If you confuse criticism of citizens as criticism of the government, you're probably some kind of racist. You can just call out the government and not say it's the fault of the citizens directly.
If you confuse criticism of your government with criticism of yourself as a person, and it's a personal attack, you're a nationalist. If your leader said a bad take where people call it out and you consider it as if you personally said it, maybe stop being a form of parasocial weirdo for a politician who doesn't know your name beyond "dipshit voter who will defend his actions"
You can mock my government, it's not mocking me. You can mock me, it's not mocking my government. You can mock both.
When the person I voted for does a bad thing, I consider it a moral failing on them and a lesson for me to do better research on who I support.
I don't understand why that's such an issue.
Mind the distinction between "both sides are (equally) bad therefore I'll do nothing" and "both sides are quite bad (but not necessarily equally bad)".
Saying both sides are equally bad is indeed stupid and tactically bad. Saying one side is good and the other is bad is also stupid because both sides have a lot of blood in their hands and plan to continue it (to different degrees). Saying both sides are pretty bad but not equally bad is quite accurate to the situation. If we want positive change, we need to be willing to see the flaws, so let's not paper over the Democratic party's issues (of which there are many). Let's also make the best we can out if the situation and make sure the Republican party has as little power as possible, because miraculously they're far worse.