I hate myself for allowing myself to feel as such, but I don't know what to do.

[DissidentVoice]

8. It's not just media sources

I rarely watch MSNBC.

I get most of my news from overseas; i.e. CBC, BBC, A(ustralian)BC and Deutsche Welle (I speak German).

It wasn't until the rise of Trump that I seriously started thinking of a Republican candidate as a "fascist," and incidentally, I voted for Reagan in 1984 and Bush Junior in 2000. Do I regret it? Somewhat, but it cannot be changed.

Well, I should amend that. In 2004 I thought of Cheney/Bush (and I got the order right) as deeply fascist, after the USA Patriot Act.

Being a near-Detroiter, rather than a New Yorker, your Jets/Sharks analogy is lost on me.

As I said, this goes way back past the current primaries. I first noticed it when I first heard Rush Limbaugh in 1992. Honestly, I thought he was some sort of political parodist until I listened more to him, read his books of unabashed self-love and realised he was serious.