@WarnerCrocker Thanks. Again, I am trying to sort out in my head what this looks like. What emotional appeal do you believe has not been used because it's 'not nice'? Is there one, or is it simply about reach?

The Republicans have built an enormous infrastructure over the past 40 years with think tanks, media outlets, and asserting dominance on social media. While the Democrats have relied on the 'fairness' of traditional media outlets and support from the entertainment industry. Obviously, one of these has been more effective - but also more costly (giant donors regularly shovel huge amounts of money into right-wing organizations and firms). Personally, I argue this disparity is because the Democratic party abandoned any real ideology or intellectual debate after Reagan, and focused on trying to adapt itself to various coalitions. This means there was no desire to build a framework of beliefs for Democrats, as it always needed to adapt to collation member's and donor's concerns.

If you're going to launch emotional appeals to voters - beyond simply the negative of the opposition - you need to put forth ideas behind the appeals. Simply stating "My opponents are fascists" is not good enough when the opponents ideology has made fascism something acceptable. What is the alternative?