This was well written and (imo) a pretty objective analysis of the sociopolitical shift of things in the US. Thanks for writing it, especially the part about the 90s not being all that much better. It kinda seems to me that many people forget this due to Y2K and 9/11 resetting peoples' memory, or maybe the average internet user has gotten younger and that's affected "discourse".

Your last bullet also kinda hints at why the trend towards "low-trust" cuts both ways -- liberals and progressives are similarly "done" with interacting with the other side. I don't see a way out but it saddens me we're heading to a more anti-social society (anti social in the political sense, oxymoron intended)