I've been trying to trace back the origin of the "conservatives are actual Nazi" mentality from the left and I see to have traced it back to Reagan.
It appears to have started during his administration that Democrats went from disagreeing with Republicans, to calling them the worst names they can think of and actually believing they're evil.
This was anecdotally confirmed when I spoke with my TDS riddled older neighbor and asked where the political divide originated and she immediately responded "Reagan" and his "trickle down economics".
What the fuck happened during this time period? Was it the media? Who were the thought leaders who started this crap? From my understanding 'trickle down economics' doesn't even exist... he just gave tax cuts to everyone.
I need to understand the origins of this. Thanks in advance
Update Seems to go back even further than Reagan to Goldwater in 1964.
I remember comedians making fun of Nixon, but I was a kid then and in the 70s adults shielded kids from unpleasantness.
I was a high school senior for Reagan's first election. I remember a black teammate crying one day during practice because her pastor had told them Reagan was going to send the blacks back to Africa. Reminds me of Biden's "they're gonna put y'all in chains." Reagan was lampooned in political cartoons, popular cartoons, popular song.
Every week on my college campus there was some sort of protest. Aside from Reagan and complaints his policies (trickle down economics) were increasing poverty, the other issue of the day was divesting from South Africa which of course led to discussions about Eurocentrism, racismn etc
As far as I know, I was the only person in my dorm to vote for Reagan's second term.
It was during this time I recall efforts to demonize groups...one frat in particular was the focus. They represented everything people hated about Reagan conservatives, the patriarchy, etc. It polarized the campus kind of like Animal House but without the kickass parade.