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When a political party deploys disapproval (fading into outright hatred) of a racialized "other" in its messaging to voters, it legitimizes and encourages the growth of such illiberalism.
In winkingly (and often openly) condoning Islamophobia, GOP leaders weren't just "doing normal politics" by passively responding to voter concerns, it was building a political culture that would be receptive to the explicit racism of a candidate like Trump.
The GOP has been doing this longer than I've been alive, and I'm old. In 1964 they nominated for President Barry Goldwater who explicitly solicited the votes of segregationists in the South with his vote *against* the Civil Rights Act. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1272264794846814208?s=20
Everyone, and I can't stress this enough, everyone knew what the game was. The GOP was casting its lot with the white backlash against the civil rights movement, but pretending like they just believed in "small government" and old fashioned "federalism." https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1279809641019346944?s=20
Here's a thread where I develop this line of argument more fully. Yes, there were voices inside the GOP who spoke out against this decision to double down on white grievance identity politics. But those voices lost out. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1278728456272928770?s=20
I didn't mean to go off like this in response to Jonathan's excellent thread. If you haven't already, please go back and read it. https://twitter.com/jnthnwwlsn/status/1285224264631758853?s=20
