I grew up in a very conservative household in the U.S. and when Bill Clinton was elected I watched my mother descend into a pit of anger, fueled by her constant

I grew up in a very conservative household in the U.S. and when Bill Clinton was elected I watched my mother descend into a pit of anger, fueled by her constant attention to Rush Limbaugh and cable news. Her fixation on the Clinton presidency and news related to it was all-consuming. The sad thing was that she felt like she was making a difference and was actively engaged in the political process, much the same way that a rabid football fan feels like they are actually affecting the outcome of the games through their fandom. The amount of vitriol spewed toward Clinton in our house was nothing short of obsessive and in hindsight, pretty unhealthy. Looking back, one would easily wonder, "why? What was the big deal?" To this day any mention of the man will provoke a look of disgust and some derogatory remark from my mother. Realistically Clinton's presidency actually had very little effect on my family's life, and if we were completely ignorant of who was president at the time nothing would be different other than the constant level of angst. I live in a blue state now so I witness other people do the same thing my mother did but focused on Bush (the next Hitler!!!!) and then Trump (Uhhh...what do we call him now that "next Hitler" is already taken? I guess we'll just call him that but louder and angrier). I'd imagine that Obama got the same treatment in various other parts of the country. I also see this kind of reaction seems to replace rational thought and productive action that actually would make any sort of difference in the world with well, just hate.