From 2008/2009 until 2015/2016, hate crimes in the US were trending down. From 2016 until today, they have trended up. To me, the best explanation for this is the rightwing radicalization (and empowerment of the already radicalized) of many by the first trump campaign and subsequent presidency.
Outside of hate crimes, we can also see general increases in rightwing violence during this same period (at least according to the feds, not sure that we should even trust any of this data). I’m not saying electing a Dem fixes anything, I’m saying Trump being elected makes it worse because the people doing the hate crimes feel empowered.
Obama being elected also made it worse, but because the racists felt attacked by the very idea of a black person being prez and were reacting to that, which is why it slowly died down over time. Trump is still here and still actively engaging his base, he never stopped so the radicalization didn’t stop either.
The guy I replaced got a job making about 250k and for a moment I thought I could do it, but then I remembered that guy is actually smart and understands everything he does while I just copy other people’s code and beg copilot for answers. I might be able to trick someone into hiring me for one of those high salary gigs, but surely I would expose myself as a fraud and get fired.