Surely both sides are responsible even though it only started happening once a certain political figure popped up started calling his meekest opponents murderers and criminals and having crowds chant for them to be locked up

You're right, it's the other side that's feeding the political divide!

It's not the other side who is feeding the political divide but it definitely is the other side who has been escalating the aggressiveness ("the rethoric")

I wouldn’t say it’s a recent phenomenon. It’s just reached absurd levels.

As for who’s responsible, there’s plenty of blame to go around. However it’s hard to deny that conduct of one party is far far less professional than the other party.

I honestly think politicians should be thrown in jail for lying. But that will never happen because they’re all too busy being corrupt; the entire lot of them.

Is “Basket of Deplorables” ringing any bells?

So calling your opponent's supporters stupid (or whatever was meant) is the same than calling for your opponent's arrest ?

That was proven correct, so what are you saying the problem is?

If I remember right, she said that half his supporters were a basket of deplorables. This right after a study was published suggesting that about half of conservatives were unconsciously racist.

So she wasn't wrong, but saying that out loud was pretty stupid.

This was a once unscripted statement that she never repeated again her entire campaign. She expressed regret immediately after making it (not after losing) explaining how it was grossly generalistic but stood by that it does describe a large chunk of Trump's base.

Can you name one time Trump immediately regretted what he said about the Left and explained that it was an overgeneralization? Also again, in Clinton's case it was a single unscripted statement. By contrast Trump has a pattern of calling opponents vermin, the anti-christ, evil, warning of a bloodbath to come... Yea the left's attacks on the right just don't seem nearly as bad especially if it is just being called "deplorable" once. I could write a book that is just hateful Trump quotes. Ganna print it and give it to my son one day as inspiration for how to be an honourable leader. /s

I say all this as a Canadian that would have voted for Trump in 2016 if I could have.