It's difficult to know who is driving the vicious circle of bigotry and exclusion. The base's anger and grievance has been ginned up by decades of a diet of Fox and Sinclair news outlets, peppered with the fever dreams of Facebook radicalization. Trump showed GOP politicians how to openly direct their anger towards minorities and to blame them for their own shortcomings.
When governance and accountability are no longer guardrails (and the former wasn't given more than a veneer pre-Trump), then politicians are only required to perform. No results or changes are required, as long as the base is periodically thrown red meat.
Of course, it's not only non-White populations that are marginalized, it's clearly women as well in Texas. There is a massive backlash against women for their educational and career gains throughout the last 50 years. Forcing women to give birth and eradicating diversity requirements are just the initial steps in the war to force women into a 2nd class status.
Instead of bsnding together to fight global warming (which is happening at a pace that models can't keep pace with) or income inequality (which is at its highest rates in recorded US history) or rising global fascism (which may outpace that of WWII) or the very proliferation of nuclear weapons (which will be used by a country not even on the radar), we're embroiled in pointless culture wars.
It's difficult to know who is driving the vicious circle of bigotry and exclusion. The base's anger and grievance has been ginned up by decades of a diet of Fox and Sinclair news outlets, peppered with the fever dreams of Facebook radicalization. Trump showed GOP politicians how to openly direct their anger towards minorities and to blame them for their own shortcomings.
When governance and accountability are no longer guardrails (and the former wasn't given more than a veneer pre-Trump), then politicians are only required to perform. No results or changes are required, as long as the base is periodically thrown red meat.
Of course, it's not only non-White populations that are marginalized, it's clearly women as well in Texas. There is a massive backlash against women for their educational and career gains throughout the last 50 years. Forcing women to give birth and eradicating diversity requirements are just the initial steps in the war to force women into a 2nd class status.
Instead of bsnding together to fight global warming (which is happening at a pace that models can't keep pace with) or income inequality (which is at its highest rates in recorded US history) or rising global fascism (which may outpace that of WWII) or the very proliferation of nuclear weapons (which will be used by a country not even on the radar), we're embroiled in pointless culture wars.