"Criticizing the President is criticizing America, and criticizing America is criticizing me!" Conservatives in 2004, Liberals in 2024
If you confuse criticism of citizens as criticism of the government, you're probably some kind of racist. You can just call out the government and not say it's the fault of the citizens directly.
If you confuse criticism of your government with criticism of yourself as a person, and it's a personal attack, you're a nationalist. If your leader said a bad take where people call it out and you consider it as if you personally said it, maybe stop being a form of parasocial weirdo for a politician who doesn't know your name beyond "dipshit voter who will defend his actions"
You can mock my government, it's not mocking me. You can mock me, it's not mocking my government. You can mock both.
When the person I voted for does a bad thing, I consider it a moral failing on them and a lesson for me to do better research on who I support.
Mind the distinction between "both sides are (equally) bad therefore I'll do nothing" and "both sides are quite bad (but not necessarily equally bad)".
Saying both sides are equally bad is indeed stupid and tactically bad. Saying one side is good and the other is bad is also stupid because both sides have a lot of blood in their hands and plan to continue it (to different degrees). Saying both sides are pretty bad but not equally bad is quite accurate to the situation. If we want positive change, we need to be willing to see the flaws, so let's not paper over the Democratic party's issues (of which there are many). Let's also make the best we can out if the situation and make sure the Republican party has as little power as possible, because miraculously they're far worse.
I just think people have had the left vs right shit drilled into their heads by cable news and social media. Any attack on team blue is attack on them because it's them or team red. Anarchy is nuanced, and foreign to the left vs right debacle.
A lot of the fault goes straight to Fox News who basically pioneered this new world. GOD DAMN LIBERALS ARE COMING FOR YOU!!! Twenty years of this. And it was successful! News orgs are most interested in profit and keeping this left vs right debate going is profitable.