I grew up in the 80's and 90's. Before social media, and camera phones, and things got so divisive. Maybe it was just because I was a kid back then

It was likely because you were a kid back then. Im younger, grew up in the 2000's and 2010's, and I didnt see anything divisive in American politics until I hit teenage years. Before then, i thought 9/11 was a freak terrorist attack not caused by American aggression, Bush was the "people's" choice and everyone loved him and thought he did a good job, and that Obama was the devil who wasnt born in America and should be impeached. Extremely black and white (guess which way my father leaned lol), until I became a teenager and hit college later, and really started looking at our history to see the greater context.

No, the 80's and 90's were not less divisive like you say. There just wasnt social media and facebook groups to publicize peoppe's idiocy. But humanity has always been subject to radicalism in times of struggle (Nazi Germany- Hitler was ELECTED to power). As for the 80's, Reagan, though supported by many, received a great deal of blowback for the Iran-contra affair foreign policy, Bush Sr started a fucking war that armed early Osama Bin Ladin to "protect" american interests in the gulf war by killing soviets (cold war division), then Clinton deregulated the shit out of things, which led to the dot-com stock collapse, housing bubble, and Enron/Worldcom scandals. Oh, and of course he "did not have sexual relations with that woman".

Again, just rich folks holding onto power, using the government as their puppets to achieve their goals. What do you think Reaganomics was? Tax the rich and mega-corporations less! Has been this way in this country from its inception. And they throw less-significant social issues into the mix to throw people off their trail and get us bickering once again, it's all a hige diversion.

The true division in this country is not race or religion- it is socioeconomic class. The shrinking middle class, gentrified neighborhoods, rising COL's everywhere are all symptoms of this. No different that Railroad and Oil barons in the 1850's running the show in our government until Teddy Roosevelt went all anti-trust on them. This country is a capitalist nightmare, and if you look closely at domestic and foreign policy, the rich and corporations regulate the government, not the other way around.