Yeah I think before Obama’s election it was obvious there was a lot of vague pretending - and the use oof code words and ‘dog whistle’ stuff.
Now, though, it’s just become so overt. And the demarcation seems to me to have been the election of Obama and his first few months of office - that’s when I began to notice people had stopped trying to hide it.
They feel more empowered and know their particular communities will not hold them accountable for such un-American, anti-freedom, authoritarian beliefs and behavior. Because most of those they deal with, share the same ‘values’. With the advent of Fox and the further rise of hate radio, the fascists that are so loud on the right have empowered the ‘vague, pretending-to-be-a-modern-American’ lost causers to be much more vocal. But their actual feelings and beliefs haven’t changed of course.