Yepp. Never saw so much raw ugliness in my life.
Just for the record, I'm an American, but I live in Germany, so when I do get home, the changes that you all may not notice so much - because they happened so slowly, hit me squarely in the face. It's like a big culture shock, especially since 2011.
Yeah, I have several gamer friends I Skype with overseas. Australia, Germany, Sweden, Brazil, Japan, couple of Canadians...and when talks turn to the US occasionally, especially politics, my butthole tightens a little, haha. Because I know when they ask me, "So, is it really true such and such happened?" "Did they really try to pass, blah-blah." "Do some of your politicians really believe evolution is a lie/earth is 6,000 years old?" I just sigh a little and bemoan..."Yes." The reactions range from disbelief (I mean literally, questioning, doesn't register disbelief) to mocking laughs, to actual gasps...siiiggghh.
I tell them I'm liberal/progressive and have centrist views on some things. I've explained what that means as far as US party ideology is concerned so they can contrast it with their similar counter parts. And I try to be as honest as possible, without putting my own ideological spin on it. Which is harder than I thought, but I do my best.
The overall consensus seems to be...we're stupid, lol.