses.

“I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided,” Lincoln said.

I, for one, am OK with a little division. I never want to be in any room where I agree completely with everyone on everything. How boring.

But the default can’t be hostility and denial. We’ve seen that play out before. Ask Lincoln.

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