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Counterpoint: This is exactly "the normal" toward which the GOP has been heading since Goldwater's "extremism" speech or Reagan's Philadelphia, MS announcement or the 1988 Willie Horton ad or Newt Gingrich or the Starr Report or.....
Or since Spiro Agnew's attacks on the press or since Dinesh D'Souza was on the masthead of the National Review (oops, he's still there!), or since Joe Wilson screamed "you lie!" during the SOTU or since Frank Luntz counseled Republicans to call Democrats "deranged." 
Or since Pat Buchanan gave his culture war speech at the '92 GOP convention (which Molly Ivins said "was much better in the original German") nytimes.com/2012/08/30/us/…
Or since 1957 when Bill Buckley decreed in the National Review that whites were "the more advanced race" and should thus continue to control Southern society and politics. washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/1…
Or since "rising star of the conservative movement" Barry Goldwater granted this 1959 interview to the White Citizens Council of Jackson, MS.
Or since Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant decided to weaponize homophobia in the 1970s to promote the interests of the conservative movement. advocate.com/people/2016/9/…
Or since VP candidate Sarah Palin stood before an all-white crowd in NC in 2008 and sang the praises of "the real America" and the "pro-America areas of this great nation." thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/pal…
Or since the GOP stopped seriously trying to court black voters, which would be [checks notes] 1964, which is [clicks on calculator] FIFTY FIVE YEARS AGO!!!
One could go on but I won't. This might be a time to reflect on the message of this 2009 book about the looming authoritarian threat posed by "the left"--a book that fed the hysterical conservative response to "anti-American Obama" which helped build a base prepped for Trump.
