Grew up in a rural red state. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to really understand their politics, and as best I can summarize, here it is:
They are angry about how life has gotten worse for them, economically and culturally.
They have very good reason to be angry about that, because it has.
They are misinformed about what changed since the 50s and 60s, and too many of them seem to think more racism and sexism will restore their prosperity and dignity
They have decided the only thing to do about it any more is to burn everything down until they get the respect they feel entitled to
They are sincerely sad and angry it hasn’t worked yet
The shorter story here, of course, is that the establishment GOP of the late 70s underestimated the willingness of its fascist wing to not die and completely didn’t do the necessary things to prevent the party from being almost completely taken over by fascists
Grew up in a rural red state. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to really understand their politics, and as best I can summarize, here it is:
They are angry about how life has gotten worse for them, economically and culturally.
They have very good reason to be angry about that, because it has.
They are misinformed about what changed since the 50s and 60s, and too many of them seem to think more racism and sexism will restore their prosperity and dignity
They have decided the only thing to do about it any more is to burn everything down until they get the respect they feel entitled to
They are sincerely sad and angry it hasn’t worked yet
The shorter story here, of course, is that the establishment GOP of the late 70s underestimated the willingness of its fascist wing to not die and completely didn’t do the necessary things to prevent the party from being almost completely taken over by fascists