I am in the US and its gotten very political but as pretty much a peon do I just tune the stuff out thinking its fear mongering? Or should I closely pay attention to it?

That's a wild take. Everything is subject to change when you change political leaders. A single person, the president, can't do THAT much on their own. But when they have a large portion of the government in their pocket and a huge number or rabid fans, then yes. Everything can change.