theory: the same moderate, reasonable points they made that attracted you to them also caused them to receive wave upon wave of criticism and pressure-campaigns from rabid shit-spewing extremists and these bluechecks eventually capitulate to.
i've been deeply skeptical of all kinds of media for years but in particular media that assumes the default stance of "our audience is dumb so we must explain things to these dummies because we are smart" Vox was always a huge red flag for me