One of my opinions about politics is that there are certain issues that people care very little about until someone reminds them that they're supposed to be mad about them, then they get REALLY ANGRY. Immigration is the most obvious one. The places where people get really mad about immigration generally don't have many visible immigrants (this is a euphemism for "brown immigrants"), but they sure do get enraged about it when various Thought Leaders tell them to be.
Otherwise they have other things to worry about.
I'm not one who imagines an era of Good Republicans, but perhaps there was an era when if Republicans behaved just a little bit, and kept some of their Limbaughs in line (which they did sometimes), such bigoted rage could be sidelined for a bit. But that era is not now...
