You’ve set this in the context of USA politics and society. Clearly it is not just limited to the USA. I seem to recall similar types of things occurring in Europe over the past 20 − 30 years.
I also suspect one might find this type of problem more prevalent within the environmental discussions and various camps.
Last, the the behavior of a lot of mainland Chinese students in other countries seems to be applying these types of tactics in the context of discussions and positive views about the Hong Kong protests and pro-democracy movements.
It does seem that some pendulum has been swinging in this direction for some time everywhere. So perhaps it is actually a normal social/political cycle type event we’re seeing play out. But that does still beg the question about underlying forces and perhaps more importantly the countervailing forces that might return us to more reasoned and tolerant dialogue when differences exist.
The conditions are similar here in India. The left and liberals, believe often without reason that the minorities are being oppressed. Cases within our country where the Muslim minority is in majority, and the national majority (but local minority) have faced oppression are whitewashed. Recently the liberals have taken to protesting against Citizenship Amendment Act, and calling it Islamophobic. And a pretty unrelated act, that is. But anyone who tries to correct their opinion, for example by telling them to read the Act, will be called a fascist.