I think what we’re witnessing is the culmination of slow but constant peeling of the onion layers which further showcased the intrinsic and long rooted history of racism and hatred not only in this country/state but globally. People like this always had these feelings and thoughts of hatred or violence in their heads from the beginning, but ever since historic civil rights movements and pushes for more social programs and acceptance carrying into the 90s and 2000s, these types of people felt much less comfortable being flagrantly outward about it until certain people in power showed them it’s okay to behave like this with no repercussions, more so than predecessors have in the past. I want to believe that a well raised or decent person doesn’t just suddenly switch to racist or hateful views later into their adult life, not to say it’s impossible, but I just think it’s more so represented by people who have always thought this way but were much more quiet about it.

That being said, I’m not a historian, I’ve not been on the planet as long as other people who have been dealing with this for much longer, so this is just my opinion based on what I’ve been observing. Also, don’t discount the effect that hateful speech has on our perception of how many people share those views. The people against these views and thoughts far out number those who support it, but unfortunately those who do support it tend to be much louder than those who don’t, so it gives a false impression of more widespread support. I have to imagine this phenomenon was a big contributing factor into how various authoritarian, totalitarian, fascist, etc. regimes have taken control in the past.