Joke, but I do think one of the political journalist beliefs is that Republicans are too gentlemanly to go full racist (and similar), but they always CAN and if they do the Dems are totally screwed. They love the Lee Atwater redemption arc and not for good reasons!!!
I think they are wrong about this. Republicans just appeal to their own horrible weirdos who would vote for them anyway, and the "normie" swing voters find it all a bit confusing.
That 40% of the country are assholes is probably true, but it's still only 40%.
The Republican extended universe is actually quite weird. Because of the way political journalism is, it all sounds "normal" but actually these people are the weirdos! Enough people are like "what the fucking fuck" when you claim kids are shitting in litterboxes in schools because of pronouns.
