I think your last sentence summed it perfectly. There was no friendship from the start. Only a sexual/romantic desire. Honestly I will go even further and say that at least for males, real friendships require other males where there is no sexual tension.
Doesn’t mean too much in today’s world. USA politics became a bit too loud nowadays. There are two parties anyway that can’t reflect the true political views of every single citizen that votes for them. I believe that things will calm down a bit in a few years anyway.