I suspect that strong emotion you felt then, elicited from an external source who you didn’t know personally and which pushed you in a direction you weren’t naturally inclined to go on your own, is at the root of all of this bullshirt.
This is definitely not a personal criticism in the slightest. That emotional response is simply part of the human condition - for folks on the right, the left and the middle - and it’s exacerbated by the non-stop barrage of social media and the 24 hour news cycle. And somehow we need to find a way to stay centered on ourselves, and carefully cultivate the external sources we use to challenge our own held beliefs while avoiding the echo chambers that cement our current beliefs.