It's counterintuitive, but the most divisive arrangement is when the same party controls both Congress and the presidency, a situation encountered in eight of the past 10 years. With government unified under a single party, the minority has the least possible incentive to cooperate with the majority.

Summary

This quote highlights the counterintuitive aspect of political division in a unified government. It suggests that when a single party controls both Congress and the presidency, it tends to create more divisions between the majority and minority parties. The reasoning behind this is that the minority party, lacking the power to enact policy changes on its own, has little incentive to cooperate with the majority. In such situations, political cooperation and compromise may become more challenging, potentially fueling greater divisiveness within the government.

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