To a large extent I agree with you. However, I remember that even with the Obama campaign I felt the same kind of unease that I feel now, a suspicion that we've maybe become a tad too effective at manipulating people, or rather large numbers of them through means that simply weren't available before the internet, marketing research, social media, and other 'modern day' things.
I suppose one could argue that this has been happening for a long time. I'm sure mass media and TV changed things, as did newspapers before that, etc. And while that does make the current 'narrative' a bit hysteric, I still think this general development through time is worth worrying about (and discussing).