But, for all this polarizing messaging, the actual policy platform the president ran on in 2016 cut against political polarization. An infrastructure bill, trade reform, entitlement protections, continued government subsidies for health care — these are things that might appeal to many Democratic voters. As Vox’s Matt Yglesias has noted, Trump was perceived by the electorate as more politically moderate than previous recent GOP nominees.

Adding to that tension is the fact that, in governing, the president has not necessarily prioritized cross-party legislation. (The 2018 criminal-justice reform bill is a salient exception here.) In 2017, he supported an effort by congressional Republicans to enact sweeping changes through party-line votes on health care and taxes. The austerity-first congressional proposals on health care went nowhere and added to the headwinds Republicans faced in the 2018 midterms. The tax bill scaled back deductions for upscale suburban voters, and it never achieved a warm public reception; since Republicans passed it in a party-line fashion, they owned all its negatives. By using the repatriation of foreign profits parked abroad to pay for corporate tax cuts, the tax bill also helped sabotage an infrastructure bill, a possible bipartisan effort.