Fact of the matter as a matter of fact

With everything that has happened, and is still happening, in and around this country over the past decade or so, it makes me wonder, what the heck is going on? Is there one thing that has brought us to this state of chaos, turmoil, and division?

I think that it is an accumulation of many different things over a very long period. It reminds me of that game some played as kids, and adults I guess, where one person tells another person something and then that person tells someone else, and so on. By the end of the chain of people, the story is nothing like the original one that was actually said...