Has the left and the right always been this far apart?

By far apart do you mean so far apart that the left calls the right murderers, with no evidence, within 20 minutes of a shooting of a congresswomen by a madman? I doubt if we have ever been that far apart. I don't remember anyone trying to figure out Hinkley's politics when he shot Reagan in 1981. Everyone said that Hinkley was a lunatic with a gun. How strange is that?