For the past two years, Judy Woodruff has been exploring the deep divisions we see playing out every day in the country.

As we wrap up the year, she recently sat down with a panel of noted thinkers to talk through their concerns and their hopes following the election.

It's part of her ongoing series, America at a crossroads.

We met last week at the Lincoln Cottage in Washington, D.C. It's part of her ongoing series, America at a crossroads.

We met last week at the Lincoln Cottage in Washington, D.C., a place we've returned

to throughout our series, here in the room where the 16th president drafted the Emancipation

Proclamation.

Joining me were former federal appellate Judge Michael Ludig, one of the nation's leading

conservative jurists.

Heather Cox Richardson, historian at Boston College, and author on Substack of the Daily

Letters from an American.

And Theodore Johnson, contributing columnist for the Washington Post and retired naval officer.

I began by asking them what they thought the American people were saying in this most recent election.

America has come to the crossroads now.

This was the most transparent president and presidency in American history.

Americans literally knew everything there was to know about Donald Trump.

And he succeeded in convincing millions upon millions of Americans that this was just

another presidential election where both candidates should be considered equally as if the one had never been president before.

I think most Americans simply were saying they didn't like the higher price as if the one had never been president before.

I think most Americans simply were saying they didn't like the higher prices that came after the coronavirus pandemic.

And what they're going to get is something very different than they thought they wanted.

So, for example, we know that people who say they paid no attention at all.

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