Now, it’s perfectly true that there was never a time in America when everyone just got along beautifully. Our history of racism and xenophobia alone puts the lie to that. But Trump’s intolerance truly is ecumenical in that it could be any group, any individual, any foe or (former) friend at any given moment. It’s entirely self-serving.
It’s making more and more people embrace political violence. The recent American Values Survey from Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in partnership with the Brookings Institution think tank found that one in three Republicans agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country” – up from 15% in 2021. (22% of Independents and 13% of Democrats agree, all numbers having increased since 2021.) The truly frightening number is that among those who believe the Big Lie, 46% believe they may resort to violence, as well as 41% of Trump fans and 41% who buy into the “Great Replacement Theory.” 39% of Christian nationalists are ready to take up arms to “save the country.” Those numbers represent tens of millions of Americans.
The South has been salivating over this for years and years. The Tea Party first formed because there was a black man that became president of the US. Enacting ‘The Day of the Rope’ will come in 2025 or soon-thereafter if the OrangeGodKing is put on the throne of the United States of America.
The Tea Party originally formed out of protests over the handling of the 2007 market crash. It was quickly seized on and astroturfed by conservative backers like the Koch brothers and turned into a racist movement that objected to a black president.
The guy who initially kicked everything off with his massively shitbagged rant against the 99% in America, specifically went after Obama in his rant; people glommed on to the anti-Obama very quickly.
Not that the system was broken; but that Obama was the one and only problem; oh,…besides the ‘poors’.
Here’s the kickoff that spread like wildfire through the ranks of the Conservatives at the time:
https://youtu.be/bEZB4taSEoA?si=iNYYXr5-nobg_YdO
And to think - the right wing kept trying to gaslight people like me (who had a memory) and say that it was a grassroots thing. Also, they kept telling me that calling them “teabaggers” was an epithet that was beyond the pale, childish, an insult, etc…when it was a word they used themselves - at first. Then they realized the world was snickering at them for saying they were going to teabag people…