To be clear, my intention here is not to say that refugees necessarily lead to fascism. Rather, it's hyperbolic, inflammatory rhetoric about migrants that leads there. Without irresponsible right-wing media demonizing entire groups of people round the clock, I suspect the national conversation would look a bit different.
Unfortunately, a lot of misguided conservative policies seem to be self-reinforcing, creating the conditions for further misguided policies. This has been apparent with mass shootings, where each one inspires more gun sales and more legislation weakening gun regulations. You also clearly see it with the Iraq war, alluded to in the first panel. We destabilized a whole region and opened up a power vacuum filled by terrorist movements, which led to refugees and further xenophobia. Then there's been decades of US involvement in Central America, the details of which are horrifying and not unrelated to current migrants fleeing violence.
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