America has become this extremely polarized place the last 10ish years where everybody know that "the other side" are actually monsters. If you are a Democrat,

America has become this extremely polarized place the last 10ish years where everybody know that "the other side" are actually monsters. If you are a Democrat, you think of Republicans as Nazis and white supremacists. If you're a Republican, you think of Democrats as authoritarians and communists. Naturally, once you "know" that the other side is the party of pure evil, you know that whatever the propose, you must oppose. (Even if you're a politician who doesn't really believe this, you wouldn't want to be seen as agreeing with monsters). A related problem is that nobody trusts our institutions and processes. Republicans mostly believe that the Democrats have built their power primarily on vote fraud and the support of the media. (Things like the big push for extended time mail-in ballots and "ballot harvesting" which produce ballots with no chain of custody feed these fears of vote fraud). Democrats mostly believe that Republicans have built their power on secret backroom deals with foreign powers and a collection of billionaires (there have been a variety of investigations into folks' dealings with Russia in particular.) As a result nobody much cares about preserving the norms or the niceties -- only winning the fight of the moment. If you're an American, you can likely point to one or two things that "the other side" did that started this process -- my Republican friends and my Democrat friends each tell me about what the enemy did to start the fight. (Republicans are more likely to use the word 'war', but they both tend to see it as an existential struggle for our continued freedom) Against that background of hate and distrust, every action is seen as obviously being the worst possible thing. I know plenty of (smart) Republicans who know for certain that coronavirus lockdowns are part of a premeditated plan to finally end liberty and install a new communist dictatorship in November (that's why mail in balloting is holding up the coronavirus relief bill -- Democrats need to make sure they can vote fraud their way to 100% control before we demand to be let out of our houses). Before you tell me that they aren't smart, I also know some very smart and capable Democrats that believe that Republicans want to reopen states like Michigan because the only people who will go back to work in big numbers will be the poor and minorities, and the entire goal of the coronavirus response was to use it as best as possible to "liquidate" the poor and brown people, so that the rich who control Republicans can have lower taxes and lots of vacant property to buy up for cheap. That's also why the borders are closed -- they believe that is intended to be permanent and in both directions, since Republicans hate foreigners. These that I have presented are the "strong" versions of the beliefs I've encountered. They're not universal, but the hate and distrust implied by them is nearly universal. I am presumably not an exception, though the (unusual) fact that I keep members of both parties in my social circles helps keep me able to see both perspectives clearer than most seem to.