I have witnessed this happen in my lifetime in regards to immigration (just for one example). 15-20 years ago, there was actual discussion about giving the millions of undocumented workers in the US a path to citizenship. Even if it was all insincere, politicians didn’t see it as a political liability to bring it up as a possibility. Even W seemed to be open to it. Then the racist chuds in this country decided to really dig their heels in on it in the years leading up to the 2016 election. Obama IIRC started avoiding the topic in his second term. Hillary - instead of trying to contrast herself to Trump - just avoided the issue as well. Fast forward to now, and you have a situation where the Dems have not only embraced the idea if not the concrete reality of “build the wall”, but as the GOP is running on a campaign of “deport all illegals” (seriously, watch some of these GOP primary ads this election cycle, seems to be all they talk about), the Dems are highlighted the Biden/Harris track record of being “tough” on immigrants and bragging about just how many people they’ve turned back at the border.
I have witnessed this happen in my lifetime in regards to immigration (just for one example). 15-20 years ago, there was actual discussion about giving the millions of undocumented workers in the US a path to citizenship. Even if it was all insincere, politicians didn’t see it as a political liability to bring it up as a possibility. Even W seemed to be open to it. Then the racist chuds in this country decided to really dig their heels in on it in the years leading up to the 2016 election. Obama IIRC started avoiding the topic in his second term. Hillary - instead of trying to contrast herself to Trump - just avoided the issue as well. Fast forward to now, and you have a situation where the Dems have not only embraced the idea if not the concrete reality of “build the wall”, but as the GOP is running on a campaign of “deport all illegals” (seriously, watch some of these GOP primary ads this election cycle, seems to be all they talk about), the Dems are highlighted the Biden/Harris track record of being “tough” on immigrants and bragging about just how many people they’ve turned back at the border.