12.5Obama, Trump, and a divided nation

In 2008, amid a severe financial crisis, Barack Obama was elected the first Black president, a milestone many saw as a landmark in the nation's long struggle with race. He responded to the Great Recession and passed a major health care law, but faced fierce opposition and rising partisan gridlock.

In 2016, Donald Trump won the presidency as a populist outsider, channeling the grievances of many voters against political and cultural elites and reshaping the Republican Party around economic nationalism and hard-line immigration policy. His tenure further polarized the country. The disputed aftermath of the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, revealed how bitterly divided the nation had become over its basic political processes.