I grew up in a very right-wing household, so when I started to be old enough to consider politics, I didn't question it: the left were the bad guys, period. This was reinforced by the kind of shit that stands out to an idiot teen, like Bill Clinton's affair.

George W. was my first slap in the face to bring me to my senses with his obvious bullshit in the Middle East, so I had a 'these guys are horrible too' epiphany. When I became old enough to vote, I was stuck in the 'both sides' trap and either opting out or pissing it away to the libertarian party.

I enlisted under Obama, and had a hard time criticizing him, so that's when I finally started to question the left=bad nonsense and realizing that it was in fact nonsense, and that the parents I didn't question were just politically morons. Started paying much more attention to actual policy vs just personalities, which started pushing me left.

Then Trump happened, and he was SO CLEARLY an enemy to the US - everything he did weakened us, strengthened our enemies, and right-wing voters were cheering the whole time. That was the kick in the ass that finally got me to cross the line. I haven't missed an election since, big or small - solid blue, as progressive as possible. I'll even look up people's voter registration when deciding things like judges or school board positions, etc to make sure I'm not giving any support that could even indirectly boost the GOP. Tired of this Nazi shit.