Tribalism at its worst.

So this came out the other day:

https://theintercept.com/2018/04/03/politics-liberal-democrat-conservative-republican/

The gist: But what if the source of this polarization has little do with where people actually fall on the issues, or what people actually believe in? What if people are simply polarized by political labels like “liberal” and “conservative” and what they imagine their opponents to be like more than they are by disagreements over issues like taxes, abortion, and immigration?

As proof, in part, the article offers how the GOP went from championing free trade to protectionism, or how the Democrats went from mocking Mitt Romney for calling Russia the greatest geopolitical adversary of the United States but not call Russia the greatest geopolitical adversary of the United States. Things like that.

It's tempting to jump on the conclusion and run with it. It validates, after all, my First, Foremost and Most Important Rule of Politics: It's wrong only when the other party does it. It explains why Republicans, and Trump's base in particular, would value trump above all because he gets Liberals mad. It also explains why criticism of Trump, not to mention insults, get trump supporters angry as well; and why their comeback is usually a similar criticism or insult of Obama or Clinton.

But it doesn't explain why some policy positions stay in one party exclusively, often for decades. Or why some people leave a party due to such positions.

It's also only one study, and we all know about the "replication crisis" in the social sciences.