8)

You missed the point, RL. The treachery and stupidity of Trump's knuckle draggers is not the issue. We can all comfortably agree on that. But this is not just an American phenomenon, something that can be traced to some trauma in our history or pathology in our national character. Its happening all over the world right now, and it has happened historically in the past, most notably in Europe in the 1930s. There is something more fundamental going on, and if it wasn't Trump and the Deplorables, it would no doubt manifest itself in some other way.

This is a recurring global social phenomenon, and there must be something behind it, some primum mobilis that causes it to erupt periodically. And it is world wide, not just in the USA. I suspect that it is caused by a pampered and sheltered middle class, suddenly faced with hard times after a long period of comfort and personal economic and political progress. They sense a change is coming, that a hard rain is a-gonna fall, one that will affect them negatively and severely and they panic, desperately seeking scapegoats. Demagogues exploit this malaise by exposing and aggravating existing fissures and divisions and targeting class, social, racial conflicts and economic disparities in society. Cynics and opportunists seduce them with a phony nostalgia for a past Golden Age which never really existed and with convenient, easily recognizable scapegoats and conspiracies which can be blamed for all their problems. Not surprisingly, These stereotypes and lies tend to promote and preserve the same dysfunctions and injustices (mostly in the distribution of wealth) in the society that led to the malaise in the first place. You know, its my standard "fascism is the dictatorship of the middle class" rant.

But that is just my theory. I may be mistaken, or, at best, I may have missed something. I seek validation, support, or even a cogent reason why I might be mistaken.
Trump and his barbarians are not the cause of this epidemic of hate, they are not the disease, they are just the symptoms.