Wanted to add - not directly related to the above article, but kinda confirming the general environment:
"She hit me the other day," Trump said. "I was going to say to my people, 'Am I allowed to hit her now?'" "They said, 'Take it easy, sir,'" Trump said. "Well, what do you mean?" Trump replied to himself. "She said bad about me. I can't hit back?" The conversation continued with Trump's imaginary staff pleading with the former president to "just relax."
This is from https://www.rawstory.com/michelle-obama-vs-trump/ but it's a series of direct quotes from the guy himself.
You're not the first to think about this.
See https://aumetra.xyz/posts/the-fedi-ddos-problem - there an embed server is proposed, to be shared by multiple instances (ideally a great many would use just the one), which can host things like image files and previews.