I think that the Bush/Gore was the first time in a while that the democrats failed to steal an election. And they were mad about it. Not that Dubya wan an angel, but compared to Gore, well, dirt is an angel compared to him.
Anyway, I got my first real red-pilling around 1995 when I was back in school. I decided that the days of getting by on a high school and trade school degrees weren't enough - that I needed college. So I started taking classes at the Cleveland State University. What a rude awakening. What they were teaching - it was completely and utterly communist propaganda. How they got away with it, I don't know.
Anyway, about the same time, I read 'Atlas Shrugged' which introduced me to the ways of the deep state left. Rand's religious position notwithstanding, I saw much of what was in that book taking place in real time. The world was changing, and changing fast even then. And I didn't like it.