Thanksgiving is in the rear-view mirror.

Straight ahead is winter, Christmas and the start of 2017.

Hopefully, 2017 will be much better than 2016.

I don’t mean for myself, although a few less bills from the vet would be nice.

I’m talking about a country intent on ripping itself apart from the inside.

Despite being a pretty optimistic person, I’m not hopeful.

Donald Trump will take over as president next month.

Half the nation is in a deep funk, unable to control their seething anger. They are shocked, saddened, irate and in need of therapy because their country elected a white, bigoted, racist, woman-hating, billionaire homophobe.

The other side is elated, thrilled that America did not elect a crooked, dishonest, money-grabbing, habitual liar who’s only qualification to become president is that she lived in the White House with a former president.

At least that’s what the national media tells us.

I blame a lot on the national media. And until it does something to change my opinion, I’ll not quit blaming it

The hate coming out of this election is more intense than others.

The media doesn’t tell us they fomented much of this hate.

With their coverage.

All we hear and read about from those who feed us news from around the country is negative.

Hundreds of U.S. citizens are mad at America for electing Trump. They’ve threatened to leave the country in protest.

In response, millions of Americans have offered to help pack the bags of those hundreds and to provide transportation to the nearest bus stop, train stop, airport or border crossing.

The vitriol has somewhat lessened in recent weeks.

But the two sides are far from civil.

My fear is we will never be civil again.

Hillary Clinton — along with 99 percent of the national media — vilified Trump when he left open the possibility of not accepting the results of the presidential election.

But now, Hillary is taking part in a recount effort in three states.

And that same national media — well 99 percent of it — is oddly silent as Hillary does the exact thing she chastised Trump for thinking of doing.

It’s no wonder our nation no longer has the ability to accept defeat with grace … or honor.

We are following the example of our two most influential example-setters: politicians and the national media.

It’s shameful the way we follow their examples.

The media has forgotten there are more than two sides to every story.

In their eyes, you are with us. Or you are against us.

Diversity and different opinions used to be a good thing.

We welcomed them. We nurtured them. We encouraged them.

Now, we detest them.

Disagreements used to lead to discussions, to compromise.

Compromise is no longer acceptable.

Conservatives are bigots and homophobes. They hate anyone who isn’t white, who doesn’t believe in a God, who wasn’t born in America and who doesn’t make millions of dollars by oppressing workers.

Liberals love and accept everyone — except those who disagree with them, and those who are ultra successful. Those people, they hate with a burning passion.

I know most Americans are not that extreme in their thinking.

But in today’s media, all you hear are extremes.

Because that’s the way politicians — through their allies in the media — portray the other side.

Sadly, most of America believes everything the national media tells us.

They believe there are only two classes in America: those who oppress and those who are oppressed.

America used to be a melting pot.

Now we’re a boiling cauldron of hate.

Until the national media starts reporting the news — without its own agenda getting in the way and slanting every word it reports — this nation is doomed to rip itself apart.

Al Quaida, or ISIS, or ISIL or lone-wolf terrorists are not this nation’s greatest threat.

We have become our greatest threat.

Thanks to Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, USA Today, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

We don’t need everyone else to hate us.

We hate each other, with a passion unknown in American history.

The Civil War was not this acrimonious.

Today, there are only two sides in America.

You’re right. Or you’re wrong.

There is no in-between.

If I don’t believe exactly as you, I’m an idiot.

And if you don’t believe exactly as I believe. You’re a moron.

Middle ground?

There is no middle ground.

You’re right, or left.

You’re a republican or a democrat.

You’re an extreme conservative, oran extreme liberal.

The middle is for losers.

At least that’s what the media, which is pushing its own agenda, wants us to believe.

That national media thrives on animosity and hatred and name-calling.

So they push it. They encourage it.

And we join the fray.

The American public is too easy to manipulate.

Hate and anger drives us, and it drives the profits of the national media.

That’s a deadly combination.

If Americans don’t return to the middle soon … well, I don’t want to consider the possibilities.