There was an "exodus" I noticed Artiste's and Jess's absence at some point in the last couple years, but I didn't notice a bunch of people leaving, or catch that it was related to the election in any way?
I think only part of it was related to the election specifically. As happens in many presidential election years, people on both sides dig their heels in, and the differences in the ideologies on both left and right become more sharply drawn. But even after the election, there were a number of news items that sparked fierce debates here between liberals and conservatives on social rather than political grounds.