Sharp comparison given in article by George Packer on William Holbrooke quoting a woman who lived through the Balkan wars and was watching a Trump rally on TV:
The chants at a Trump rally of, “Lock her up!” recalled to her Milosovic cupping his ear and saying, “I can’t hear you” to a crowd of thousands as they chanted, “Arrest Vllasi!” Following that was genocide.
Feb. 19, 2020 from The Coming Storm, p. 384: the Republican National Convention at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Rockefeller is proposing amendments to the party platform. The first one, a resolution to repudiate the extremism of the Klan and the John Birch Society. It was shouted down by thousands of nays. A leading Republican was asked how he felt and he said, “physically fine but god save the union.” How prescient because these were the people destined to take over the GOP.
Then Romney’s (George) anti-extremism motion was voted down. A civil rights resolution was so sappy the manager had thought about letting his people vote for it. And here is the clincher: one Texas delegate said after the platform was ratified as it was: the South took the Mason-Dixon line and shoved it right up to Canada.
And yet these Republicans, even having supported Trump to the hilt, still deny they are motivated by racism. You’d hope they would die out but they are still here after 56 years and teaching their children to hate.