At some point, going back before 2000.....I think most all Republicans and Democrats could socialize....meet up at family get-togethers....worship in the same church...and conduct regular relationships.
Something clicked in this period of 2000 and 2010, and it became a confrontational attitude. This is in the period when you noticed magazines were now confrontational (not just Time and Newsweak, but Nat’l Geographic and Readers Digest). Comedians got into the act...to the point today where half of the comedians aren’t funny anymore.
I think the straw that broke the camel’s back was Al Gore’s reaction to losing the presidential election in 2000. he paved the way for the “Never [fill-in-the-blank]ers” to ply their trade.
I haven’t read Reader’s Digest in years and couldn’t remember why, so I picked up a Large Print version at the store, thinking I’d get a subscription. The first story I read was about a woman and her “wife.” I remembered why I stopped reading it and tossed it in the trash.
The clicker was when HRC came out stating (paraphrasing here) “You can’t silence me. If I wish to criticize this President, I’ve every right to do so. You are unable to stop me.”
From that point in time it progressively grew worse. The playing field was bloody with never a blade of green grass to be seen again. In reality, it was Bill’s Hill that pulled the curtain on the demons hiding in plain sight.
You can thank the 2000 election recount and the Democratic myth that GWB “stole” the election from Al Gore.