I think it was an intentional long-con. The hard-left/hard-right are like a quarter of the population or less. There are way more independent/libertarian/whatever in the middle. There are plenty of people who don't want Iraq Part II: The Iran Boogaloo. But fuck if they're going to stand next to pro-Biden people who want to allow hormones put in kids and mandatory experimental medication. On the other side, those people don't want "nazis" and "fascists" at their anti-war rallies either.

2016~2020 was one of the largest MKUltra-style experiments ever carried out against the world population. Even people who stand together against war can no longer stand together because of literally everything else.

The psyche of the world has been fragmented. It's a form of collective trauma that's separated the population in absolutist and totalist terms.