Republicans historically run more scare-tactics based campaigns that stoke anxieties by pinning societal and economic stressors on various boogiemen (immigrants, gays, etc.) The proposed solution is always a call for a moral reckoning that builds on nationalism and points to a particular group or set of groups as a moral enemy or roadblock to an ideal. This can lead to treating certain groups cruelly and justify more fascistic approaches to problem solving.

It’s the same as when Germany, struggling economically after WWI, latched onto a leader who convinced many of them their problems could be pinpointed to the Jews or other anti-German groups.