Everything is hugely amplified now because of social media and the innernets, no doubt -- but the real difference that I see is that the establishment of the Republican Party has been co-opted by the lunatic fringe, and I personally don't think that that has happened on the left. Congressional Republicans have lived in terror of getting primaried by TEA Party loons since they saw what happened to Boehner for daring to compromise with the enemy -- and as a result we see nonsense like the debt ceiling shutdowns, the Benghazi witch hunt, the continual useless votes to repeal the ACA, the refusal to hold hearings on Merrick Garland, etc.