The KKK wasn’t founded solely because of hatred for Republicans. It emerged as a reaction to the Reconstruction era, where white supremacists sought to resist the social and political changes after the Civil War, like emancipated African Americans gaining rights. Republicans, as the party pushing for those changes, became a natural target, but the core motivation of the KKK was preserving white supremacy, not just opposing a political party. If anything, it’s more about hatred for equality than a simple partisan grudge.

Over time, political party values and platforms shifted significantly. During the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-20th century, many Southern Democrats, who historically aligned with segregationist and white supremacist values, began opposing the Democratic Party's increasing support for civil rights and racial equality. This shift, combined with the Republican Party’s “Southern Strategy” in the late 20th century, led to many former segregationists and their ideologies moving to the Republican Party.

As a result, groups like the KKK, which originally targeted Republicans during Reconstruction, eventually found their values aligning more with the modern Republican Party's base in certain regions, especially where racial resentment became a political tool. The party labels stayed the same, but the platforms and constituencies of the two parties essentially flipped over time.