While the Republican Party bemoans its fate. they need look no farther than the 4 decades since Lee Atwood grafted the KKK and bluedogs of Southern racisms onto Reagan’s flag waving appeal to the working class.
The Democratic Party has contributed in its own way too. Liberal causes .. from gay marriage, unlimited abortion, affirmative action, and gun control have provided tinder to the demagogues of the right while never quite understanding that white feelings matter too.
The worst of this is the mix of wink wink racism that passes for the alternative reality of Fox News. Here is a 24/7 alternative reality network where global warming is a hoax, our President was born in Kenya, his policies are Marxist, our national existence is threatened by millions of masked Muslims bearing nuclear weapons, and Mexicans are rampantly invading form the South taking our jobs and raping “our” women.
And then there was Trump.commentary