i don't think its necessarily intentional. apocalyptic narratives play well online, the cold war made a generation paranoid about nuclear annihilation, and the US is steeped in evangelical culture. if you listen to right wing media, there's so much stuff talking about the end times its crazy. the reason the right likes Israel? they think it fulfills end times prophecy. everybody they don't like is the anti-christ. so many people in this country have been primed to accept the apocalypse as an inevitability, it isn't that surprising that the sentiment has spread to other parts of our culture, and into our political discourse. at least, that's my pet theory on why it pops up so often. could just be a human thing, honestly.