Why are the deplorables so prone to mean-spiritedness just for the sake of being mean?

[Hortensis]

19. Sorry, but it's far more complex, and for most the OP is wrong.

Just plain wrong.

A lot goes into them, and we just can't get into their heads and "feel" what they do. We are different. But a huge difference that seems "just plain mean" is actually based on gut instinct for what is right and long-inculcated principle.

Research has shown that conservatives tend to believe in a "natural order" in which good behaviors tend to be rewarded and bad behaviors tend to be punished. Some version of this is found in every major religion.

Big government programs that protect people from the consequences of bad behaviors, such as not saving adequately for retirement, are believed ultimately to cause more problems than they solve and lead to the degradation of society.

Of course, conservatives being human, most are lead by lack of insight and/or bigotry into believing, to various degrees, that being poor means those people are proven at least less worthy, and vice versa for the well-to-do. And this does lead to meanness, if not the just-plain sort.

Also of course, people like the anti-tax/anti-government Koch brothers have invested many, many millions to turn what is, in moderation, a viewpoint that provides balance to public policy into an ultrapartisan zealotry. Imo, they have succeeded in turning many conservatives into almost the worst possible versions of themselves, including by also destroying the traditional, "protect-what-is-tried-and-true" form of conservatism that blocks their goals.

Conservatives are not there yet, though, a huge gap between where we are and actual violence. I am afraid trying to justify mass "deportations" will narrow that gap for some. And, of course, here is always a small percentage of any society that has a thirst for brutality and violence, which comes out when societal constraints drop enough. But that's just a boogie for the future.