I can not remember it not being the same. Seriously. This country has a history of assassination going back more than 150 years, this country has killed its own students,i.e; Kent State, has enslaved it's own people,i.e; black slavery, the draft, has demonized its own own citizens,i.e; McCarthy blacklists, has been ruled by fear and stupidity. So yeah there've always been vitriol. I'm retired and I cannot remember a time of true peace - when most folks were in love with Reagan I was on the other side working to get him somewhere else - like a retirement home.

Why yes I do find it all upsetting and absurd at different and sometimes the same time. But I'm old and tired of it.