This election has seen America devolve into a worse state of bitter partisanship. Harsh stereotypes about both sides became more prominent than ever before. Republican businessman Donald Trump is a bitter misogynistic racist, despite being friendly with women and people of varying races. Stephen Bannon, the former executive chair of Breitbart News, who will now serve as President-Elect Trump’s Chief Strategist to the President, was deemed a ‘white supremacist’, despite there being little evidence of just that.

The ramping up of the negative rhetoric grew worse as the left continued an onslaught of propaganda and negative attacks. The Never Trump crowd fed a burning hatred, ironically, against a group of people accused of being full of hatred.

Then a week ahead of the presidential election that would end all of the partisan dueling, a Mississippi church burned down. Not only was the church burned down in apparent act of arson, the words “Vote Trump” were written in big white letters on the torched building of worship.

It looked awful and fit every narrative the left had crafted about Donald Trump and his movement.

Is Trump a man of God who attracts truly religious people? Evidently not, considering a Trump supporter burned down a church. Does Trump oppose violence and is supported by people who refuse to engage in aggressive tactics? Apparently not, as a Trump burned down a church.

The timing was also perfect for the Democratic Party. A Trump supporter seemingly burned down a church leaving behind their message on the building, just a week before the election.

It also turned out all to be a hoax. The entire church burning by a Trump supporter was a setup.

African-American Andrew McClinton, a 45-year-old member of the church congregation, has been charged with first degree arson for the incident. McClinton has a prior criminal record including grand larceny and armed robbery.

What happened to the left’s convenient narrative that came a week before the presidential election?

Instead of waiting for the facts of an investigation to turn up, the left, joined by the mainstream media and Democratic Party establishment, all piled onto an all too convenient narrative. We were led to believe by bitter Clinton supporters and Never Trump activists that this was just another member of Republican Donald Trump’s bitter white supremacist army.

Will the left apologize for jumping the gun before an investigation was completed? Will Democrats apologize for exploiting the tragic burning of a place of worship for political gain? Will Hillary Clinton supporters apologize to Trump supporters for falsely accusing them of letting their apparent white supremacist rage fuel a church burning?

We live in deeply polarized times and in these controversial moments, it’s best to try and diffuse the situation. Escalating rhetoric is going to serve no purpose for everyday Americans. Here we had an arson attack on a church, which for many is a place of comfort and worship. Despite whatever initial appearances exist, an investigation had not been completed. After the investigation was completed, it turns out the initial theories were false.

Let the Mississippi church burning be a lesson to all who are eager to exploit tragedy for political gain.