Does anyone else feel this all started with Sarah Palin?

[loyalsister]

12. Not sure what you're referring to

If you're talking about the racism, as with Trump she was a symptom of something that has been hiding in plain sight for a long time. When I've talked with people of color about my observations that racism has gotten worse over the past 10 yrs, they have set me straight. It was always there, white people just didn't see it.

When it comes to anti-intellectualism, unfortunately we fed that beast all through the Bush yrs. by attacking his intellect whenever possible. It goes along with the Democratic neoliberal emphasis on higher education. People were left out and there is unfortunately something to the "liberal elite" criticism because higher education has been accepted as status. We are now in the predicament where student loans seem like a scam to kids coming of age and seeing their parents still struggle to pay them off. Sadly, the coal workers aren't the only ones who have seen their opportunities dry up. Instead of just making it easier, job training was offered and they were judged and blamed. At least some of skepticism that led to the "burn it down" mindset is rooted in government abandonment. Welfare reform and unemployment restrictions made things much harder for people. Meanwhile it worked out well for the traditional small government low tax GOP. They painted a different picture of what it meant and who was responsible when government services were limited.

There's a backlash and complicated cultural and political forces that drive that.