I don’t know about you, but the little redoubts of the Internet where I go for a break from political wrangling are useless now for that purpose.
I really noticed the way social media intensified election season back in 2012. The mutual umbrage-taking, the late-night ranting of friends and family. Obviously that was barely preparation for 2016. But 2020 seems worse by a mile.
Political brain worms have already colonized sports to an astonishing degree. But now all the little digital communities I go to for my own breaks, the ones dedicated to mechanical watches and language learning, for instance, are full of progressives beating their chests about the depravity of Trump (Okay! Uncle!). These are followed by “stick to watches” and “stick to umlaut advice” taunts from you know who. And then this inspires insufferable invitations to unfollow.
I don’t think this trend goes away even if Trump does. I think the last redoubt I’ve found is the lawn-care community, which so far hasn’t found a way to work political jeremiads in between advice about whether to use a chewing fescue or tall fescue grass.