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Yeah I don’t think it’s significant because hostility toward Muslim immigration and dislike of Pakistan is likely extremely common amongst Americans who saw those tweets and has been since at least 2001. Speaking of related events we can look at the way that the ‘Muslim ban’ went in 2017, or indeed the fact that even that excluded Pakistan.
Or, as many have suggested, it’s some limited meat for the base (much of it, see the birthright citizenship thing, will be held up in the courts or stopped outright) before two years of business as usual, the likely losing of the house and then an excuse for two more years of nothing before someone else is elected.
A few years ago all they had to look forward to was being cancelled from the internet, debanked, and left to post on 4chan while eating beans out of a can bought with pennies from a sock.
Things are looking up.
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I don’t think you grasp the importance of martyr stories and in-group trauma. There’s a reason that Israel laser-focused on children killed, even going so far as to make up or exaggerate aspects of the event. Martyr stories propel morale. This is an important ingredient for advocacy groups. Disliking Pakistan != mass violent rape of thousands hidden by liberal authorities. Not even close to the same thing. I’m sure Israelis also had a negative view of Gazans before this. Jews have actually perfected the martyr motif, although I think Christians mastered it and then were blinded to its power.
This is a meaningless buzzword, I’ve never understood it. The base is the majority of voters whose will the President obeys? That’s just democracy. “Throws meat to the base” is the msnbc way to describe the entire nature of democracy. It’s a propaganda term of art, not a serious way to describe things. The CEO throws meat to the base of shareholder, yes, this is capitalism. The boyfriend throws meat to the girlfriend by getting her flowers on Valentine’s Day as expected in a reciprocal relationship. The boy throws meat to his familial base by complimenting his mother’s cooking. It’s all very silly. It’s just “doing the social role”, but described in a way to make your opponent’s actions dehumanizing, and it’s artfully manufactured — me, a stalwart proponent of fulfilling the will of the people, my opponent, an ugly butcher throwing a carcass of meat to the debased dogs.
Sure it’s possible things don’t improve, but the cultural conditions are already an improvement.
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