Tribalism and the "fever swamps" of social media platforms are fueling a growing division between Americans that won't stop until we "expand the definition of us," Bill Clinton wrote in a column for The New York Times.
The former two-term president didn't mention President Donald Trump, but he didn't have to.
"As a nation, we’re on a very different path. All too often, tribalism based on race, religion, sexual identity and place of birth has replaced inclusive nationalism, in which you can be proud of your tribe and still embrace the larger American community," Clinton wrote for the Times, the same day the Supreme Court held up the president's travel ban.
Further, Clinton bemoaned the deleterious effect that social media sites have in fueling those divisions.
"Too many social media sites are fever swamps of extremist foreign and domestic invaders. Such resolute efforts to abolish the line between fact and fiction, truth and lies, can offset all the benefits of our interconnectedness," Clinton wrote. "When trust vanishes and knowledge is devalued as an establishment defense of the status quo, anything can happen.
"Who wins in this kind of environment? Those who already have it made; they’ll make more. The least responsible members of the political media, who will prosper covering each new controversy and outrage," Clinton wrote.
"Every American should follow our Constitutional framers’ command to form a more perfect union, to constantly expand the definition of 'us' and shrink the definition of 'them,'" Clinton wrote.
"Therefore our most important challenge is deciding who we Americans really are — as citizens, communities and a nation. On that, all else depends," Clinton concluded.
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