Sorry for the confusion, that line wasn't about the elects. It was about the people.
Yelling and screaming and threatening half of the country pushes them away - it doesn't bring them closer. I've had a lot more hate for being pro-trump and transexual from the "Never Trump" crowd than I did from the Trump crowd. Staggering amounts of hate.
Which is why I used the line: names which are only sometimes "earned". The names were used to try and persuade the public and to make people "not want to support Trump". All it did was turn huge parts of his crowd "silent". After all, "free speech is protected - but not without consequences!" and supporting Trump had its consequences. Look at how people treat Peter Thiel.
I totally agree that the division and tribalism on US politics is terrible. The threats, disrespect and alienation between both sides are not okay, and both sides are guilty of that. It's the fruits of the toxic and hostile political culture in the US, and it's gotten continuously worse over the past 20 years. I don't think there was this kind of hostility in the 1980s (though I admit I'm too young to be sure about that).
Looks like it did. Trump was easily the biggest name-caller, and got rewarded for it every time.