RaceBoarder
Waiting for the Snow to fly...
20 years ago (30 years ago for sure) the GOP would have been different. Most of the Q crowd would have never been associated with the GOP...they would have been closer to the Proud Bois who want to overthrow the Government. I use this example a lot but Timothy McVeigh, Ruby Ridge, Waco...all of those people hated everything about the Big Government and back then it was run by George HW Bush. Their brand of reactionary conservatism would have been so far beyond what the GOP ever wanted to deal with on this level they would have been put at the kids table and ignored. Back then the GOP was smart enough to know you dont bring in the crazies because they arent beholden to the grift that your platform desires. You bilk them for donations and then ignore them.
Sorry but the 40% we are seeing now didnt exist then...crackpots always existed but they were the fringe. Now the crackpots have merged with the racists, the militias and the GOP to create a witches brew that is all new. 20 years ago 40% of the people would not have bought into Q...now it is literally the platform for one of the two major parties. The MAGA are something new...a coalition that is downright scary. The GOP opened Pandora's Box...
America has always, and will always, have its groups of crazies, scaries, stupids and evils. That is just part of living in a society. This is different though. Think of it this way you can have 25 random things in your house all of them fairly common and benign. You combine them though and they merge into something new and dangerous. That is what the MAGAytes are and we cant put them back in the box any more.
Agreed. In 1995 everyone in the family would give Crazy Uncle Jeff looks when he started going off about the "Deep State" and how vaccines were used as mind control. Now you openly talk about whatever the Conspiracy of the Week is and half of the people at the party are involved in the conversation...