Sometimes I think we are all being played even by those who claim to be on our side
We are in large part.
Check out other news channels. Forget about the main idealogical differences, look for the common themes in the minor stories.
Great example - people vandalizing political candidate signs.
On one set of shows/sites, you’ll see the stories of repub signs getting trashed, on the others, you’ll see the stories of the dem signs.