"The hate and division on both sides".

[JohnnyRingo]

When does it seem everything became unglued, when the hate really began to boil to the surface? I believe it can be pinpointed to 2008 with the spawning of The Tea Party when a black man with a "questionable" birth certificate was elected president.

The hate shifted to overdrive around 2016 when the Tea Party dropped all pretentions of concern for their taxes and went full on fascist against liberals. One man was at the center of it all from the birth certificate to "lock her up" then January 6th.

But yeah... "both sides".

[Initech]

1. No, there's just one side. It's the side with multiple continuously operating propaganda channels.

[JohnnyRingo]

2. Clearly

We agree.
The squealing static of AM radio filters any semblance of parity to deliver a message of hate and Fox News amplifies it. Hannity's radio show is much more unhinged than what he does on TV.

[thomski64]

3. "empathy is weakness " C Kirk

..so piss on him already

[Torchlight]

4. Only the GOP has given Hatred its own platform and commercial sponsorships

Hatred is often an individual feeling many people may or may not feel ay at any given time, but the Republican party, and only the Republican party, has sanctioned it as a for-profit political tool fit for everyday use.

[JohnnyRingo]

6. Well stated.

Indeed Rush Limbaugh patented it and offered it up to the party to employ as a platform.
But it still boiled beneath the surface waiting for the catalyst to make it acceptable. "He gets me", as they like to say.

[Johonny]

5. IDK people last night were pointing out thr 1960s

And 1970s were filled with political assassinations and open hate speech.

These thing maybe cyclical. The 1980s to 2008 may have been less open hate speech, but certainly not zero. Just tune in to a Pat Buchanon speech or listen to Rush to know it was out there during that time. The Oklahoma bombing and the Altanta Olympic bombings, the unibomber, all occurred in that time frame.

[Trueblue Texan]

7. I was seeing hatred when Clinton was president...

The Right was so PISSED that Clinton won they were out for blood and it's been downhill ever since, with each election cycle magnifying the hate of the one before it. Dems have tried to take the high road for too long and the hate went on unchecked for decades and here we are now.

[SergeStorms]

10. With Newt Gingrich......

and his "Contract on America" (I realize they called it "with America" 😉 ) in the mid-90s.
It seems republicans have 20/200 hindsight.

[hamsterjill]

8. The hate originates from the side who wants to control how everyone else lives.

It's that simple. And it's simple for them to fix if they really want to fix it.

Let everyone do what they feel is best for their own lives and paths and stay the fuck out of people's lives as much as possible. Respect individual choices without trying to force your religious beliefs on someone else. Yes, we need laws and we need order to have a meaningful society. But those laws should do with safety and equality; not religious indoctrination. You know, like the founding fathers intended!

[Justice matters.]

13. Well said. But "intended" for white men... not for people of color.

At the time. Also not for white women...

They also failed to predict weapons of war like the damn AR-15s...

[hamsterjill]

14. Correct.

Thanks for clarifying. You enriched my post.

[Jimvanhise]

9. THE HATE MONGER

No idea if he really believed what he said. Some who knew him said that Rush Limbaugh said what he did because it made him millions. Charlie Kirk made millions from being an unapologetic white supremacist who said that black women were not smart and that all women should obey their husbands. The day he was shot a teenage girl asked him what she should do to become a journalist and he told her to get married first. When Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked by a man with a hammer, Charlie Kirk made jokes about it because Nancy Pelosi not only didn't believe what he did but she was a strong woman with a career. Conservatives really need to look at who they are defending and if he truly represented their values. Maybe he did, which would make it even more awful.

[tinrobot]

11. It started with the rise of talk radio and Fox News in the 90s

And the demonization of the term "liberal" as somehow being anti-american.

This moment has been decades in the making.

[Warpy]

12. Their main problem is that our weapon is words

so they've been awfully short of heroes, especially martyrs. Hell, look at them trying to turn that Ashli Babbit traitor into some kind of military her. Or reopening the J6 hearings to try to pass a riot off as the second revolutionary war.

I don't know if they'll catch the murderer any time soon, he seems to have a lot more upstairs than most of them and planned both the hit and his escape.

What remains to be seen is how far he escaped. If he stayed here, they'll eventually get him. and that's a good thig. He might be a slick assassin who doesn't do collateral damage, but he's still somebody who thinks problems can be solved by guns. No thanks.

[pacalo]

15. When a regime wants to take away constitutional rights,

civil rights, & drive our country into the ground to satisfy their hateful supporters, it shouldn’t complain about being hated. That regime deserves it.

What did the Democrats do to deserve hatred? Hmm? Say what?