Our capital is surrounded by thousands of soldiers and a razor wire barrier (looks a lot like sections of the southern border, ironically). Governors are sending additional troops to Washington for the stated purpose of combating "misinformation". Current military and intelligence officials (including the CIA) are openly talking about turning the Eye of Sauron inward at "domestic terrorism". Words like "deprograming" are being used by government/elected officials. At the same time we have the so-called deplatforming movement. That same group of politicians/officials range from supportive to accepting of that movement. The primary focus of all of those phenomena happens to lie in the direction of people who would be supporters of the large majority of those politicians' rivals.
People in the traditional political center (~cL and myself) or somewhat to one side of the spectrum (like ffj) obviously have concerns about the trends and the potential connectivity. I can't speak for the other two, but to me it gets magnified when seeing fellow ordinary people supportive, dismissive, or worst of all, just denying it. We just had an election where we changed to what was billed as better leadership. I hope one day it emerges. In the meantime I don't blame anyone for running and hiding. Self-preservation is an inalienable right. Unfortunately that strains or breaks social connections sometimes. Brings to mind a refrain from an old song, "Times, they are a-changin'". I am already suspecting that my decision to just bleach my follow up "journal" inadequate. Sigh.
We'll see what happens in the fullness of time. My prediction is in the short term we'll see increasing withdrawal and isolation, which is likely the last thing we need to see surge as the pandemic hopefully begins to wind down.