I said, “many liberals consider conservative beliefs to be inherently racist.”
I don’t know if the opposition to the ACA specifically is widely perceived as racist, but the racial dimension was constantly injected into articles on the ACA repeal. (As if Republicans would want to repeal a big new entitlement only because the President who enacted it was Black?) More generally, it’s injected into pretty much every policy debate in the press outlets (Politico, Vox, etc.—which I consider pretty good news sources). Apparently run-off elections are racist. (Somebody should tell almost every country with an elected President.)
I try to filter out stuff I read on tweets, because I think you’re correct that Twitter is highly unrepresentative, but it turns out that those blue check marks on Twitter are also writing on a lot off the outlets that cover policy issues.
As I said, it’s a self-consistent world view, so it’s gaining purchase. It does, however, make policy debate almost impossible. It’s used to attack basic American tenants. Opposing DC statehood, for example, is deemed racist. Forget the deep American tradition of skepticism about the capital, or the increasingly Hunger Games-esque ascension of DC. I strongly suspect most Republicans are more mad about the white bureaucrats working in the federal government getting two Senators on top of running the unelected fourth branch, than anything to do with the (shrinking) Black population. But it’s an effective rhetorical tactic for sure. The Senate is racist. Opposition to public unions is racist. Support for limited government, guns, individualism, free speech, etc. (These are just the real conversations I’ve had with real people.)
I strongly suspect that conservatives aren’t just going to give up on the idea of limited government, or opposing centralized bureaucracy in DC. They’ll just grow a thicker skin with respect to accusations of racism, which is probably a bad thing for everyone.