Why many Democrats find this presidential campaign uniquely unsettling

[markodochartaigh]

26. I grew up in Amarillo Texas a half century ago.

I'm struck by how much that Trump and his associates say that I heard growing up. Of course many of the people back then were closer to Steve Bannon, Steven Miller, and the various pastors who call for the execution of lgbtq+ people and doctors who perform abortions than they were to Trump's mealymouthed wobbly stances on almost anything.
But the hard reich-wing were the "Southern Democrats" that held the Democratic party back in so many ways until the 1960's when they migrated en masse to the Republican party which was a far better fit for their authoritarianism. (Of course there certainly were many actual liberal members of the Democratic party in the South as well.)

Another big component of that 45% which seemed to be hidden were the Southern Baptists, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, etc. who were very reich-wing but were told not to vote since voting was a worldly thing and Bible-believing Christians should not support any worldly leader.
That 45% has always been there, I think, but it is only in the last half century that they have been pulled together and activated. And only in the last couple of decades with the influx of billionaire money (foreign and domestic) that they have been able to buy enough politicians and judges to become a clear and present danger to democracy.