I think another big reason for the differences is that they're unable to control the narrative like before. Media outlets have lost their authority and readers over the years, there's many other sources for news that are far more balanced now, and Twitter can no longer be used to suppress anyone with a dissenting view from theirs. As well, many people got a great view of how 'activists' act and who they are from the first round. People who gave them the benefit of the doubt before may be far less likely to do so again. All this push back and lack of support is, I think, one of the reasons many of these idiots are going nuclear and just saying more extreme and stupid things.
It's funny, way back when, on Livejournal and places like that - ideas like 'you can't be racist to white people' were considered indisputable fact. It's been wonderful to see reason returning and bs statements being contradicted.