"Minor" political events that had a big impact in shaping your outlook

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

The Trump era has really been a great sorting (morally speaking) for Americans of all political stripes and I can't begin to tell you how many people I know in my own life - some of whom I formerly respected a great deal - who have shown who they really are deep down in the worst way.  It's been very disappointing how many people (not just Trump supporters, you also see it with Democrats who adopt a horrifically social darwinist attitude about WWC folks, like I've literally heard multiple people refer to the Opioid crisis as "natural selection"). 

Maybe I was just being naive before, but I've really been shocked by how many Americans seem to have such a casual disregard for human suffering and really don't care about anything else but looking for an excuse to say some version of "hahahahaha, you're a stupid loser" to people they disagree with.  It really gives new meaning to the banality of evil.